Short on subtlety: Bacchanalia promises to be London’s most statuesque restaurant when it opens at the end of November
(Picture: Press handout)Late autumn is traditionally the time when the big launches of the restaurant scene open in time for Christmas. Last month saw Mount St Restaurant, overseen by former Fortnums CEO Ewan Ventners, bring luxury comfort food and eye-popping contemporary art to Mayfair; now the King of Mayfair himself, Richard Caring, is opening his classically inspired party palace Bacchanalia at the other end of Mount Street. Booking lines open today: reserve a table and judge for yourself whether Bacchanalia is a temple of Greek and Italian cooking or simply a toga too far in troubled economic times.
Happily, dining out this month doesn’t have to be so decadent: Phil Howards’ Notto on Piccadilly and the new Miznon in Notting Hill prove that good-quality food needn’t cost an arm and a leg in London. And if you have an anniversary to celebrate, one of the capital’s most romantic sites, the Belvedere in Holland Park, finally reopens to London’s lovebirds.
Maresco
A follow up to north London heroes Bar Esteban in Crouch End and Escocesa in Stoke Newington, Maresco sees Glaswegian restaurateur Stephen Lironi, head chef Pablo Rodriguez and operations manager Naroa Ortega bring their Iberian-Caledonian fusion to Soho. Expect tapas dishes with a focus on Scottish seafood along the lines of txistorra del mar — sausage made with mackerel and monkfish — fideua with langoustines, Highland venison with cauliflower pil pil and oysters with green gazpacho. There’s space for 48 customers around the ground-floor counter and the dining room downstairs.
Opens: November 8
45 Berwick Street, W1F 8SF, maresco.co.uk
Saltie Girl
Said to be the best thing to come out of Boston since New Kids on the Block, Saltie Girl’s lobster rolls and clam chowder are a big hit back in Massachusetts, with founder and New England native Kathy Sidell inspired by sailing trips on the Atlantic with her dad. There’s more to the place than a cutesy backstory, however: oysters, caviar and luxury tinned fish are other specialities, there’s an international wine list, a bar for cocktails and chic surrounds befitting a Mayfair location a couple of minutes from Selfridges.
Opens: November 8
15 North Audley Street, W1K 6WZ, saltiegirl.com
Notto
Following the success of Richoux, another classically trained chef is bringing good-value, high-quality cooking to Piccadilly. Phil Howard (of Michelin-starred Elystan Street fame) launched Notto as a pasta-delivery service after lockdown; now the chef is opening his first bricks-and-mortar site by St James’s Church. Executive chef duties fall to pasta guru Louis Korovilas (ex-Locanda Locatelli and Bancone), with cooking on display in a pasta bar and central open kitchen; expect the likes of brown shrimp linguine, pici cacio e pepe, root vegetable bucatini and scallop and prawn ravioli. Some may remember this as Otto, but Howard was forced to change the name after a legal challenge from Otto Tepasse, of the much-loved Otto’s on Gray’s Inn Road.
Opens: November 14
199 Piccadilly, W1J 9HA, nottopastabar.com
Akub
The first UK site for restaurateur Fadi Kattan, Akub brings the flavours of Palestine to a three-floor site centred on an internal courtyard behind Notting Hill Gate. From craft spirits to crockery and cocktail ingredients, as much as possible comes from Palestine, while the cooking features British ingredients in the likes of nigella seed crackers and focaccia to dip into red-lentil moutabal or spread with labneh ahead of arak-cured sea bream, freekeh risotto and vine leaves stuffed with skate, with Dead Sea chocolate cake for pudding. To drink, there are natural and classic wines, beers, arak and other Palestinian spirits.
Opens: November 24
27 Uxbridge Street, W8 7TQ, akub-restaurant.com
Bacchanalia
Anyone who’s been through Berkeley Square in the last six months can’t help but have noticed the vast hoardings of musclebound gods arcing over the former Porsche showroom; now get set for the big reveal. Bacchanalia is a Graeco-Roman mashup from Richard Caring, pretty much the only British restaurateur who can compete with the global big boys for the West End’s primest properties; with an interior featuring Damien Hirst statues of winged lovers kissing on a unicorn, subtlety may not be on the menu, but an emphasis on Greek food and wine alongside the Italian at least is bringing something new to Mayfair.
Opens: November 24
1 Mount Street, W1K 3NA, bacchanalia.co.uk
Also opening:
Miznon Notting Hill
The Soho sandwich sensation (by way of Tel Aviv, New York and Paris) moves west to Notting Hill with minute steak, cauliflower and chicken livers stuffed into quite possibly the finest pita bread on the planet.
Opens: November 11
14 Elgin Crescent, W11 2HX, miznon.co.uk
Belvedere
Slap-bang among the peacocks of Holland Park, one of London’s most beautifully located restaurants looks set to return to its noughties heyday under the new ownership of the team behind Chelsea Green honeypot Wild Tavern.
Opens: November 14
Abbotsbury Road, W8 6LU, belvedererestaurant.co.uk
Maria G’s Fulham
Robin Gill’s second Maria G’s follows a successful debut at the far end of Kensington and brings Italian-inspired seafood to an equally off-piste residential site complete with huge riverside terrace.
Opens: November 15
Unit 4, 20 Central Avenue, SW6 2QE, mariags.co.uk
Hicce Hart
Pip Lacey and Gordy McIntyre, the dynamic duo behind Hicce in Coal Drop’s Yard, are going gastropub with this Islington site promising British-style food, craft beer from an independent local brewer and biodynamic and sustainable wines.
Opens: Mid November
58 Penton Street, N1 9PZ, hicce.co.uk
Petrossian
The Parisian caviar emporium comes to South Ken promising fish eggs and smoked salmon to take away from the deli or eat on-site in a restaurant offering the pleasure-beyond-telling of a caviar croque.
Opens: Late November
6 Fulham Road, SW3 6HG, petrossian.co.uk
