This Is What Happened in the London Restaurant World Last Week

So goes outdoor reopening, so goes restaurants. That’s been the vibe for the last few weeks, but as indoor reopening — expected for 17 May — looms, more and more places are making plans for new sites and updates. One part of the restaurant world feels it is healing; many others simply never shut down.

• A game-changing Hackney wine bar announced its next chef, as P. Franco — the rotating residency sans pareil since 2017 — brought in Chase Lovecky, lately of Two Lights in Shoreditch.

• Not content with tapping into all of the usual Knightsbridge-celebrity-honey-pit stereotypes, Salt Bae’s upcoming London opening is going to sell a tomahawk steak embalmed in gold leaf for £700. It does not look good.

• Another confirmed opening which has less of an eat-the-rich vibe is Polpo founder Russell Norman’s Brutto, which is taking over the former Hix restaurant in Farringdon.

• And MJMK, the group behind Santiago Lastra’s excellent Mexican restaurant Kol and Portuguese piri piri chicken hit Casa do Frango is in talks with AngloThai chef John Chantarasak about Chalawan, a Thai restaurant slated for Marylebone.

• It’s plus ça change for London’s boutique hotel + celebrity chef with a very specific cooking style + dimming that style down formula, as Andalusian chef Dani Garcia takes over from Red Rooster’s Marcus Samuelsson in Shoreditch.

• More opening rumbles as NYC import Sunday in Brooklyn and wildly extra group Big Mamma confirm plans of their own, in Notting Hill and Covent Garden respectively. Pancakes and vibes at the former; sixty (60) centimetre ice cream cakes and V I B E S at the latter.

• Unconfirmed is the future of Tate Britain’s restaurant, Rex Wheeler, whose central mural depicts racist images and is yet to have its fate decided.

• And, on the eating out front, the most exciting new restaurants in London and the best things Eater writers ate this week.

And now, the good stuff:

For dining out...

• Where to eat outside in London.
• Where to eat outside in London... When it’s raining.
• Where to find pastas that will surely make Italians mad at food.
• Brilliant London sandwiches.
• Where to get some top tacos...
• And outstanding Indo-Caribbean roti.
• Sunday roasts to eat al fresco, or finish at home.
• Outdoor slurping at London’s best ramen spots.
• The best places to eat near — or in — London parks.
• What London’s standout 38 restaurants are doing.
• The most exciting new restaurants in London right now.
• The most exciting pop-ups to check out.
• The best bakeries in London for takeaway pastries and bread.
• Where to drink the best coffee in the city.

And for dining in this weekend...

• How to ship a taste of London’s restaurants nationwide, with kits including suya, udon, and some world-famous butter chicken.
• And here are some condiments to put on them, or indeed anything else.
• Order from London’s best restaurants without the apps.
• The best restaurants for delivery and takeaway.
• The best meal kits from London restaurants.
• And a general guide on where to buy food in London.

Where to order takeaway and delivery in...

• Central London.
• North London.
• West London.
• East London.
• South east London.
• South west London.