Eight is the magic number this month, with a quartet of new openings launching on May 8. One of these, Julie’s, is one of the most famous restaurants of the 1970s, and for anyone whose taste in restaurants runs towards the revisionists, then it is also worth knowing that the Dining Room at The Goring hotel reopens on May 20 with a chic new look, ditto Paradise in Soho, which will only offer a tasting menu from May 28.
Otherwise, embrace new ideas at one of the London restaurant launches below, all guaranteed to springboard your step this May.
Cafe Brita
This consciously ‘British’ restaurant in Peckham was created thanks to Richard Crampton-Platt and Alex Purdie, two Brits who met while working at Bocca di Lupo, although their first venture did not follow the strictly authentic approach to regional Italian cuisine. Soho restaurant will be. Instead, expect the kind of dishes you’d encounter at a dream child’s birthday (or a hangover lunch, which amounts to the same thing): spaghetti carbonara with cream and topped with a fried egg, or a ‘full British’ breakfast of fennel sausages, fried pizza and Tuscan beans. The lino-lined interiors will give a nod to the Italian cafes of yesteryear, although sourcing as many ingredients as possible from local food shops in Peckham feels like a very contemporary idea.
Opens: May 8th
191 Roggelaan, SE15 4TP, cafebritaly.com
The hero
With regulars at The Pelican in Notting Hill, including Princess Eugenie and Dua Lipa and the Beckhams, being ushered in through the back door of The Bull in Charlbury, you can expect to find pop royalty somewhere on one of the four floors of this third pub and encounter the real thing. from the same team of eloquent Cotswold gentlemen. The ground floor bar is the place for cheese toasties and pints, the smart first floor grill cooks fish and meat over fire in an open kitchen – lamb chops and a quarter of cod, for example – the library bar above serves batch prep cocktails for comedy nights, while there is a private room at the top. All in all, pretty much the perfect local Maida Vale for an affluent area that is strangely short on food and drink options.
Opens: May 8 (café), May 15 (grill)
55 Shirlandweg, W9 2JD, theherow9.com
Inis
Is there a more evocative restaurant location in London than Fish Island in Hackney Wick? Local couple Lynsey Coughlan and Lindsay Lewis – destined to become the 1920s equivalent of Moro’s Sam and Sam Clark – have a bluechip pedigree: Coughlan is a former director of the Ginger Pig butchers and advises Borough Market on animal welfare and origin; Lewis is a graphic designer whose clients include Daylesford Organic and The Gentlemen Baristas. Expect a beautiful space with food and drink that’s good for the planet, from breakfast, brunch and lunch to seasonal British and Irish dishes to coffee, wines and cocktails.
Opens: May 8th
3 Rookwood Road, E3 2XT, inisfishisland.com
Julies
Shortly after Arlington there will be another reboot of a 20th century classic – and one with an even older date than Le Caprice. Originally opened in 1969, Julie’s served as a barometer for the socialites of each subsequent decade – McCartney and Jagger in the 1970s, Princess Di and Tom Cruise in the 1980s, the Gallagher brothers of the Cool Britannia era – before closing. fell out of favor as London’s social axis turned east, eventually closing in 2022. With Notting Hill once again home to London’s hottest tables, surely Holland Park is the new Hoxton? Party like it’s 1969 with seafood towers and chandeliers, martini trolleys and lobster soufflés: proof that if you hang around long enough, everything eventually comes back into style.
Opens: May 8th
35 Portlandweg, W11 4LW, juliesrestaurant.com
Kioku
Is Kioku the restaurant that will finally become an attractive dining destination of the OWO hotel, after its muted reception extended to the likes of Mauro Colagreco and Café Lapérouse? The rooftop location certainly sounds stunning – especially the private room enclosed by a turret – but with Endo Kazutoshi behind Niju, Sumi and the Michelin-starred Endo in the Rotunda, the chef has the chops to ensure that what’s on the plate looks good. as good as what’s out the window. The big idea is Japanese food with Mediterranean influences, like squid nori pesto – Kazutoshi’s sushi master from Nagoya sent him to the Japanese embassy in Madrid – washed down with Europe’s largest sake collection.
Opens: 15 May
The OWO, 57 Whitehall, SW1A 2BX, kiokubyendo.com
Also open
All’onda
The name means ‘on the wave’ in Italian and refers to the technique of tossing rice in a pan to create the flowing texture of the perfect risotto: the house specialty of this ingredient-based newcomer that also offers three regularly changing main courses.
Opens: May 2
67 Charlotte Street, W1T 4PH, allonda.nl
Fellini
Readers with long memories may remember Chelsea’s Paparazzi Café from the 1990s; now owner Tony Aalam is opening this vegetarian Italian near Brompton Cross, just in time for the Chelsea Flower Show.
Opens: 6 May
149 Draycott Avenue, SW3 3AB, thefellini.com
SMSH BN
Don’t feel like queuing for Supernova? Try this all-day great burger specialist who sends out Wagyu and vegan patties, plus egg muffins for breakfast and salted caramel milkshakes.
Opens: May 20th
126 Charing Kruisweg, WC2H 0LA, smsh-bn.com
Chez Roux
Michel Roux’s first London launch since the closure of Le Gavroche brings the chef back to familiar territory at the Langham. He has moved from Roux in the Landau to the hotel’s Palm Court to offer retro British cuisine inspired by his childhood in 1960s Kent.
Opens: May 22nd
The Langham, 1C Portland Place, W1B 1JA, langhamhotels.com
Dona
Dalston cocktail bar Doña is opening a restaurant upstairs, serving a Latin American menu of empanadas, cassava fries and tamales, all made from scratch and washed down with mezcal margaritas.
Opens: May 24
92 Stoke Newington Main Street, N16 7NY, bardonalondon.com
@mrbenmccormack