News

London’s hottest restaurant openings: July 2023

04 July 2023 By Louis Thomas

July is set to to see a number of exciting restaurant openings in London, including a new noodle shop from Bao in Battersea, and Brat restaurateur Tomos Parry’s site in Soho.

Bao Battersea – 17 July

Following in the footsteps of Bao Shoreditch, which also focused on noodles rather than the eponymous steamed buns, this latest opening will be going big on broths. Among the numerous variations of the dish available are two beefy versions: one Taipei-style, with a rich broth, braised beef cheeks, spiced beef butter and fermented greens, and the other a lighter Tainan-style rendition, with rare poached beef and even rarer (in the other sense of the word) white soy. There’s also crispy cheese croquettes with pickled plum ketchup, and, going back to the buns, sanbei tofu bao, as well as several other non-noodle dishes to enjoy between slurps.

For drinks, a summertime Shaved Ice Strawberry Daiquiri might do the trick, or the amusingly-named Bun Inch Punch (yuzu sake, passion fruit, Aperol, and jasmine pearl tea).

To find out more, click here.

64 Old Compton Street – 3 July

Soho ain’t what it used to be, which may be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective, but it might start to claw back some of its charm thanks to the opening of a new neighbourhood Italian eatery.

Related to 40 Dean Street, just a stone’s throw away, owner Nima Safei described the difference between the two as follows: “40 is the older gay brother who’s been around for a while and knows where the party’s at, while 64 is the cool lesbian sister who’s new on the scene but intends to make her presence felt.”

Dishes on the menu of 64 Old Compton Street include white pizza with wild mushrooms & truffles, smoked chicken caesar salad, and pistachio tiramisu. Like 40 Dean Street, the ingredients are sourced from local suppliers. A sample menu also reveals a small Franco-Italian wine list, including ‘Saten’ La Valle Franciacorta, Magda Padrini Gavi di Gavi and Fattoria di Calappiano Chianti.

To find out more, click here.

Pavyllon + Bar Antoine – 1 July

A two-in-one, both of these offerings from chef Yannick Alléno have just opened at the Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane.

Pavyllon has been designed in collaboration with Chahan Minassian, with the menu firmly-rooted in the French gastronomy that has won Alléno acclaim (and 15 stars in Michelin) across his 17 global restaurants.

Dishes include creamy pounded langoustine with potato & basil tuiles, & white onion emulsion, and brioche-crusted sea bass quenelles.

The bar is named in tribute to Alléno’s son Antoine, an up-and-coming chef who was killed at the age of 24 when he was hit by a stolen car.

Also designed by Minassian, wood-panelled walls and plush seating have been chosen to provide a comfortable yet classy experience, elevated by French jazz. A large outdoor terrace can hold an additional 70 covers.

Head mixologist Michele Lombari and bar manager Ivan Arena worked with Alléno to develop the cocktail offering, which includes covers of popular hits, like the Espresso Martini with mushroom foam, as well as original creations and ‘Allenotics’, hand-crafted tonic mixers developed by Alléno and the team.

The bar’s chef de cuisine Paul Zocsowka has concocted a Japanese-influenced menu to match, including Antoine’s Burger, a teriyaki-influenced burger that took three months to perfect. Other dishes include shiso leaf tempura with caviar, and, drawing inspiration from closer to home, Alléno’s take on fish & chips.

To find out more, click here.

Mountain – 11 July

Tomos Parry, who brought Basque-inspired seafood and a tome-like wine list to Shoreditch and Climpson’s Arch with Brat, will be providing Soho with a taste of Spain from next week.

Judging by Instagram, Parry and the team have been getting quite hands on when it comes to seeking out the ingredients to use, including finding the best sugar kelp seaweed, cockles, clams, velvet crabs and lobsters from the coast of Parry’s native Wales.

Mallorcan sobrasada, grilled lamb chops and lobster caldereta (using a Menorcan recipe with a crustacean from Anglesey, apparently), are some of the dishes that have been teased. The restaurant will also have a bakery, with Pamela Yung, formerly of Flor, overseeing the launch.

Similar attention has been given to the wine list for the Beak Street site, thanks to the efforts of heads of wine Martina Larnach and Holly Wilcocks. The house vermouth has been sourced from Sicily.

To find out more, click here.

Sushi Kanesaka – 1 July

As the sequel to Shinji Kanesaka two-Michelin-starred restaurant of the same name in Tokyo, Sushi Kanesaka is a restaurant with real pedigree and it knows it – before it even opened it hit the headlines due to its no perfume policy, as it was deemed that the scent would overpower the aroma of the food.

While reactions to the clamp down on cologne were somewhat mixed, it has still been a much-anticipated opening. With just 13 seats, and almost as many staff on hand, plus the 45 Park Lane address and the 20 course dinner, the £420 per person price tag starts to make a bit more sense.

Wine List Confidential author Douglas Blyde recently spoke with the restaurant’s sake master Saki Takase about her life, pairings, and how Sushi Kanesaka will be serving its sake.

To find out more, click here.

To read about some of last month’s openings, click here.

Fashion brands continue to stir up the drinks market

Turbulent year for fine wine affects revenues at Berry Bros. & Rudd