It is 27 years since Restaurant Gordon Ramsay opened in Chelsea, propelling its namesake patron to three Michelin stars and global domination as the most famous chef in the world. But if the London restaurant landscape is unrecognisable from 1998, so too is the city itself, something that can be appreciated from the 60th floor of 22 Bishopsgate this month, when Ramsay opens three restaurants, one bar and a cookery school on top of the UK’s tallest office tower. It feels a very long way from when Windows at the Park Lane Hilton was the summit of London dining.
Other new ventures this month demonstrate just as eloquently how things have changed in the past quarter of a century: a glamorous pub in Shoreditch, an all-day Indian on Shaftesbury Avenue and a Soho sandwich emporium opened by a classically trained chef. February might be the shortest month of the year, but it will be a tall order to top this lot over the next 12 months.
Gordon Ramsay at 22 Bishopsgate
Britain’s most famous chef is opening three dining rooms across the top three floors of London’s tallest office building, the 61-storey 22 Bishopsgate, which will make these the country’s highest restaurants. There will be a Bread Street Kitchen, but more interesting will be a City outpost of Mayfair pan-Asian Lucky Cat (pictured), and the first spin-off from Chelsea’s Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Lucky Cat will come complete with 360-degree views of the capital and a DJ bar with a 3am licence; Gordon Ramsay High will be rather more demure, a 12-seat chef’s table serving the same sort of modern French tasting menu that has won three Michelin stars for the original. Want to cook like Gordon? There’s a Hexclad cookery school, too.
Opens: February 3
22 Bishopsgate, EC2N 4AJ, gordonramsayrestaurants.com
The Knave of Clubs
Pubs are closing at a rate of around 30 a week in the UK so it’s a brave operator entering the boozer market in 2025. But the names behind The Knave sound like they know what they’re doing: James Dye is the co-owner of the Camberwell Arms and Frank’s, his fellow Knave co-owner Benjy Leibowitz has JKS and the New York NoMad on his CV, while culinary director Patrick Powell was until recently in charge of the kitchens at Allegra in Stratford and the Midland Grand. Here he’ll be overseeing chermoula-marinated rotisserie chicken, prawn Scotch eggs and venison sausage rolls; a more formal restaurant, One Club Row, will open upstairs next month. If the Victorian pub looks familiar, it was formerly noughties hotspot Les Trois Garçons.
Opens: February 20
25 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6JX, theknaveofclubs.co.uk
Oorja
Can’t be bothered to queue for Dishoom? Try this new all-day Indian opening just east of Cambridge Circus, serving a north Indian menu from breakfast through to supper plus roasts on Sundays. Owner Gobind Chona has form in the area, having opened Gura Gura in Covent Garden two years ago. ‘Oorja’ is the Hindi word for ‘energy’: something staff will need plenty of to negotiate the two-floor space with room for 105 diners, which includes both a bar and restaurant. Things kick off with egg bhurji on toast (spicy scrambled eggs) and kebab platters ahead of lunches and dinners of barbecued butterfly chicken, and vegan and veggie dishes such as chickpea masala. As for those Sunday roasts, expect the likes of tandoori-spiced beef. Sounds fun.
Opens: February 25
117 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H 8AF, oorja.co.uk
Crunch
Hot on the heels of De Santis, Café Mondo and Sandwich Sandwich comes the latest sarnie specialist out to prove that they’re the best thing since sliced bread. Crunch has built up a following in Spitalfields Market over the last couple of years, where bestsellers among the 15,000 sandwiches they flog each month include slow-cooked Gressingham duck leg with banana shallots, crispy onions and smoked apple sauce. If the fillings sound fancier than cheese and onion, that’s because chef Joni Francisco trained under Alexis Gauthier at Gauthier Soho and Nuno Mendes at Chiltern Firehouse, and his finger-food expertise extends to sides such as pepperoni lasagne bites. Look out for breakfast sandwiches, too, once Crunch has settled into its new digs.
Opens: February 27
60 Dean Street, W1D 6AW, sandwichuprising.com
Alba
More high-spend Mediterranean cuisine in a gilt-edged location, this time a southern Italian-inspired restaurant opposite Harrods. Hot on the heels of La Môme at the Berkeley hotel, time will tell whether Knightsbridge really needs another restaurant to make the locale feel even more like Monte-Carlo, but the owners of Alba have at least done their homework to make SW3 locals feel at home, from furniture fashioned by yacht specialist design house Exteta to tableware from Florentine porcelain house Ginori. To eat, expect lobster and langoustines, wagyu and oysters, with the option of adding caviar and, in season, white truffle, which perhaps explains why the restaurant is named after a town in landlocked Piedmont and not Puglia.
Opens: Late February
70 Brompton Road, SW3 1ER, alba-ldn.uk
Also opening
Noodle & Beer Chinatown
Sichuan noodles washed down with a rotating cast of beers is the name of the game at this West End newcomer after its simple USP hit the spot in Spitalfields. A standalone bar will be a novelty in Chinatown.
Opens: February 8
27 Wardour Street, W1D 6PR, noodleandbeer.com
Kitchen Bar by St Pancras Bar & Brasserie
Get in the Gallic mood before catching the Eurostar with this chef’s counter overseen by former Hélène Darroze chef Thomas Piat offering straightforward French classics along the lines of pâté en croûte.
Opens: February 10
St Pancras International Station, N1C 4QL, stpancrasbysearcys.co.uk
Dough Hands
A second permanent residency, this time in Nunhead, for chef Hannah Drye’s boldly flavoured, light-and-crisp pizzas: think stracciatella and Calabrian chilli.
Opens: February 13
Old Nun’s Head, 15 Nunhead Green, SE15 3QQ, @doughhandspizza
Calong
Former Galvin at Windows chef Joo Won goes it alone in Stokey with his Korean-accented French and European cooking after gaining attention on the pop-up and supper club scene.
Opens: Mid-February
35 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 0NX, @calonglondon
Officina 00 Covent Garden
The pasta specialist is extending its repertoire to pizza at its third restaurant, with a focus on Neapolitan pizza in the rutiello style, served in a pan at the table.
Opens: February 28
8-10 Dryden Street, WC2E 9NA, officina00.co.uk
