The New Restaurant Collabs Every Foodie Is Secretly Booking
If you’re looking to book something a bit more exciting than your usual dinner out, this is where to start. Chef collaborations and kitchen takeovers are London’s way of keeping things fresh — bringing new chefs into familiar kitchens, shaking up menus, and creating experiences that feel a little more special (and a lot more limited).
From one-night-only dinners to week-long residencies, these are the tables that people tend to hear about just in time — or just too late. Whether it’s a visiting chef, a cross-city collab or a full kitchen takeover, they offer something you won’t find on the regular menu — and won’t get the chance to try twice.
Ria’s x Chuck’s
Comfort food collaborations can easily tip into gimmick, but Ria’s x Chuck’s sounds like it knows what it is doing; they’ve already tempted me into booking. On 23 April, Detroit-style pizza and natural wine bar Ria’s teams up with cult NYC smash burger spot Chuck’s for a one-night-only set menu at both the Soho and Notting Hill sites. The menu leans gleefully indulgent: poutine, a Detroit x NYC chopped cheese pizza, and a pickleback-inspired cocktail are all in the mix. Better still, the collaboration pizza sticks around on the menu for the following week, so even those who miss the dinner can still get a taste. It is Ria’s first guest chef collaboration, and it sounds like the sort of loud, fun, no-notes debut that suits them perfectly.
When: 23 April
Where: SOHO & Notting Hill
Website: www.sevenrooms.com
SENSORA with BICEP
This is easily one of the most ambitious events of the season, and one to have on your radar this month ahead of it’s early May launch. On 5 May, BICEP join a line-up of Michelin-starred and acclaimed chefs for SENSORA, a multi-sensory fundraising dinner at HERE at Outernet in aid of The Brain Tumour Charity. Created by brothers Mark Tuttiett of two Michelin-starred Da Terra and James Tuttiett, the evening is built around the senses, with each course representing one of them. Chefs, including Cal Byerley, Holly Middleton Joseph, Mark Donald, Will Murray, Tom Brown and Mark Tuttiett himself, will each contribute a dish, while BICEP performs a specially curated set around the meal before closing the night with a DJ set. With welcome drinks from, unsurprisingly, Three Sheets, wines throughout, a personal story behind the event and all proceeds going to charity.
when: 5 may
Where: Charing Cross Rd, London WC2H 8LH
Website: www.uk.emma-live.com
The Newt in Somerset at Tate Modern
On 17 April, The Newt in Somerset heads to Tate Modern for a spring supper that brings a taste of the West Country to Bankside. Head of Food Gelf Alderson joins Tate’s Tommy Boland and The Newt’s Cellar Master Luke Benson for a three-course banquet-style menu inspired by the estate’s produce, from spring cabbage and buffalo-milk cheese to heritage British white beef. The extra draw is the drinks: four cyder pairings from The Newt’s orchards, including the fresh, Riesling-like Wyvern Wing and the estate’s richly aromatic Ice Cyder for dessert. It is part dinner, part deep dive into fine cyder, and exactly the kind of countryside-meets-capital crossover that makes these events so appealing.
When: 17 april
Where: Bankside, London SE1 9TG
Website: www.tate.org.uk
Three Sheets x Dumplings’ Legend
Some collaborations are less about spectacle and more about the excitement of two cult favourites trading signatures. Throughout April, Three Sheets and Dumplings’ Legend are teaming up for a month-long crossover, with a dim sum special at Three Sheets and a tea-infused Three Sheets cocktail on the menu at Dumplings’ Legend. It is a clever format: light-touch, city-wide, and built for people who like their exclusive offerings to feel woven into real restaurant life rather than staged for a single evening.
When: Throughout April
Where: Three Sheets & Dumplings’ Legend
Website: www.threesheetsbar.com
Adejoké Bakare at Updown
On 26 April, Michelin-starred chef Adejoké Bakare of Chishuru returns to Updown Farmhouse for a one-night-only dinner celebrating West African cuisine. Drawing on her Nigerian upbringing and the contrasting food traditions of her parents, the menu brings bold, layered flavours to the Kent countryside with the likes of Fire-roasted Spring Lamb and Roasted Scallaps alongside an Aridan Crème Caramel with plantain chips (plus much more). It’ll build on a collaboration that already proved a natural fit.
When: 26 April
Where: Updown Farmhouse, Updown Rd, Betteshanger, Deal CT14 0EF
Website: www.updownfarmhouse.com
MOI x Leo Carreira
At MOI on 14 April, the collaboration is more intimate but no less exciting. For one night only, Head Chef Nick Tannett welcomes Leo Carreira, now Head Chef at Barbela in Lisbon, for a four-hands dinner shaped by shared history and a mutual connection to Nuno Mendes. The eight-course menu (£95) uses seasonal British produce filtered through Japanese technique, with dishes including Isle of Mull scallop with umeboshi and lardo, Dorset crab with dashi jelly and shiso, and Old Spot pork with black bean and burnt shallot miso. It sounds like a dinner that will appeal to top chefs and keen regulars alike — technically sharp, elegant, and built upon a creative alignment rather than PR convenience. Win.
When: 14 april
Where:84 Wardour Street London, London, England, W1F 0TQ
Website: www.sevenrooms.com
El Pastor x Santiago Muñoz Moctezuma
For the next instalment of its EP + Amigos series, El Pastor London Bridge is hosting Santiago Muñoz Moctezuma of Mexico City’s beloved Maizajo on 16 April. It’s rooted in a shared obsession, one that I, too, share — corn. Santiago’s cooking at Maizajo revolves around heirloom maize and nixtamalisation, and the one-night-only family-style menu brings that approach to London through dishes such as tacos de camarón, campechano taco, guava mole, and tres leches with toasted corn ice cream alongside a welcome drink from Tequila Herradura. At £50 per person, it is also one of the more accessible chef events on the list.
when: 16 april
Where: 7A Stoney Street London, SE1 9AA United Kingdom
Website: www.sevenrooms.com
Yannick Alléno x Claude Bosi
When two of modern French cooking’s biggest names share a kitchen, the result was never going to be subtle. On 29 April, Yannick Alléno welcomes Claude Bosi to Pavyllon London for a one-night-only dinner as part of the restaurant’s Counter Culture series. For the evening, Pavyllon will shift into a bouchon-style bistro inspired by Claude’s Joséphine restaurants, while the chefs present a collaborative six-course menu (£145) that brings together Bosi’s Lyonnaise roots and Alléno’s more technical, modern French approach, including his extraction and cryoconcentration techniques. Guests seated at the counter will also get to watch both chefs at work, which is half the pleasure of a collaboration like this. I must add, these are two of my favourite restaurants in London, a more than fitting duo.
When: 29 April
Where: Hamilton Pl, London W1J 7DR
Website: www.pavyllonlondon.com
Cubitt House x Niklas Ekstedt
On 10 April, the next Cubitt House Eats With dinner welcomes celebrated Swedish chef Niklas Ekstedt to The Orange in Pimlico. Ekstedt, known for his work with live fire and Nordic cooking, will join Ben Tish’s kitchen to cook from his forthcoming Swedish Cookbook. These guest-chef dinners tend to work best when they bring a strong point of view into an established dining room, and Ekstedt’s fire-led, deeply Scandinavian style should do exactly that. Expect smoke, bold flavours and a glimpse of one of Europe’s most distinctive culinary voices in a pub setting.
When: 10 april
Where: 37-39 Pimlico Road, Belgravia, London, SW1W 8NE
Website: www.sevenrooms.com
Durban Curry House at Carousel
Carousel remains one of London’s most reliable homes for exciting guest chefs, and from 7–11 April, it hosts Layla Morris and Luke Moody of Durban Curry House for a five-night residency. The duo, winners of Brixton Kitchen and formerly part of the senior team at Fallow, are bringing a menu shaped by the exuberant spice and swagger of Durban curry culture. Dishes include cheese and corn samosa, South Beach pineapple, chicken and prawn curry, and quarter mutton bunny chow — all big on heat, brightness and personality. This screams the kind of residency Carousel does particularly well: a project on the rise, landing in Marylebone at just the right time.
When: 7-11 april
Where: 19-23 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 1RL
Website: www.carousel-london.com
