Red hot: Dumpling Shack is expanding its repertoire with fried chicken sandwiches at Sichuan Fry in Hackney
(Picture: Mike Tsang, Freshmike Studio)If the crisp mornings and darker evenings weren’t enough of a clue that we’re well and truly into autumn then the bumper crop of new restaurants launching in October is the sign that it’s time to finally bid farewell to summer and head inside.
And while there’s no shortage of bad news out there, from the plunging pound, rocketing interest rates and the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, the openings below all promise to deliver what restaurants do best: offer an escape from the outside world by creating a comforting universe of their own. Read on to discover October’s hottest tables to book now.
Elis
Taking over the old Corner Room site in the Town Hall Hotel, Elis is the second restaurant from chef Rafael Cagali, who also oversees the two-Michelin starred Da Terra in the Bethnal Green property. This is a more casual proposition, offering an à la carte menu reflecting Cagali’s Italian/Brazilian heritage — vitello tonnato, pork chops with black beans and chimichurri — to 30 diners, washed down with wines from the Noble Rot team. The name, by the way, is a tribute to Cagali’s mother, whose first restaurant and jazz bar in São Paulo was named after the Brazilian singer, Elis Regina.
Opens: 12 October
Town Hall Hotel, Patriot Square, E2 9NF, restaurantelis.co.uk
Mount St. Restaurant
The pub part of the hugely ambitious redevelopment of The Audley has already opened; now Artfarm, the hospitality arm of Hauser & Wirth galleries, is launching Mount St. Restaurant on the first floor. Jamie Shears is overseeing a straightforward British menu of lobster pie and pigeon en croûte but, no offence to Shears — a chef we’ve admired at 45 Jermyn St and Cut at 45 Park Lane — it’s what’s on the walls and not the plate that is likely to be the main draw, with a rotating gallery of work from the world’s most famous artists — Freud, Matisse, Warhol — appearing alongside site-specific pieces specially commissioned for the space.
Opens: Mid October
41-43 Mount Street, W1K 2RX, mountstrestaurant.com
Sparrow Italia
Not everyone wants a tasting menu washed down by natural wines; sometimes straightforward pizza and pasta scoffed in glamorous surroundings soundtracked by a DJ hits the spot. Sparrow lands in Mayfair by way of Los Angeles and is themed around the Italian coastline, which is rather more apparent in an emerald-and-blue design scheme than a menu on which carpaccio of A5 wagyu is as likely as salt-crusted red snapper. There are four floors to fill, including a street-level brasserie, a first-floor indoor/outdoor dining room and terrace, a second-floor Parlour and a top-floor cigar lounge; with cacio e pepe (pictured) whirled tableside from a wheel of pecorino cheese, there should be no shortage of takers.
Opens: 18 October
1-3 Avery Row, W1K 4AJ, sparrowitalia.com
Straker’s
Thomas Straker was a big hit on social over the pandemic, cooking what he called “food you want to eat”. Now the chef is opening his own place on ever-improving Golborne Road and hoping people will still want to eat the seasonal and sustainable likes of slow-cooked lamb shoulder with broad beans and salsa verde. Over 780k followers on Instagram suggests there will be a hungry market for the 40-seat restaurant, but Straker isn’t just Insta-famous: the chef has a bluechip CV from working at The Dorchester, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and Elystan Street. Wines will be low-intervention and cocktails creative.
Opens: Late October
91 Golborne Road, W10 5PR, strakers.london
Cycene
A collaboration between Shoreditch’s Blue Mountain School lifestyle emporium and chef Theo Clench, Cycene (the Old English word for “kitchen”) takes over the site of Nuno Mendes’ Michelin-starred Mãos. Those are big-shoes to fill, but owners James Brown and Christie Fels have added a ground-floor bar to widen the appeal, though the aim remains to emulate the feel of supper for 16 guests in a private house, albeit one where a 10-course menu is prepared by the former exec chef of Akoko. Expect a melding of Asian and Australasian influences with an emphasis on meat and fish aged in-house, washed down with low-intervention wines and fermented soft drinks.
Opens: Late October
9 Chance Street, E2 7JB, bluemountain.school
Also opening:
Restaurant St Barts
Not a glitzy homage to the luxury Caribbean island, this Smithfield offshoot of fabulous Fenn in Fulham instead overlooks the cloisters of St Bartholomew the Great church. Each dish on the 15-course menu is based on two key British ingredients.
Opens: 5 October
63 Bartholomew Close, EC1A 7BG, restaurant-stbarts.co.uk
Dorian
The sort of restaurant that could only work in Notting Hill, Dorian brings together an ex-Kitchen Table chef and a former Core by Clare Smyth bar manager under the auspices of the owner of Supermarket of Dreams. It all sounds deeply silly but with a team like that, there may just be more substance than style here.
Opens: 18 October
105-107 Talbot Road, W11 2AT, dorianrestaurant.com
St John Marylebone
Nose-to-tail dining comes to the West End courtesy of Trevor Gulliver and Fergus Henderson, the pioneering duo behind St John in Farringdon. Expect doughnuts for breakfast and bone marrow at all other times.
Opens: 18 October
98 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2JE, stjohnrestaurant.com
Sichuan Fry
The first bricks-and-mortar site for Spitalfields Market’s Dumpling Shack, Sichuan Fry sees the street-food legend return to its Hackney roots with signature sheng jian bao, wontons and dan-dan noodles as well as a new trio of fried chicken sandwiches.
Opens: 20 October
2 Westgate Street, E8 3RN, dumplingshack.co.uk
The Libertine
A 400-capacity venue in the vaults beneath the Royal Exchange, The Libertine includes a variety of drinking and dining spaces and a restaurant specialising in large cuts of steak and fine wines from a reserve list. Who knew there was a cap on bankers’ bonuses?
Opens: 22 October
1a The Royal Exchange, EC3V 3LL, libertinelondon.co.uk
