The New London Restaurants Everyone Will Be Talking About This September
September marks the unofficial start of London’s restaurant new year, and this one is looking particularly busy. From one of the chefs behind Mangal II going solo in Soho to a cult Parisian smashburger spot expanding and a former River Café chef reinventing the neighbourhood pub, there’s plenty worth booking. Here are the new London restaurants opening this September that should be on your radar.
Opening this week
Bamboo Mat
Nikkei restaurant Bamboo Mat is following its Stratford original with a much larger, 82-cover restaurant in Wood Wharf. Spread across two floors, there’ll be a raw and cocktail bar downstairs and robata, sushi and hot kitchen upstairs. Expect the same Japanese-Peruvian combination of sushi, ceviche, tiradito and teriyaki that made its first location a hit.
when: 29 september
Where: 1 North Ln, Canary Wharf Estate, London E22 3AD
Website: www.canarywharf.com
More openings to know
Gordon Ramsay at Sea Containers
Gordon Ramsay is taking over the restaurant at Sea Containers London this September, bringing his signature British cooking to the South Bank. The new riverside restaurant will put British produce at the centre of the menu, with a particular focus on seafood, shellfish and premium cuts from the grill. Throw in those floor-to-ceiling views across the Thames and it marks a significant new chapter for the hotel’s restaurant — and another major London opening for Ramsay.
When: 1 september
Where: Sea Containers London, 20 Upper Ground, London SE1 9PD
Website: www.seacontainerslondon.com
KID
One of September’s biggest openings comes from Sertaç Dirik, the chef who helped transform Mangal II, joining forces with OMA and AGORA’s David Carter. KID will explore Dirik’s Turkish heritage through seasonal British produce, with tombik pide from the wood-fired oven, içli köfte stuffed with aged ex-dairy beef, coal-cooked Cornish scallops and goat kid braised overnight in clay. The Soho restaurant will also have a downstairs bakery and counter seats overlooking the grill.
when: 1 september
Where: 53-55 Frith Street, London, England
Website: www.kid.london
Manna
London’s smashburger obsession isn’t slowing down just yet. Arcade-backed Manna is opening its first standalone restaurant in Marylebone after building a following inside Arcade and expanding to Dubai last year. The walk-in-only restaurant will serve its Double Manna, Classic Smash and waffle fries in a space inspired by the burger joints of the ’80s and ’90s. There are two Marylebone exclusives worth saving room for: a gloriously old-school trifle made with strawberry milk-soaked sponge and Bird’s Custard, and cola floats in classic, chocolate and cherry.
When: 4 september
Where: 54 James Street, W1U 1EU
Website: www.mannaburgers.co.uk
Kerridge’s & Georgie’s Bar, Corinthia London
Eight years after Tom Kerridge first arrived at Corinthia London, Kerridge’s is reopening with a new look and a brand-new bar. The restaurant is now a more intimate 57-cover affair, continuing its produce-led British cooking under Head Chef Tom Childs, with dishes including crab crumpets, Orkney scallop pie and whole Cornish lobster Thermidor alongside steaks from The Chef’s Larder. Next door, the larger Georgie’s Bar is designed as a destination in its own right, with four freezer Martinis, including a Steak Martini finished with a house-smoked pickled onion, plus buttermilk fried chicken, BBQ brisket cheeseburgers and shellfish brioche rolls. Come Saturday night, there’ll be a DJ too.
when: 5 september
Where: 10 Northumberland Ave, London WC2N 5AE
Website: www.kerridgesbarandgrill.co.uk
God Save The Pizza
Macellaio RC founder Roberto Costa is turning his attention from steak to pizza with God Save The Pizza. Rather than obsessing over the dough, the new Exmouth Market restaurant wants to put toppings back in charge, using thin, crispy Roman-style sourdough as their base. Pizzas range from a classic tomato, mozzarella cream and parmesan number to the considerably more controversial ‘Extremist’, topped with ham, cheddar, pineapple sauce and four-cheese cream. You can also build your own with up to four toppings, should you think you can do better.
When: 8 September
Where: 38-40 Exmouth Market
Website: www.gstpizza.com
Beefbar at Dear Jackie, Soho
International steakhouse Beefbar is taking over Dear Jackie at Broadwick Soho for its new UK flagship. Already found everywhere from Monte Carlo to New York, Beefbar takes a rather more glamorous approach to the traditional steakhouse, with Japanese Kobe and Australian Wagyu alongside lighter Riviera-inspired dishes and new plates created for London. Expect redesigned interiors and a new terrace, too.
When: 10 september
Where: Lower Ground, 20 Broadwick St, London W1F 9NE
Website: www.broadwicksoho.com
Marrion’s Bar
Former Lyle’s, French House and Leroy chef Elliott Kaye, who also co-founded the much-loved Norman’s, is going solo with Marrion’s. The walk-in-only Hackney neighbourhood bar is leaning firmly into food you actually want with a drink: devilled crab rarebit, pork schnitzel Holstein, moules frites, prawn cocktail and a tuna melt, with dishes priced between £6 and £16. There’ll be Spanish vermouth, £5 glasses of wine and a rotating house Martini, plus Sunday brunch for those who make it through the night before.
when: 10 september
Where: 177 Morning Lane, Hackney, E9 6LH
Website: www.instagram.com
Nettle
Chef and farmer Will Devlin is opening Nettle five floors above Covent Garden at The Conduit — and you don’t need to be a member to eat there. Much of the produce comes from Devlin’s own Kent farm and butchery, with the charcoal-led menu spanning house-cured meats, hake croquettes, wild rabbit, Kent lamb and whole day-boat fish. Add a rooftop garden and views over Covent Garden for the final days of summer.
When: 16 september
Where: Nettle, 5th Floor, The Conduit, 6 Langley Street, London, WC2H 9JA
Website: www.nettle-restaurant.co.uk
Romy Gill at The Pem, St. James’s
Romy Gill MBE is returning to a permanent restaurant kitchen for the first time in six years, taking over The Pem at Conrad London St. James. Her new menu travels across India’s regional cooking, from Punjab and Kerala to Bengal, with an emphasis on generous, shared dining. Expect Gill’s signature butter chicken alongside samosa chaat, hand-dived scallops with raw mango and date-tamarind, ghee-roasted quail and slow-braised lamb with Kashmiri morels. Drinks follow suit, with cardamom-spiked Old Fashioneds, coconut and cumin highballs and a pomegranate Negroni.
When: 17 september
Where: 22-28 Broadway, London SW1H 0BH
Website: www.romygillatthepem.com
Pearl
The Beaumont is opening a standalone restaurant in the rather lovely Brown Hart Gardens. Overseen by Culinary Director Lisa Goodwin-Allen, Pearl will serve all-day Mediterranean food inspired by Italy, Spain and Greece, beginning with coffee, pastries and breakfast before moving into à la carte dining, spritzes and aperitivo. An expansive terrace inspired by Milanese piazzas and Riviera promenades should make the unusual elevated Mayfair garden even more of a destination.
When: 26 september
Where: 8 Balderton St, Brown Hart Gardens, London W1K 6TF
Website: www.thebeaumont.com
Five Feet
Five Feet comes from Legare’s Jay Patel, WatchHouse founder Roland Horne and baker Jack Ellingham, formerly of Dusty Knuckle and Spring. Heritage British grains will be milled on-site before becoming thick, airy pizzas baked in black iron pans. Toppings include fennel sausage with ricotta and Calabrian chilli honey and potato with caramelised onion, scamorza and aged cheddar, alongside wings, focaccia di Recco and plenty of dips.
when: september
Where: 04 Tanner Street, Bermondsey, London, SE1 3LD
Website: www.fivefeet.co.uk
Talli Queen
Former River Café chef and Pahli Hill founder Avi Shashidhara is transforming a 120-year-old Shepherd’s Bush pub into Talli Queen. Inspired by Kerala toddy shops, Bangalore pubs and Indian drinking culture, the menu includes toddy shop clams, Kerala chilli beef, kebabs, goat nihari and Shashidhara’s Great British Menu papadi chaat. Sundays will bring an Indian spin on the pub roast, while 18 draught lines ensure this remains very much a drinking establishment too.
when: september
Where: 412 Uxbridge Rd, London W12 0NR
Website: www.thetalliqueen.co.uk
DUMBO
Parisian smashburger favourite DUMBO is following last year’s Shoreditch arrival with a second London restaurant on Berwick Street. The formula stays pleasingly simple: smashburgers using meat from HG Walter, fries and crispy chicken nuggets. Parisian studio Rooda is behind the stripped-back Soho space, putting the kitchen at its centre among stainless steel, bare concrete and yellow resin tables.
when: september
Where: 37 Berwick St, London W1F 8RJ
Website: www.dumboparis.com
ALBA Omakase
ALBA is adding a ten-seat omakase counter this September, with just one sitting each evening at 7.30pm. Creative Chef Dmytro Pak has created nine and 12-course menus led nightly by Japanese Head Chef Takuya Kaneko, formerly of Zuma, with ingredients including Hokkaido uni, bluefin otoro and Kristal and Beluga caviar. The interesting bit is ALBA’s Italian-Japanese crossover, drawing connections between ingredients such as the sea urchin eaten on both countries’ coastlines.
When: September
Where: 70 Brompton Rd, London SW3 1ER
Website: www.alba-ldn.uk
