F Scott Fitzgerald wrote that “there are no second acts in American life” — not a maxim that could be applied to London dining. This March will see the revival of one of the most famous restaurants of the end of the 20th century, an east London bar morphing into a rooftop restaurant and the relaunch of an under-the-radar Mayfair secret. These are the new restaurants to put a spring in your step this month.
Arlington
A genuine event, this. The old Le Caprice site — the favourite haunt of everyone from Princess Di and Elton John to Cilla Black and Lily Savage — is being relaunched by original co-founder Jeremy King as Arlington. The restaurant will look pretty much as it did in its Eighties and Nineties heyday, complete with David Bailey prints, Venetian blinds, mirrored bar and maître’ d Jesus Adorno on the door. The menu, too, will revive the old spirit, with classic Caprice dishes such as crispy duck salad, bang bang chicken and salmon fish cakes with sorrel sauce — though the greatest pleasure is likely to come from craning one’s neck to see whether King still has the celebrity pulling power that made Le Caprice, The Ivy and J Sheekey the most reliable star spots of their day.
Opens: March 4
20 Arlington Street, SW1A 1RJ, arlington.london
Lita
Luke Ahearne was formerly the head chef of Corrigan’s Mayfair; now the Irishman will be manning the stoves at this new Marylebone venture, where he’ll be cooking 2024’s answer to last year’s French bistro trend: Mediterranean. Dishes cooked over an open fire (2023’s other hot trend) will include whole grilled South Coast turbot and rib of Galician beef, washed down by biodynamic and classic European wines. The restaurant is a joint venture between Canadian-born restaurateur Daniel Koukarskikh and George Bukhov-Weinstein and Ilya Demichev, the duo behind Burger and Lobster, Wild Tavern and The Belvedere; time will tell whether such familiar ingredients will prove a recipe for success — though a terrace for 20 sounds like a winner once the weather warms up.
Opens: March 16
7-9 Paddington Street, W1U 5QH, litamarylebone.com
TT
The bar formerly known as TT Liquor is expanding its offering with a rooftop restaurant complete with retractable roof overseen by ex-Oren head chef, Sam Lone, offering a tick-box list of current culinary trends. Expect a sharing menu based on fire-cooked seasonal produce from an outdoor kitchen (complete with asado-style grill and wood-fired oven) plus lots of smoking, pickling and baking. Snacks of smoked ox cheek croquettes might be followed by fire-roasted golden beetroot, molasses and shallots and lamb shoulder a la plancha with roasted garlic yoghurt. The liquor hasn’t been forgotten: there’s a pecan and whisky pie for pud. There’s an independent cinema on site, too.
Opens: March 22
17b Kingsland Road, E2 8AA, tt-liquor.co.uk
Niju
It’s all change at 20 Berkeley, the Mayfair bolthole with private club-style surrounds but an open-to-all ethos. The namesake restaurant which opened last May is set to become Niju, a Japanese grill and sushi bar. The culinary theme is ‘katei ryori’, or home-cooked food, which can only make one assume that domestic science lessons in Japan are rather more advanced than they are in the UK, given that the culinary offering will be overseen by Endo Kazutoshi, the third-generation sushi master behind Michelin-starred Endo at the Rotunda and soon-to-open Kioku at the OWO hotel. Dishes will include curries (duck, veg or crispy-skin red mullet) with rice and pickles, and trout or tuna chirashi. Thankfully, the excellent Nipperkin cocktail bar is staying the same except for the addition of a snacky menu of sando sandwiches.
Opens: March 27
20 Berkeley Street, W1J 8EE, 20berkeley.com
Thirty7
Matt Lovell and Rob Hampton, aka The Oystermen, are moving beyond their seafood origins with their second Covent Garden restaurant, a Manhattan-inspired brasserie of brick walls, booth seating and industrial lighting. Head chef Grant Clark grew up in the Midwest and has spent time in New York kitchens such as Hearth and The Breslin; here he’ll be cooking up the likes of Brixham hake with chorizo fregola, a house cheeseburger with raclette and Dijon mustard mayonnaise and, of course, a single oyster special on the list of starters. Throw a basement bar into the mix and this sounds like a Theatreland hit.
Opens: March 27
37 Bedford Street, WC2E 9EN, thirty7bedfordstreet.co.uk
Also opening
Cinnamon Bazaar Richmond
A south-west London outpost for Vivek Singh’s Cinnamon Club diffusion range, bringing spiced egg breakfasts, sharing plates, a roaming chaat trolley and a “veganjosh” to Richmond.
Opens: March 5
31-35 Kew Road, Richmond, TW9 2NQ, cinnamon-bazaar.com
A Braccetto
“Pizza, pasta e vino” is the appealingly simple promise of this new Italian by Earl’s Court tube, with pastas (recchiette cime di rapa) and Romana pizzas (made with 100 per cent organic flour) washed down with Italian wines.
Opens: Mid March
242 Earl’s Court Road, SW5 9AA, a-braccetto.com
Nancy Spains
An Irish pub opening in time for St Patrick’s Day, plus guest chefs changing every month and, once dinner is over, Irish-accented cocktails and live music.
Opens: March 15
128-130 Curtain Road, EC2A 3AQ, nancyspains.co.uk
Unlock
A canalside pizza restaurant, cocktail bar and art collective space for Hackney Wick from siblings and rookie restaurateurs, Naples-born Giovanni Izzo and his chef sister Arianna. Expect pizzas leavened for 30 hours with more-interesting-than-average toppings.
Opens: March 18
1 Monkwood Way, E3 2EG, @unlock_pizza
The Caviar Bar
Mayfair hedgies can take a break from the office with this seafood bar offering caviar with all the trimmings plus shellfish brunches, poached halibut for lunch and Billecart-Salmon by the glass.
Opens: March 19
4 Medici Courtyard, Hanover Square, W1S 1BR, caviarbaruk.com
