In a city brimming with new restaurant openings each and every week, keeping track of what's cropping up where and who's dishing up what is enough to overload any food and drink enthusiast - not to mention their diary.
The secret to survival? Getting ahead of the game. So get your pens at the ready, because here's your definitive guide to the most exciting new eateries of 2024.
ARLINGTON
Dig out your shoulder pads because the jewel of the former Corbin & King empire, Le Caprice, is being resurrected by Jeremy King, who’s now flying solo. Once frequented by Princess Diana, Mick Jagger and Elizabeth Taylor, the new destination in the same location promises King’s signature sophisticated charm, further buoyed by the site’s former maître d’, hospitality maverick Jesus Adorno. On the menu, expect 21st-century takes on the spot’s retro favourites, such as bang bang chicken and a tomato and a basil galette.
Opens early 2024. 20 Arlington St, SW1
THE PARK
If you were once wooed by the charm of The Wolseley, you’ll be bowled over by King’s next show-stopper, coming in at £8m. Nestled opposite Kensington Palace Gardens, the restaurateur is promising a more modern take on his signature ‘grand café’ — the elegant bistro format he honed with former business partner, Corbin. The food, however, will be slightly different, led by European and Californian influences ‘as if this were a restaurant being created for Central Park rather than Hyde Park’, says King.
Opens spring 2024. 123 Bayswater Road, W2
SIMPSONS ON THE STRAND
King’s third and final offering (for now) is another resurrection, this time of what he calls the last remaining ‘grand-dame’ of restaurants. Once a chess house, then an institution serving magnificent roast dinners to greats from Winston Churchill to Charles Dickens, the soon-to-be lovingly restored 195-year-old space will house two dining rooms, a basement bar and a private dining room in which the fare will be brought ‘fully into the 21st century’, says King. Fingers crossed we can still get our hands on those roasties…
Opens 2024. 100 Strand, WC2 (thesavoylondon.com)
ABC AT THE EMORY
The Maybourne group (Claridge’s, The Berkley, The Connaught) is unveiling a tremendously chic new hotel this spring, and with it arrives a new concept by French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. It’s destined to be a warm, tactile, luxurious space, though the exact type of food on offer is still hush-hush — and with three very different restaurants in New York City, at the moment it’s anyone’s guess. What you can expect, however, is Vongerichten’s die-hard wholesome ethos, which focuses on local, sustainable, seasonal produce. Definitely delicious.
Opens spring 2024.
WILDFLOWERS
Believe it or not, Pimlico is about to have its big moment. Housed within the enticing new Newson’s Yard development, interior stylist Laura Hart and Chef Aaron Potter’s debut venture will be a celebration of the best of Mediterranean dining culture paired with a well-researched wine list and ‘considered’ cocktails. Promising to be a warm and relaxed space, we’re itching to tuck in to the power couple’s cuttlefish and crab fideuà and fig leaf pastéis de Nata.
Opens early 2024. Newson's Yard, SW1 (@wildflowers.restaurant)
ENDO KAZUTOSHI AT THE OWO
Perhaps the most secretive launch of the year, we can’t even squidge the real name out of the team looking after third-generation sushi master Endo Kazutoshi’s new restaurant and sake bar opening within the exclusive Raffles hotel. All we know is the non-omakase rooftop restaurant will have views across London and, naturally, will be serving some of the best sushi in town.
Opens in February. 57 Whitehall, SW1 (theowo.london)
ALFI
A self-titled ‘pub with wines’, your new favourite Spitalfields haunt quietly opened last week and will be joined by a restaurant in February. At the moment you’ll find 10 low-intervention, mostly biodynamic wines on tap alongside local draught beers and a selection of small plates, such as charred charlotte potatoes with chive crème fraîche. Then in February, Italian chef Lorenzo Brigandi will be concocting a range of hearty British and wider European plates cooked over the grill, while the wine list will go from 40 to more than 100 bottles.
Opens in February. 3 Crispin Pl, E1 (alfi.ltd)
JULY
Born out of food writer Solynka Dumas and Julian Oschmann’s love of (legally) entertaining residents in their Berlin building during the pandemic, this is soon to be Fitzrovia’s most fashionable new hotspot. Swing by the French-Alsatian-inspired bistro and wine bar for coffee and pastries in the AM, or settle in for former 40 Maltby Street head chef Holly Hayes’s fare come lunch or dinner. We’re looking forward to soothing our souls, choosing chicken broth with spelt and tarragon dumplings, and Rollright cheese and potato pie from the wholly nourishing and comforting menu.
Opens early spring. Charlotte Street, W1
MORCHELLA
As if you need another excuse to travel east, Ben Marks and Matthew Emmerson of Perilla, and Great British Menu finalist Daniel Fletcher, have decided to open a new stripped-back spot in Clerkenwell. Leaning towards the Mediterranean, here Fletcher will be rustling up wholesome, refined classics including Polpo alla Luciana (stewed octopus) and hake in a sprightly sobrasada sauce. Meanwhile, the cosy wine bar serving low-intervention gems could just be your sultry new local.
Opens in February. 84-86 Rosebery Avenue, EC1 (morchelladining.co.uk)
DARLING’S
After a six-month residency at Vestry in Walthamstow, Egle Loit is giving her aesthetically pleasing pasta offering a permanent home in Fish Island. Having secured the space, the cook is now in the midst of crowd-funding to polish off the restaurant and studio. According to Loit, the eatery will offer ‘limitless lunches, run fresh pasta-making classes and create a pasta club for those who seek pleasure and connection through food.’ To which we say: bring it on.
Opens in January. Fish Island, E3 (@darlingitspasta)
QUINCE BAKERY
Okay, so this isn't a restaurant, but you'll likely find award-winning pastry chef and author Anna Higham's new Islington bakery much more exciting. Formerly an architect, Higham went on to work at Gramercy Tavern in New York, Lyle’s and Flor before running the pastry section at The River Café and releasing her debut cookbook, The Last Bite. A master in all things sweet, savoury and sourdough, simply take a look at her Instagram for instant cravings.
Open early 2024. New North Road, N1 (@anna.atthetable)
BURNT ENDS
We practically squealed with glee when we heard Dave Pynt was transporting the brilliance of his one-Michelin-star restaurant from Singapore to Harrods. At number 65 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards long-list, the new spot will serve Pynt’s signature ‘modern Australian barbecue’, consisting of decadent, modern takes on carefully grilled meat, fish and vegetables. We’re dreaming of the smoked beef-fat potato cakes topped with Wagyu steak tartare and heaps of caviar.
Opening date TBC. Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Road, SW1 (burntends.com.sg)
JULIE’S 3.0
You can breathe a sweet sigh of relief because the beloved Holland Park haunt is being brought back to life for a third time by a local Cordon Bleu-trained chef, Tara MacBain. Once a haven for lavish fish platters adored by the likes of Kate Moss and Paul McCartney, MacBain is reinventing the space as a modern French Bistro with a punchy wine list featuring the great and the good. But can it retain its charm? There’s only one way to find out.
Date TBC. 135 Portland Rd, W11 (juliesrestaurant.com)
RESTAURANT STORY 2.0
Here comes Tom Sellers again, this time with hospitality master Darren McHugh (The Ledbury, Lisboeta, Kol) in tow to relaunch his newly renovated two Michelin Star restaurant. Promising to be bigger, better, and more luxurious than ever, judging by the look of his upcoming roasted Yorkshire duck dish with kohlrabi and buttered greens, Sellers's nostalgic yet modern British fare is going from strength to strength.
Opens in January. 199 Tooley St, London SE1 (restaurantstory.co.uk)
PLUS, WE'VE GEARD WHISPERS ABOUT...
The founder of Decateur, Tom Browne is close to finding a permanent home for his Louisiana-inspired pop-up. (@decateurlondon)
A new European bistro is opening at The Hoxton Shoreditch, with a big name partner from NYC in tow. (thehoxton.com)
The founders of one of 2023’s hottest openings, Papi, are said to be eyeing another site close by for a new concept early next year. (@papi.restaurant)
