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Sichuan Fry’s mapo chicken burger.
Sichuan Fry’s mapo chicken burger from one of the most anticipated openings in London this winter.
Sichuan Fry

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The Most Anticipated London Restaurant Openings This Winter

Sichuan fried chicken sandwiches, a fully fledged taqueria, regional Palestinian cuisine, a Tamil Sri Lankan “diaspora dream,” and more

by Adam Coghlan

Though this is a new year, the London restaurant industry begins 2023 facing a now-familiar set of challenges. It is still dealing with the chronic aftershocks of the COVID-19 and Brexit crises; it is also adjusting to stratospheric energy bills, and coming to terms with rising food costs, difficulties with recruitment, and inflation.

And still, there are those who in spite of all of that see an opportunity. Such confidence is not unfounded: There remains a huge appetite for new restaurants and creative food businesses in an affluent city, and the right ideas will fly.

Here are a few of those that could do just that — the most anticipated restaurant openings for winter 2022.

A hand presses the top bun down on a fried chicken sandwich glistening with chilli oil and doubanjiang.
A fried chicken and mapo tofu sandwich from Sichuan Fry.
Sichuan Fry

Sichuan Fry

Address: 2 Westgate Street, London Fields E8 3RN
Key people: John and Yee Li, creators of hit Spitalfields street food stall Dumpling Shack.
What to expect: A first full restaurant for one of London’s most queued-for street food hits, with Sichuan fried chicken sandwiches on the ground floor and its inimitable shengjianbao pork soup dumplings in the basement. Hackney is ready.
Projected opening: 5 January 2023

An orange squash cream in a white, shallow dish.
Fadi Kattan’s orange squash cream dish at his Bethlehem restaurant Fawda, in Palestine.
Fawda

Akub

Address: 27 Uxbridge Street, Notting Hill W8 7TQ
Key people: Palestinian chef and restaurateur Fadi Kattan.
What to expect: The restaurant will draw on Kattan’s process in the West Bank, which leans on ingredients grown in Palestinian territories, as well as local ingredients from its new London home.
Projected opening: January 2022

Sonora Taqueria’s Michelle Salazar de la Rocha at her stall in Hackney, preparing a beef taco
Sonora Taqueria’s Michelle Salazar de la Rocha.
Michaël Protin

Sonora Taqueria

Address: 208 Stoke Newington High Street, N16 7HU
Key people: Michelle Salazar de la Rocha and Sam Napier.
What to expect: The renowned duo’s first taqueria proper, with seats, a bar, and a “greatly expanded menu” featuring the likes of a Sonoran mixed grill, a full breakfast menu, some more “traditional plates,” as well as soups and tamales. Tacos, too, naturally.
Projected opening: February / March 2023

Ombra chef-owner Mitshel Ibrahim unloads a crate of Natoora’s Delica pumpkins from a new Ape Piaggio the restaurant has bought to extend its local delivery radius
Mitshel Ibrahim of Ombra and soon-to-open Italian bakery Forno.
Michaël Protin/Eater London

Forno

Address: 332 Andrews Road, Hackney E8 4QF
Key people: Mitshel Ibrahim and the Ombra team.
What to expect: An Italian bakery, cafe, pastificio, and Roman-style pizzeria inside a railway arch in Hackney.
Projected opening: February 2023

An illustration of a modernist Sri Lankan property, with palm trees on a blue sky, with the word “Rambutan” in white all capital letters, the font a little dreamlike
An illustration commissioned by Cynthia Shanmugalingam for her Rambutan restaurant.
Rambutan

Rambutan

Address: 10 Stoney Street, Borough Market SE1 9AD
Key people: Chef and cookbook author Cynthia Shanmugalingam.
What to expect: A Tamil Sri Lankan “diaspora dream,” celebrating the fruited, rich curries of the region. Already a hit in its soft serve guise last summer.
Projected opening: Winter 2023

And a little later:

BRAT

4 Redchurch Street, , England E1 6JL Visit Website

Dumpling Shack

Brushfield Street, , England E1 6BG Visit Website

Taqueria

141-145 Westbourne Grove, , England W11 2RS 020 7229 4734 Visit Website

Darjeeling Express

2a Garrick Street, , England WC2E 9BH 020 7836 8888 Visit Website

Borough Market

8 Southwark Street, , England SE1 1TL 020 7407 1002 Visit Website

Bubala

65 Commercial Street, , England E1 6BD Visit Website

Rambutan

10 Stoney Street, , England SE1 9AD Visit Website
Foursquare

OMBRA

1 Vyner Street, , England E2 9DG 020 8981 5150 Visit Website

N16

, , England N16

Homies On Donkeys

98 Wood Street, , England E17 3HX Visit Website

Chishuru

Coldharbour Lane, , England SW9 8LB 020 3915 1198 Visit Website