The Best London Restaurant Openings This December
By Something CuratedHighlighting this month’s most promising restaurant launches, Something Curated takes a closer look at what to try, as well as the founders and proprietors behind the openings.
LINO || Richard Falk
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bqpu20RjbM5/
Richard Falk, the former head chef at The Dairy, a seasonal British restaurant, has opened a new project called LINO. Housed in a former linoleum and carpet warehouse, this new eatery will serve up homemade fare all day, boasting a cocktail bar with an extensive menu. Falk will highlight a distinctive low-waste ethos, meaning that no food will go to waste – croissants served in the morning will turn into a croissant ice cream with brown butter, blood orange, and coffee by the afternoon. Other dishes on the menu include Belted Galloway wing rib of beef, with oxtail and potato tart, as well as grilled mackerel with oyster mayonnaise and pickled cucumbers.
90 Bartholomew Close, EC1A 7EB
Peppeckish || Guiseppe Comino
Labeled as a “Neapolitan supper club,” chef Guiseppe Comino is serving up Italian food every Wednesday at The Hill Station Café. Previously hosted in his home in South-East London, Comino handpicks all of his ingredients, aiming to cook his dishes in his own way, inspired by his native land of Naples, Italy. Comino foregoes popular eating trends and is keen to share his own cooking style with others with a menu that changes weekly. Served on the top of Telegraph Hill, previous menu items have included hand-cut pasta with Cannellini beans and rosemary sauce, roasted beetroot and truffle oil soup, and ricotta made by Kappacasein dairy.
32 Kitto Road, SE14 5TW
Lost Boys Pizza || John Peter Crozier-Clucas & Alexander Mark Fisher
With one location already on Junction Rd, Lost Boys Pizza is bringing their black charcoal pies to Camden this month. This new two-storey location will feature an absinthe bar, whipping up drinks such as the spiced plum Mai tai, infused with almonds, absinthe spiced plums, star anise, and gold rum. Their pizza menu boasts a unique selection as well, especially the “Frog Brothers Special”; a black charcoal pizza topped with apple-smoked ham, artichokes, and pickled mushrooms.
245 Eversholt Street, NW1 1BA
Yamagoya || Masatoshi Ogata
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgRaMAWHaDj/
Yamagoya ramen began as a pop-up in the upstairs of hot pot restaurant Shaung Shuang, in 2016. After a brief stint at a space in Waterloo, they are moving back to where it all began, opening up shop for good in the downstairs of Shuang Shuang on 15 December. The restaurant will serve up traditional Japanese cuisine, such as Oyako; a chicken bone broth with chicken chashu, marinated egg, wakame seawood, bamboo shoot, and spring onion. Don’t forget about their extensive dessert list, which features the popular “raindrop cake,” the melt-in-your-mouth dish that is made in the shape of a water droplet.
64 Shaftsbury Avenue, W1D 6LU
Omotesando Koffee || Eiichi Kunitomo-san
Originally opened in Tokyo’s Omotesando Hills by barista Eiichi Kunitomo-san, this Japanese coffee shop will be making its way to Rathbone Square in late December. Inspired by traditional Japanese tea ceremonies, the coffee shop uses a one bar approach, serving one customer at a time and focusing on ritual and presence while brewing the coffee. Their menu will serve up the classics, such as iced coffee, but some drinks come with a twist, such as their iced cappuccino, which is covered with a layer of bubbly milk foam and dusted with cocoa powder. Another highlight on the menu are their fluffy egg sandwiches, which are served up as picture perfect squares, finished with wasabi.
Rathbone Square, W1T 1PB
TĀ TĀ EATERY || Zijun Meng & Ana Gonçalves
After a successful installment this past summer at Borough Wines in Kensal Rise, TĀ TĀ EATERY is open until January 2019 at the Sir Colin Campbell, an Irish pub in Kilburn. The duo gained viral popularity for their mouthwatering Iberico pork katsu sandwich, which was first brought to life at their food stall stand on Druid Street Market in Bermondsey a few years ago. The food is a fusion of Meng and Gonçalves’ Chinese and Portuguese heritage, featuring a menu focused on rice dishes, fresh seafood, and Iberian and Cornish meat. The new space for TĀ TĀ EATERY will feature two floors: the top floor for sharing plates such as rice cream with black sesame, and the ground floor for a reduced menu featuring the now famous katsu sandwich and a few new additions, such as Ox cheek quesadilla.
264-266 Kilburn High Rd, NW6 2BY
Henrietta Inman at Yardarm || Henrietta Inman
Pastry chef and author Henrietta Inman will be taking residency at Yardarm in Leyton for the next year, an intimate neighbourhood shop that serves small plates, coffee, and wine by the glass. Her breakfast and lunch menu features quiches with Jerusalem artichokes, shallots, leeks, Beauvale blue cheese, and Kentish cobnuts; as well as multigrain porridge made with Cambridgeshire oats topped with blueberry compote and homemade roasted almond butter. Dinner will highlight guest chefs, including award-winning food writers Rachel Rodd and Sumayya Usmani.
240 Francis Rd, E10 6NJ
Sam Kamienko at Ombra || Sam Kamienko
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bjcu4VohrS5/
Formerly at Michelin-star Leroy in Shoreditch, chef Sam Kamienko has brought his skills over to Ombra, an Italian restaurant focusing on seasonal produce from Italy and select British farmers. Kamienko’s menu will feature tagliatelle covered in wild mushrooms and hazelnuts, squid ink tortellini served with potatoes and cod, and Cornish monkfish. The drink menu is quite extensive as well, serving what they call a “Venetian G&T,” which is aperol, gin, and tonic. There is sure to be something for everyone as diners relax in this no-frills restaurant decorated with lifebuoys and multicolored flags.
1 Vyner Street, E2 9DG
Mamasan & Wild Rice || Pan Seriak & Mike Asavarut
https://www.instagram.com/p/BquIU_7heGe/
Created by restaurateurs Pan Seriak and Mike Asavarut, this new space will be split over two floors, housing two separate dining rooms: Mamasan and Wild Rice. The double-headed restaurant has promised to bring “reinvented Thai food” to Soho, as it marks the duo’s London debut. The menu at Wild Rice will feature Thai dishes that have passed through generations, but with a British twist. Diners can expect to see a goi pla Thai ceviche of seabass, lime, red chili, fish sauce and toasted rice; as well as “plaa salmon”, a salmon sashimi dish garnished with chili, lime leaf and lemongrass. On the floor below, Mamasan, will have a more casual street food feel, its signature dish being the Thai fried chicken, marinated in various Thai spices such as coriander root, garlic, soy sauce, and crispy shallots.
28 Brewer Street, Soho, W1F 0SR
Feature image via Yamagoya