ever let or not it’s stated that the London restaurant scene doesn’t have one thing for everybody. This month sees the launch of a six-course vegan tasting menu in Hackney, whereas on the west facet of city there’s caviar pizza and disco loos in Kensington. In between, there’s an opportunity to discover biodynamic Greek wine in Holland Park, avant-garde wood-fired cooking in Mayfair and the welcome return of one in every of London’s most fondly regarded Indians in Soho; it appears to be like like a really completely satisfied new yr. Right here’s the place to tuck in.
Vori
If any proof additional proof had been wanted that W11 is the most happening postcode for new restaurants, look no additional than the choice by derivatives trader-turned-restaurateur Markos Tsimikalis to shut his Shoreditch Greek, Hungry Donkey, and open Vori in Holland Park. Anticipate a foods and drinks providing based mostly round grapes, grains and olives: sharing starters of cold and warm mezedes (saganaki, spanakopita) adopted by sea bass, calamari and lamb from the charcoal grill, washed down with Greek spins on traditional cocktails, an all-Greek wine listing and beers from Greek microbreweries.
Opens: January 5
120 Holland Park Avenue, W11 4UA, vorigreekitchen.co.uk
Edit
From the identical crew behind plant-based pioneer Tremendous Nature, this Hackney vegan guarantees to be as centered on seasonal components and a round, low-waste philosophy. The “root-to-fruit”, zero-waste dishes will embrace the likes of untamed mushroom fricassée with British grains and Swiss chard, and seaweed-cured celeriac with purple potato mash, whereas a six-course tasting menu will supply no matter is greatest every day paired with pure wines, local beers and ciders. Proprietor Elly Ward was an architect in a earlier life, so count on simply as a lot consideration lavished on the eco-friendly interiors as to how every dish appears to be like on the plate.
Opens: Mid-January
217 Mare Avenue, E8 3QE, edit.london
Humo
Opening on the outdated Wild Honey website in Mayfair, one imagines that each one that beautiful panelling shouldn’t be discovering its manner into the four-metre-long wood-fired oven of this restaurant, which takes its title from the Spanish phrase for “smoke”. Chef Miller Prada labored with Endo Kazutoshi at Michelin-starred Endo on the Rotunda the place he was an attentive pupil of the precision of Japanese delicacies, right here utilized to dishes through which the provenance of the wooden is as necessary as that of the components — take, as an illustration, Hampshire trout marinated and smoked in junipe, then seared with white ubame oak.
Opens: January 18
12 St George Avenue, W1S 2FB, humolondon.com
Jacuzzi
A Jacuzzi is one thing heat, moist and fizzy: not maybe essentially the most interesting psychological picture for an Italian restaurant, however after the damp squib of Ave Mario, proprietor Huge Mamma is presumably hoping that Jacuzzi summons the frothy social gathering spirit of Gloria and Circolo Popolare reasonably than unrefrigerated Prosecco. This four-floor pleasure place on High Street Ken reaches its zenith with a Sicilian-styled mezzanine with a retractable roof, to say nothing of the glitter-ball disco bogs within the basement. The meals, do you have to have an interest, takes in caviar-topped pizzette, black-truffle pasta and chocolate fondue whereas there may be a whole wine listing of Italian sparklers.
Opens: January 20
94 Kensington Excessive Avenue, W8 4SH, bigmammagroup.com
Darjeeling Categorical
Not a brand new restaurant as such — and probably not a brand new residence — Asma Khan’s groundbreaking Indian returns to the place it began 5 years in the past in Kingly Court after closing in Covent Garden. On the time, Khan expressed her wish to discover a new website with an open kitchen to show her all-female crew cooking their household recipes, and these new digs are greater than the Carnaby original. There’s no menu introduced as but, although the dishes at the moment on supply on the Darjeeling Categorical pop-up on the Pembroke pub in Earl’s Court might supply a clue: paneer and sweetcorn samosa, methi rooster and beef tamatar gosht.
Opens: Late January
Kingly Court docket, Kingly Avenue, W1B 5PW, darjeeling-express.com
