Adriana Cavita, formerly of Mexico City’s Pujol, has opened Cavita on Wigmore Street with a focus on the food of Oaxaca and the coastal Yucatán. The menu’s range — which spans dishes “from the street,” large sharing mains as is de moda, and a raw bar — is accordingly wide, with red aguachiles and tacos sharing real estate with a whole sea bream and wood-grilled chicken marinated in mole verde.

Pioneering Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes’s London restaurant career has traversed interpretations of molecular gastronomy at Viajante, Portuguese taberna fare at Taberna do Mercado, and ultra-modern kitchen-dining cooking at Mãos. It appears he has settled, in 2022, with a restaurant that distils those styles, one which — with a negroni mixing ginjinha with campari and vermuth, and dishes such as bacalhau à Brás; plumas de porco preto; and arroz de mariscos — is rooted both in London and Lisbon, the two cities which have most influenced Mendes.

Located on the mezzanine floor of Arcade Food Hall, chef and grower Lukie Farrell’s new southern Thai restaurant is an instant, complex hit. Self-consciously decked out to not just reference, but mimic its forbears in Bangkok, with strip lighting and blue tablecloths, and reliant on ingredients grown and prepared not just in Thailand, but in Dorset, it is an embodiment of an evolution in what “authenticity” can mean in food. It is also an outstanding restaurant, with hot and sour curries; some ferociously dry (khlua kling moo, heady with long pepper and turmeric) and some puckeringly sauced (gaeng som talay, of mussels and squid) served over rice, next to fried eggs with crisply billowing skirts.

After vacating their cosy premises on Warren Street in the spring, Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer have reimagined Honey & Co’s flagship — a similarly warm, welcoming. now-larger cafe-dining room on Lamb’s Conduit Street. Smart and imaginative dishes, like a mackerel salad with potato, pickled celery, harissa, and preserved lemon; or a crisped lamb shoulder with crushed fresh peas, rocket, mint, feta, and urfa butter demonstrate both chef’s continued commitment to tradition, innovation, and deliciousness. Don’t sleep on first-rate freshly baked pita and a spectacular range of cakes and sweet, spiced bakes.

Executive chef Prince Durairaj and general manager Glen Leeson of this new Islington pub met at Euston institution Roti King, and have joined forces to evolve the deep London tradition of the desi pub. Drinking food like okra fries and chicken lollipops sits alongside dishes from Durariraj’s Tamil Nadu background, designed to be ordered by the boatload with pints aplenty.

The reputation of this newish spot has been bubbling on Green Lanes for a few months now, aided and abetted by applause from chef and writer Melek Erdal and Vittles’s (and Eater London contributor) Jonathan Nunn. It’s the most exciting thing to open on this storied stretch of the A105 in a good while, for several good reasons: its devotion to the soothing, richly homespun depth of soups and stews, whether tangy with yoghurt or rich with lamb’s offal, head, and brain; its being open until 3 a.m. in a city whose “late night food” normally stops at a child’s bedtime; and its being the new darling of London’s Turkish and Kurdish restaurants, whose centrality to the city’s culinary landscape sadly, rarely correlates to anything resembling “hype” when it truly should.

The sleepy, ambiently beautiful Leila’s Shop has long held a reputation for its summer soft serves: sometimes soft and beige with hazelnut; others lurid purple from fragola grape. Their maker, Sam Lowry has now joined forces with partner Farah Kezou on Soft & Swirly, sticking to the quality flavour formula but making it a little less austere, with joyous sundaes and sticky sauces now accessorising the pristine cones. Their next guise is in partnership with Cynthia Shanmugalingam’s upcoming restaurant Rambutan, putting out the likes of mango; jaggery; watermelon and hibiscus; and buffalo curd swirls during the site’s build in Borough Market.

The larger space afforded to Kian Samyani’s tribute to Irani grill culture in Borough Market — formerly that of Flor — has in turn brought an expanded menu to Berenjak. The koobideh and jujeh kebabs are still the hitmakers, but groups can take advantage of generous sharing dishes, like a whole rotisserie chicken with barberries, saffron sauce, and a potato tahdig; or a lamb shoulder cooked over the same rotisserie with dill and vegetables.

Rebecca Spaven and Oliver Costello had time to hone Frog as a pop-up before opening this first bakery on Peckham Road, it’s true. But it remains rare that a debut, particularly in this finicky field, opens with such aplomb that it’s immediately challenging the best of the best in the city for supremacy. A bear claw made savoury with chipotle beef and adobo; an asparagus, Baron Bigod, and Coppa croissant; and a strawberry and elderflower croissant are early stars.

Strictly speaking this canalside institution breaks rubric: it’s far from new and in fact over twelve years old. But little is ever hotter in London than seasonal simplicity, and in warmer months the produce thermometer goes into overdrive, so Towpath is — throughout its season — always one of London’s hottest restaurants. At breakfast, get the marinda tomatoes with mojo verde; at lunch, the cheese toastie or the goat curd with roasted garlic. Look out for Napoli sausages, bean stews, radishes, the works.

The new menu at Mambow, which had to close its former “bowl food” guise in 2020, is more self-consciously Malaysian, with a focus on Nyonya dishes and varied curries from the different parts of the country. Chef-owner Abby Lee cooks a black pepper chicken curry from the Perak region with the fragrance of Sarawak peppercorn, alongside the tamarind-sour, bracing heat of asam pedas, which derives from Minangkabau and Malay cuisines. There’s also a nifty modish touch to some of the dishes: A Hainanese chicken sando, only available at lunch, which features poached chicken, ginger and spring onion oil, kewpie mayo, chicken fat chilli vinegar, fried onions, and cucumber.