Recent news from the restaurant world might suggest a cold front arriving in the capital chillier than the summer weather. UK restaurant closures are at a 10-year-high — an average of five are closing per day — while a fifth of restaurant owners are considering shutting for good because of no-shows and last-minute cancellations. All the more reason, then, to support the restaurants bravely launching in August, when half of London seems to have decamped to Cornwall or the Cotswolds. Some are from the biggest names in national (and international) dining, others are street-food outfits finding their first permanent home. Whichever tables you reserve — naturally, we’d recommend all of them — on no account don’t turn up for your booking.
Fazenda
Further proof that the flow of London restaurants is not a one-way stream out of town, this South American-themed meat specialist follows successful launches in the capital of Northern restaurant groups Mowgli and Six by Nico. Fazenda operates five restaurants between Birmingham and Edinburgh and has opened its first London outpost in vast premises in the City, where acres of Italian marble and leather will hopefully distract attention from the glassy corporate surrounds. Expect the house speciality of rodizio, an avalanche of 12 grilled meats carved at the table for a flat price (£49.90) that includes cold platters and tapas; there’s also an à la carte menu for smaller appetites, plus non-meat options such as beetroot tortellini. With a South American wine and cocktail list, Fazenda sounds tailor-made for City boys and girls out on the after-work razz.
Opens: August 2
100 Bishopsgate Tower, EC2M 1GT, fazenda.co.uk
64 Goodge Street
London’s rekindled love affair with bourgeois bistro cooking gets another pin-up with this French fancy from the team behind the very English Quality Chop House. Head chef Stuart Andrew invented the famed game pithivier at sibling Portland and will be here cooking up classic dishes inspired by his time working in Paris: Bayonne ham and celeriac remoulade, lobster vol-au-vent with sauce Américaine, fig leaf bavarois. Co-owner Will Lander is the son of legendary wine critic Jancis Robinson and has inherited his mum’s discerning palate, so expect some gems on a list with Burgundy at its heart; a glass of sparkling Crémant de Bourgogne with a welcome plate of cheese gougères, perhaps. Figure on around £15 for a starter and double that for a main.
Opens: August 7
64 Goodge Street, W1T 4NF, 64goodgestreet.co.uk
Luci
The latest London opening from Hong Kong-based Aqua Restaurant Group, which recently launched Shiro in the City, Luci is an all-day Italian in Covent Garden, the sort of touristy location necessary when there are 200 seats to fill. Mornings will see pastries such as flaky cornetto and ricotta-filled cannoli washed down with a breakfast cappuccino, ahead of lunchtime pastas (fusilli pesto with Parmigiano Reggiano, say), pizza from the wood oven or a sandwich of roasted pepper and Tallegio focaccia. More substantial lunch and dinner plates include chicken cacciatore and lamb meatballs, plus parmigiana di melanzane for vegetarians. A bar mixing Negronis and espresso martinis should offer somewhere decent for a drink if the cocktails at Shard stablemates Aqua and Hutong are anything to go by.
Opens: Mid August
136 Long Acre, WC2E 9AD, lucirestaurant.co.uk
Origin City
This sounds like a bit of an under-the-radar gem worth knowing about. Origin City is a restaurant proper from the owners of 56 West Smithfield wine bar nearby and a real labour of love. All the meat (butchered in house) comes from the family’s 600-acre organic farm in Argyll, with heritage breeds such as Black Aberdeen Angus, Tamworth outdoor-reared pigs and Texel lamb to the fore; all of the seafood comes from their aquafarm, Loch Fyne Oyster, and much of the wine list is sourced from their organic vineyard, Château de la Cômbe, in Provence. The pasture-to-plate, nose-to-tail menu from former Rules and Langham chef Graham Chatham will include devilled ox tongue, aged black pig cutlet with savoy cabbage and sauce charcutière, and halibut anchoïade, as well as steak cooked over the flames of the grill in an open kitchen. Can’t stand the heat? There is also a small terrace for a glass of Provençal rosé or a dram of Scotch whisky.
Opens: August 16 (20 per cent off food until August 15)
12 West Smithfield, EC1A 9JR, origincity.co.uk
Taco Taco
So good they named it twice, Taco Taco is co-owned by Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech, who is heading east with the co-founders of Inca London to prove that you can pretty much put anything on a taco, from salmon poké to scrambled eggs. Things, ahem, kick off with breakfasts of sourdough tacos with melted mozzarella and hash browns ahead of an all-day menu featuring the more South American likes of pulled beef tacos with chipotle chilli sauce, and pulled smoked anticucho chicken tacos. Vegan versions feature the Latin American delicacy of huitlacoche, which is what happens to corn when it is attacked by fungus: think sweetcorn crossed with the earthy flavour of mushrooms. And far nicer than its English name of “corn smut”. Everything is available to takeaway, too.
Opens: August 26
141 Commercial Street, E1 6BJ, tacotaco.uk
Also Opening
Bancone Borough Yards
A third outpost for the pasta specialist famous for its Insta-bait “silk handkerchiefs” of walnut butter and confit egg yolk, and a first for south London, in shiny premises featuring counter seating around an open kitchen.
Opens: August 1
Arch 213, 18 Stoney Street, SE1 9AD, bancone.co.uk
En Root
Indian vegan outfit En Root has added a fourth south London location, permanently taking over the kitchen of The Railway pub in Tulse Hill following a successful three-month pop-up.
Opens: August 1
7 Station Rise, SE27 9BW, therailwaytulsehill.co.uk
Evi’s
A first bricks-and-mortar site for East Dulwich market stall Souvlaki Street offering mezze of freshly made dips, grilled whole squid, Greek salads and grilled meat from the Yorkshire Dales.
Opens: August 4
18 North Cross Road, SE22 9EU, evisrestaurant.com
The Table Battersea
A Battersea outpost of Southwark’s The Table, offering a similar line-up of brunch classics (ham hock and chorizo hash, buttermilk chicken burger), plus small plates and cocktails in the evening.
Opens: August 15
35-37 Battersea Rise, SW11 1HG, thetablecafe.com
Eight Hundred Flavours
Ownership by Shao Wei, the regional Chinese pioneer behind Barshu, should mean that this street-food specialist focusing on the cuisine of the northern coastal region of Qingdao fulfils the promise of its name.
Opens: Late August
8 Little Newport Street, WC2H 7JJ, 8hundredflavours.co.uk
