Jo Aspin and Paloma Lacy round up the latest restaurant openings in London and beyond. This November, get your teeth stuck into the below:
Kolae
[Photo Credit: Ben Broomfield]
True Som Saa fans will remember the epic flavours that came out of Climpson’s Arch at their first pop-up before their permanent site landed in Shoreditch.
Now co-founders Mark Dobbie and Andy Oliver have opened a sister restaurant Kolae in Borough Market. Taking its name from the Kolae style of cooking (also known as Golae, Galae and Gaw Lae) – flavours are based around Southern Thailand and feature coconut marinaded meat and fish all grilled over open flames. Menu highlights include Kolae chicken bamboo skewer; Sour mango salad with roasted coconut and dry fish. Split over three floors, guests can overlook the restaurant’s open-fire kitchen on the ground floor, while the first floor houses a dining room of 25 covers. A second floor has been designed to be a private dining space for 12-16 guests. JA.
Now open
Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club is set to open a 15th site at Seven Dials, Covent Garden this November.
What's not to like about The Breakfast Club? You can eat waffles or pancakes with cream any time of day, get proper mugs of coffee or tea, fresh fruit smoothies, and a list of cocktails which don’t frown on daytime drinking either: BC Bloody Mary, Breakfast Mai Tai and Rise & Shine Mimosa.
The other thing we LOVE about the Breakfast Clubs is that each site has a ‘secret’ bar hidden inside, often accessed through a Smeg fridge or some other sort of creative entrance. These guys weren’t giving anything away at the time of writing so we guess we’ll just have to visit and find out how to access this one for ourselves. JA.
Breakfast Club, 55 Neal Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9PJ
Opens 18th November
Azzurra
[Photo credit: Stephen Joyce]
Aqua Restaurant Group has opened an Italian seafood restaurant, Azzurra on Sloane Street. Why visit? Firstly, it takes inspiration from around the Sicilian and Amalfi Coasts. Secondly,
Azzurra celebrates a ‘boat to table’ philosophy, sourcing sustainable seafood from the British Isles and prepared with ‘Italian elegance and simplicity’. We can get behind that!
A raw bar, pizza counter and cocktail bar all feature.
Try Scottish langoustine tartare with Amalfi lemon oil and smoked Anglesey salt; seafood carbonara with mussels, clams, tuna, prawns and seabass; and Seabass, salt baked with salmoriglio sauce. The pizza oven fires thin-crust pizzas – including the signature - medallions of lobster tail, bottarga and lemon zest (no tomato or cheese).
A new Sloaney hotspot for sure! JA.
Now open
Azzurra, 127 - 128 Sloane Street, London, SW1X 9AS
Pearly Queen
Chef Tom Brown of Cornerstone opens an oyster bar and restaurant in Shoreditch this month. Inspired by East End heritage, oysters and shellfish will feature heavily at Pearly Queen. Expect creative fish recipes, and cocktails with a coastal twist which have been created by Max Venning (Three Sheets) as well as Guinness on tap. Daily fresh UK-sourced oysters, shellfish platters with seaweed aioli and burnt tomato ketchup; lobster served in XO lobster butter; and ‘100-layer’ cuttlefish lasagne will all be served up. The 60-cover restaurant will be spread across two floors. Upstairs will echo an East End boozer with a bar offering counter seating. JA.
Opens 11th November
44 Commercial Street, E1 6LT
NOTTO Covent Garden
Piccadilly pasta restaurant NOTTO has proved so successful that a second one opens in Covent Garden this month. Michelin-starred chef Phil Howard and business partner Julian Dyer (Pots & Co) are bringing NOTTO’s famed silky fresh pasta and homemade sauces to the heart of London's Theatreland.
Meat is sourced from chefs’ favourite, London butchers HG Walter, wild mushrooms and foraged produce come from The Wild Room, while the finest flour, burrata and other Italian ingredients are selected by Vittorio at Cibo. Here’s what to expect from the menu. Focaccia with rosemary, rock salt, tomatoes, and garlic, and Grissini with lardo di colonnata and parmesan. Starters include burrata, with slow-cooked cavolo nero and an anchovy, garlic and orange dressing, and vitello tonnato. PL.
Opens 13th November
4 Henrietta St, London WC2E 8PS
Pizza Guys and Grime Burgers Land In Spitalfields Market
Spitalfields Market welcomes two new operators this month. Italian brand
Pizza Guys opens its first branch in the UK offering classic pizza flavours (the simplest is always the best) from Margherita and the original Pepperoni, and we can’t wait to try their Pizza Fritta (Deep Fried Pizza)! Grime Burgers opens its first London-based branch serving up 100% British Wagyu beef burgers with their own very grime sauce.
Le Deli by Joël Robuchon International
The late Joël Robuchon’s legacy continues a pace with this latest deli opening on the King's Road Chelsea this month. Le Deli King's Road will open from breakfast till late, offering French deli-style food all day, and then wine, cheese and charcuterie in the evenings. Visit for their Pistachio, Vanilla and Chocolate cube croissants plus a brand-new savoury iteration of Le Deli’s cube croissant, to be revealed at this latest opening. Plus Sloanes can pop in for all their French pantry essentials, from Valrhona chocolates to artisanal jams as well as Tarte aux Framboises, Chocolat et Noisette, as well as the daily changing Choux of the Day and Mille-Feuille of the Day. JA. We previously ran this in our October restaurant news but the opening has been set back and this is now due to open 6th Nov. Le Deli King’s Road, 279 King’s Road, London, SW3 5EW. https://robuchonlondon.co.uk/le-deli-kings-road/