Hot girl summer. Hot item summer. Hot, hot, cold soup summer is over. The world, and the restaurant industry, now turns to autumn: Less al fresco dining, more mushrooms, more game, and plenty of broth; but no less chill. Yes, restaurants open all-year round, and it so happens there were one or two beauties that appeared over the summer. But autumn is the season when things tend to intensify — as the capital, in 2019, is expected to welcome some big-name, world-famous Michelin-starred arrivals, some promising debuts, and a dose of celebrity backed fried chicken. Given it’s the restaurant business, many of these dates will almost certainly move, but in no particular, here are the 10 most anticipated openings in London in the next three months.
Trivet
Location: 36 Snowsfields, Bermondsey, London SE1 3SU
Key people: Chef Jonny Lake and master sommelier Isa Bal
Opening: Autumn 2019
What to expect: One of the most anticipated restaurants of the past two years, as two key members of Heston Blumenthal’s three-Michelin-starred Fat Duck will open their first restaurant in London. It is described as “an informal, high-quality dining restaurant utilising the finest ingredients and wines and will aim to deliver an unrivalled taste experience.” It will function as a restaurant, wine bar and wine cellar on the site of Londrino in Bermondsey.
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Legare
Location: Cardamom Building, 31 Shad Thames, Tower Bridge, London SE1 2YR
Key people: Jay Patel, formerly GM Barrafina and Koya City; and chef Matt Beardmore, a chef from Trullo
Opening: October 2019
What to expect: A very promising “broadly Italian” 35-cover debut from operators with pedigree. Expect seasonal salads and proper pasta dishes comprised of ingredients from some of Britain’s and the Mediterranean’s top suppliers.
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Davies and Brook
Location: Claridge’s Hotel, Brook Street W1K 4HR
Key people: Daniel Humm (and not Will Guidara) of Eleven Madison Park in New York City
Opening: November 2019
What to expect: Hyper-intuitive, obsessive attention to detail on both food and service from one of the world’s most famous restaurateurs. Possibly the biggest opening in London this year.
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Sweet Chick
Address: 8 Market Place, Fitzrovia W1W 8AG
Key people: New York restaurateur John Seymour and rapper Nas
Opening: 26 September 2019
What to expect: “New American comfort food”: a key dish is fried chicken and waffles. And plenty of hype for starters.
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Folie
Location: 37 Golden Square, Soho
Key people: Guillaume Depoix, who worked with the Costes brothers in Paris, and at Boundary Hotel, and Casa Cruz in London
Opening: Autumn 2019
What to expect: An all-day brasserie in the centre of Soho. One inspired by 1960s and ‘70s St Germain in Paris: somewhere between Chiltern Firehouse, Brasserie Zedel, and Granger and Co, servicing the breakfast crowd with coffee, through business lunches, special occasion dinners, and cocktail drinkers and DJs late into the night
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Silo
Location: The White Building, Hackney Wick, E9 5EN
Key people: Doug McMaster
Opening: November 2019
What to expect: One of the U.K.’s most acclaimed contemporary restaurants brings its pioneering, genuinely zero-waste ethos to London’s Hackney Wick from Brighton.
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Haya
Location: 184A Kensington Park Road, W11 2ES
Key people: Victoria Paltina, Oren King
Opening: 9 September 2019
What to expect: Tel Aviv-inspired all-day dining, with a broad spectrum of bright, sunny dishes under Sephardic Jewish traditions in Notting Hill.
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Bubala
Location: 65 Commercial Street, E1 6BD
Key people: Helen Graham, Marc Summers
Projected opening: 12 September 2019
What to expect: Vegetarian, Sephardic Jewish / Tel Aviv-inspired cooking from chefs whose previous experience is at restaurants excelling in exactly that. Namely Berber & Q and Barbary.
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Daffodil Mulligan
Address: 70 - 74 City Road, EC1Y 2BJ
Key people: Chef Richard Corrigan
Projected opening: November 2019
What to expect: Richard Corrigan moves to east London. A restaurant in Shoreditch based on produce from Corrigan’s farm in Ireland, with a less of a focus on seafood than Bentley’s or Corrigan’s Mayfair.
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The Betterment
Address: 39-44 Grosvenor Square, W1K 2HP
Key people: London empire builder Jason Atherton
Projected opening: 19 September 2019
What to expect: Atherton’s brand of modern British cuisine, probably — some intrigue here, as Atherton opens across from his former mentor, Gordon Ramsay’s Lucky Cat, in a very specific restaurant face off in the heart of Mayfair.
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