New London restaurant openings: August

The Frog

Rather than a tongue-in-cheek jibe at the French, The Frog is the debut solo venture of 27-year-old wunderkid and MasterChef: The Professionals finalist Adam Handling. Nestled inside the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, the light and airy interiors of the 60-cover site echo the vibrant freshness of the plates, which are painterly in presentation.

At just £45, the 10-course tasting menu offers amazing value via the likes of cheese doughnuts with truffle butter; salt cod, cucumber and lime; asparagus, burnt butter and crispy peas; and BBQ veal tartare with chili and herbs. Sugar fiends can get their fangs around burnt honey, malted ice cream and lemon for pud. Wine pairings cost £35 and beer pairings £25, giving The Frog’s extensive craft beer offering a chance to shine.

Foley’s

Following a successful pop-up in Shepherd’s Bush, Foley’s has opened a permanent site on Foley Street in Fitzrovia. The brainchild of head chef Mitz Vora, who comes by way of The Palomar, Vora’s colourful dishes are inspired by the spice trail. The pared down menu is split in four: ‘bits & bobs’, ‘veg’, ‘from the sea’ and ‘meat’. Interiors are equally minimal – think exposed brickwork painted white, old Warhol Campbell’s Soup prints, wooden tables and metal chairs.

Among the dishes to catch our eye are tuna and octopus tacos with coconut miso; aubergine with pomegranate, dates and chili lime yoghut; sticky beef with daikon, cucumber and kaffir lime purée; and hake with tamarind, fennel and okra. Cocktails have an exotic twist, such as the Chai Old Fashioned featuring blood orange liqueur, and the Spiced Pear Mojito with lime and mint.

Kiln

Ben Chapman. Photo credit: Tuck & Vine

Hotly tipped to be one of the most exciting new openings of the year is Kiln, the new venture from Ben Chapman, the meat maestro currently working his magic at the Smoking Goat in Soho – a sensational, understated Thai housed in a dilapidated pub. In keeping with the current trend for taking cooking back to basics and working with naked flames, the Brewer Street site takes inspiration from wood burning pots found roadside in Myanmar. Keen for his base ingredients to shine, among the dishes on offer will be whole roasted aged hogget cooked Szechuan style.

Bronte

Literary lovers may be disappointed to find out that Bronte is sadly not inspired by the Brontë sisters, but rather Horatio Nelson, who was given the title of ‘Duke of Bronte’ by the King of Naples in 1799. Housed a gunfire shot from Nelson’s Column on The Strand, the restaurant has an Antipodean accent and inviting Tom Dixon interiors, from studio lighting and prawn pink seats to teal banquettes.

The all-day venue serves breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner with dishes running the gamut from soft boiled eggs with Marmite and mature Cheddar soldiers early doors to grilled sea bass with watermelon, wild garlic, samphire and rhubarb ketchup for dinner. Willpowers will be tested as the majority of the mains come with either skinny fries, an avocado and orange salad, or miso soup. We know which of the three we’ll be ordering.

Casita Andina

Peruvian cuisine pioneer Martin Morales is back with a third London site and it looks to be his most colourful yet. Having ignited London’s Peruvian food boom with Ceviche in Soho in 2012 and kept the ball rolling with Andina in Shoreditch, his third venue, Casita Andina brings the focus back to Soho, only this time the dishes are gluten free.

Dubbing it London’s “most traditional Peruvian yet”, Casa Andita takes culinary inspiration from ingredients grown in the Andes. Textiles are made using ancient Andean weaving techniques while Peruvian artworks adorn the walls. Boasting a ceviche counter and Pisco bar, among the dishes on the menu are king prawns with coriander quinoa; black king fish with tiger’s milk and pickled pineapple; and lamb loin with garlic mama.

Berber & Q Shawarma Bar

Another white hot chef expanding his portfolio is Josh Katz, who, after the roaring success of his debut venture, Berber & Q in Haggerston, is branching out with a little sister Shawarma Bar in Exmouth Market. The spit roast is the star of the show here, where the likes of slow cooked lamb and slow-braised beef short rib will be in rotation, alongside rotisserie chicken.

Berber & Q’s signature cauliflower dish makes a cameo, stuffed inside a shawarma with golden sultanas and pine nuts. If you’ve still got room the ice cream pia sandwiches with tahini soft serve and caramelised banana sounds like the stuff of dreams.

Blanchette East

Also opening a second site this month is French fancy Blanchette, whose Soho original charmed us with its shabby chic décor, delicious dishes and wallet-friendly prices. Owners Max and Yannis are opening their second site on Brick Lane on 7 August, and this time the food has more of a Southern French feel with a North African twist, while interiors take inspiration from Belle Epoque Paris.

Among the new dishes devised by head chef Tam Storrar are lamb tagine with apricots, almonds and rose harissa; roast poussin with tarragon; and wild strawberry and black pepper vacherin. The wine list focuses on French drops, and you can expect a similarly cool soundtrack as the original.

Patty & Bun Redchurch Street 

Patty & Bun is on fire at the moment, having just opened a fifth site on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch, to add to its locations in Soho, the City, London Fields and the original just behind Selfridges. Giving hispters the chance to get their Ari Gold fix, street level offers counter seating on red leather stools, while the open kitchen and bar reside in the basement. In addition to burgers, the new P&B serves beer nuts, bacon chops, fries with shrimp and chilli salt, and a divine sounding fried potato soft egg with roast chicken mayo and chicken skin salt.

Kricket Soho

I don’t like Kricket – I love it. And so do many others, hence the need to open a second site to complement the Brixton original. Specialising in Indian small plates and killer cocktails, the Soho sister will be larger than the shipping container in Brixton.

Details of the new site are sparse at the moment, but expect its signature KFC (Keralan Fried Chicken) to make an appearance alongside samphire pakoras with chili garlic mayo; smoked sweet potato with gunpowder; and torched mackerel with puffed rice and cucumber pickle. Cocktails may feature the likes of the Chakra Phool, made with star anise Bourbon, lime and pomegranate.

Zia Lucia / Voodoo Rays

We bring you not one but two new pizza restaurants this month. The first, Zia Lucia (auntie Lucy) is jazzing up Holloway road with its 48-hour slow fermented dough bases including a black one made with charcoal. Wood-fired pizzas are blitzed in a Neapolitan oven and are topped with butternut squash, toasted almonds, artichokes and nduja.

Priced from £7-11, we like the look of the Arianna, featuring mozzarella, fresh sausage, goat’s cheese, pecorino and truffle honey. Also new to the pizza game is a third Voodoo Rays site in Camden serving up 22-inch pies like the Rubenesque, piled high with salt beef, sauerkraut, emmental, Russian dressing and mozzarella.

Mamie’s / Where the Pancakes Are

And finally… you wait all year for a pancake specialist and then two come at once. Even better, one of the sites also doubles as a cidrothèque. Named Mamie’s in honour of founder Aymeric Peurois’ grandmother, each of the crêpes and galettes one offer comes with a suggested pairing of Brittany and Normandy cider. Savoury fillings include egg, ham and emmental; and smoked bacon, sautéed mushrooms and soured cream.

Those in search of something sweeter can enjoy crêpes filled with pears, salted-butter caramel and caramelised pecans; or flambéed in a spirit of your choice: calvados, rum, Grand Marnier or Cognac. Also getting us flipping excited is the prospect of Where the Pancakes Are, near db towers on Union Street. This will be the first fixed site of the street food trader and will serve everything from buttermilk stacks to buckwheat blinis alongside Prosecco and craft cider. We love the look of the Benedict, crammed with smoked ham, a poached egg, hollandaise and pea shoots.