Catch of the day: carabineiro prawns are on the menu at Joia
(Picture: Press handout)January began with the news that the former World’s Number One Restaurant, three-Michelin-starred Noma in Copenhagen, is to close at the end of 2024. In the words of chef-owner René Redzepi, fine dining has become “unsustainable”. The chill wind from Denmark has been blowing through London, too, with the recent announcement of closures including big players like D&D — shuttering Nineties classic Avenue in St James’s and Francesco Mazzei’s Radici in Islington — as well as the news that Crystal Palace favourite Joanna’s is closing after 45 years.
It’s probably too early to suggest that February will bring the green shoots of recovery so desperately needed by an industry especially susceptible to the ravages of rising food and energy prices but the shortest month of the year is not short of ambition from the capital’s chefs and restaurateurs, with promising new projects ranging from Michelin-starred names from overseas opening in plum central London sites and homegrown talent bringing local cheer. Read on to discover the 10 best new restaurants to book this February for the 27 days it’s not Valentine’s Day.
La Gamba
Offering much-needed hope for anyone in search of something decent to eat among the chains of the Royal Festival Hall, La Gamba comes courtesy of the three brothers behind Applebee’s Fish in Borough Market. Menus take inspiration from Galicia in Spain’s north-west, with British seafood a highlight — St Austell mussels in albariño and chorizo sauce; Cornish crab and fennel tostada — but there will also be Iberico pork cheek empanadas and Galician picanha steak with truffle. To drink, there are vermouth-based cocktails, Spanish wines and sangria spins.
Opens: February 13
Royal Festival Hall, SE1 8XX, lagambalondon.com
Socca
A collab between French chef Claude Bosi (of two-Michelin-starred Bibendum) and restaurateur Samyukta Nair (Jamavar, Koyn, MiMi Mei Feir), Socca gives high-spending Mayfair locals another design-led fantasy of foreign shores, in this case the sun-soaked French Riviera of Raoul Dufy and La Colombe d’Or. Socca is the chickpea pancake synonymous with the Côte d’Azur, here offered as a pre-meal snack alongside green olive tapenade and citrusy Menton tart; elsewhere is a raw bar for Mediterranean seafood plus the gutsier likes of gratin of tripe and cuttlefish. Read our interview with Bosi and Nair here.
Opens: February 14
41 South Audley Street, W1K 2PS, soccabistro.com
Joia
Occupying the top floors of the new art’otel London Battersea Power Station, Joia comes courtesy of Portuguese chef Henrique Sá Pessoa, who has two-Michelin-starred Alma in Lisbon to his name, though this sounds closer in spirit to his Iberian tapas spot Tapisco in the Portuguese capital. Star billing among the small plates goes to “La Bomba de Lisbon” — a giant potato and sausage croquette with tomato and sofrito sauce; elsewhere are larger plates of salt cod with shoestring potatoes and scallops with black garlic sabayon. A 14th-floor bar beneath the restaurant has the same impressive Power Station views.
Opens: February 21
15th Floor, art’otel London Battersea Power Station, 1 Electric Boulevard, SW11 8BJ, joiabattersea.co.uk
Forno
This east London bakery, deli and pastificio (pasta maker) occupies an arch by the Regent’s Canal and comes from Milan-born chef Mitshel Ibrahim, who has operated Ombra over the road for the past 11 years. The idea at Forno is Italian food to eat at one of the 10 seats inside or 20 on the towpath, or take away: cornetti, maritozzi and sfogliatelle for breakfast, focaccia sandwiches and daily changing soups for lunch, as well as pasta, fresh sauces and wines. Occasional evening opening will see Ibrahim give over the space to Negronis and Roman pizza.
Opens: February 28
332 Andrews Road, E8 4QF, forno.london
Papi
A new venture from east London popper-uppers Matthew Scott and Charlie Carr with a permanent home in London Fields, Papi will combine the pair’s previous two outfits: the head-turning, quirky cooking of the Hot 4 U delivery service and the small-production natural wines of Wingnut Wines. Four stools by the kitchen counter will give a ringside seat to the chef action of regeneratively farmed meat and sustainable seafood, or there are 28 more seats in the dining room, plus snacks and cocktails in the bar downstairs, all served up with a zero-waste ethos. Should be fun.
Opens: Late February
1F Mentmore Terrace, E8 3PN, @papi.restaurant
Also opening:
Hawthorn
On the old Glasshouse site by Kew Gardens station, Hawthorn is a modern European neighbourhood restaurant worth travelling for, co-owned by chef Joshua Hunter (ex-Kitchen W8 and La Trompette) and former Glasshouse front-of-house Patra Panas.
Opens: February 1
14 Station Parade, Kew, TW9 3PZ, hawthornrestaurant.co.uk
20ft Fried Chicken
A new buttermilk fried-chicken venture from the Black Bear Burger team, 20ft promises free-range British chooks sandwiched in brioche buns, with pickles, ferments and sauces all made in-house. Plus, of course, BBB’s signature spring roll in chicken form.
Opens: February 2
Market Halls Oxford Street, 9 Holles Street, W1G 0BD, 20ftchicken.com
Poons Wontoneria
A three-month Carousel pop-up offering the pork, chicken, vegetable and prawn dumplings of chef Amy Poon, whose father Bill was the first-ever Chinese chef to win a Michelin star, back in 1980.
Opens: February 7
19-23 Charlotte Street, W1T 1RL, carousel-london.com
Quo Vadis
One of London’s legendary dining rooms (Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital here) reopens following a refurb and expansion, opening up Jeremy Lee’s ingredients-led British cooking to the wider audience it deserves.
Opens: February 13
26-29 Dean Street, W1D 3LL, quovadissoho.co.uk
Stereo
The Experimental Group (Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels, Experimental Cocktail Club) is reimagining the old Roadhouse site as a late-night drinking, dining and live music destination with food overseen by Andrew Clarke of Acme Fire Cult.
Opens: February 14
35 The Piazza, WC2E 8BE, stereocoventgarden.com
