Restaurants

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food With plenty of exciting restaurant openings constantly taking place across the Capital, here’s our pick of the best new restaurants arriving in London over the coming month. Austen’s Smokehouse – Kensal Rise It’s no secret that DJ Yoda loves his food. Now, for the first time ever, the artist will be bringing his love of BBQ to Kensal Rise for his first restaurant opening. Set to open its doors later in the month, the 80-cover restaurant set across...

By Emma Silverthorn, @HouseOf_Gazelle Don’t go to Umami for the ambience - the restaurant is on the first floor of a Crowne Plaza Hotel - and though ‘Smooth Jazz’ was advertised, the music sounded more like muzak to me. The décor is certainly aiming for stylish contemporary but could be better described as corny. And on the Friday night that we went the hotel had been taken over by a loud wedding party, so drunken guests provided the night’s entertainment. Bluntly:...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Having visited Mr Ramsay’s relatively new Heddon Street Kitchen, as well as Jamie Oliver’s Barbecoa (the competition that’s situated just next door) to Bread Street Kitchen, in recent months, I find myself very excited to finally sample what’s on offer at BSK, having enjoyed my trip to the restaurant’s little sister situated in Central London. Arriving at Gordon’s corner of One New Change (the shopping centre that’s located mere metres from St. Paul’s Cathedral)...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Dating as far back as the 1700s with the namesake penned in homage to John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, who allegedly came up with the concept of eating his meals pressed between two slices of bread: the classic Sandwich is now one of the most popular universal lunchtime dishes. Sure, the concept has evolved a little over the years, but the general precipice has remained the same. For many, the idea of a...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food For a short while, I thought that our most recent reservation at Oblix would never have gone ahead. Thankfully, the restaurant understands that Southeastern can be a cruel beast, with it a train service that’s more temperamental than the British weather. Located upon the 32nd floor of London’s tallest skyscraper – The Shard – it’s a real shame that the view is often more famous than the restaurant’s food. Having visited Oblix twice beforehand,...

By Jack Peat, TLE Editor  Take the Pulaski Bridge from Long Island City in New York and you will arrive at the most northerly tip of Brooklyn in Greenpoint. The borough, once home to a thriving immigrant community, is now awash with art studios, trendy residential conversions and artisanal gin. It’s not quite Williamsburg, but it’s a poignant representation of how Brooklyn has slowly succumbed to gentrification. Vauxhall could almost be twinned with Brooklyn’s chic refurbished boroughs. Once reserved for...

Placed on the corner of London’s Mayfair Place and Berkeley Street, just a stone’s throw from the famous Nobu, Novikov is the eponymous London branch of highly successful restaurateur Arkady Novikov’s restaurant empire. A premise so vast that it has space for 540 seats, it’s split into two restaurants and a swanky Lounge Bar. Upstairs, on ground-level, an Asian restaurant serves the sort of expensive Pan-Asian food that needs a burly security guard to send any passing riff-raff quickly on...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food With thousands of restaurants open across London, there’s always been a disappointing lack in popularity that surrounds Moroccan cuisine. Thankfully, however, a brand new seven-week summer pop-up has arrived at the top of London’s iconic 30 St. Mary’s Axe – best known as The Gherkin. Not only does the new Moroccan Sky Riad bring a slice of North Africa to East London, the views that accompany the experience are absolutely sensational. The weather, upon...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food With six restaurants now spread out across the city, the original Rosa’s Thai Café can be found just between Spitalfields Market and East London’s bustling Brick Lane. Set up by husband and wife duo Alex and Saiphin Moore, following the success of a Brick Lane street food stall, it seems that the premises is often filled to capacity with tourists and locals alike. Upon arriving, our booking is nowhere to be seen, fortunately there...