One of New York’s most esteemed modern restaurants, Llama Inn, will open in London in September, bringing scallop ceviche, crispy squid, and pork buns to the rooftop of The Hoxton in Shoreditch.
The Peruvian joint, which launched in Brooklyn in 2015, has enjoyed glowing reviews in its time — a year in, The New Yorker described a dish of red snapper tiradito as “elegant, like fruity silk,” while the New York Times listed it in its top 100 restaurants in 2023. Meanwhile, it has had a Bib Gourmand awarded by Michelin every year since opening.
Founders Juan Correa and chef Erik Ramirez are now hoping to inspire the same cult appeal in London, with a menu that draws inspiration from Ramirez’s Peruvian-American background “in the spirit of the Brooklyn original.”
“London is one of (if not the) greatest cities in the world,” Correa told the Standard.
“Walking its streets feels second nature to us — its diversity and freedom of thought makes us feel like in Brooklyn. Forward looking, irreverent, rather than stalled in tradition.
“We are also big admirers of its dining and bar scene and the exciting voices coming from new chefs from all over the world. The neighborhood [Shoreditch] reminds us very much of Williamsburg where the original Llama Inn is located. In a way, both neighbourhoods have had a similar and parallel trajectory.”
Press fluff said dishes are founded in the diverse culinary heritage of Peru, but captured through a New York lens. In London, the kitchen will be led by Marcin Maliczowski, previously of the famed Peruvian chef Gastón Acurio’s Barcelona restaurant Yakumanaka.
His menu will feature snacks such as cabbage, chanacaca, saikyo miso, and quinoa furikake; squid with yuca, rocoto, chocolo, and cancha; and arroz con mariscos alongside tortillas, huacaina, and chalaca.
A cocktail menu is also on the way thanks to Llama Inn’s bar director Natasha Bermudez. Her signature drinks — a “one shot martini” made with Japanese gin, dry vermouth, and blue cheese olives among them — will sit alongside low-intervention and biodynamic wines.
The restaurant will have its own entrance on Willow Street and be housed in a glass-topped and sided dining room on the Shoreditch hotel’s roof. Plenty of foliage and sofa seating, promising cosy skyline views.
