2017 was a great year for new restaurants in our beloved capital. We wiped sweat from our brow over Farang’s chicken wings, sauce from our shirt over Marcella’s pasta, and tears from our eyes over Bibendum’s bill. We thanked Smoking Goat, Dinings and Hoppers for choosing to procreate and making it much easier to get a table, and we were all in a flap over Sparrow and Magpie. We cooed over Xu, thought Kricket was wicked and generally wished our year of eating in London would never end.
It has though, and there’s no let up. To 2018 then, and a whole host of new openings here to bring excitement to the new year. So, here are 5 IDEAL restaurant openings we can’t wait for in 2018.
SABOR
London’s tapas’ scene is arguably the best around outside of the homeland, and much of its success can be pinpointed to the all conquering, all delicious Barrafina. Nieves Barragan was the executive chef there for the best part of the decade and Sabor will be her first solo venture. It will be housed on Heddon Street, on an already clustered stretch of restaurants, but there’s no doubt it will stand out. Her food is gutsy, forward and by no means reticent; we can’t wait to try anything from the massive asador wood-fired oven housed on the second floor. People are getting pavlov about the Galician octopus already.
When: January
Where: Mayfair
SORELLA
We at IDEAL are big fans of Robin Gill’s cooking, and were somewhat broken at the news that Paradise Garage had served its last whole rabbit at the tail end of 2017. Then we read his second restaurant The Manor was also closing, but before a serious breakdown could set in we finished the paragraph; the team behind The Manor are opening Sorella on the same site. It will be headed up by Dean Parker, with the brief of gutsy Italian flavours from Gill’s stint working in restaurants on the Amalfi coast as inspiration. As these guys have always had a wicked way with the double zero dough, we’re stoked.
When: January
Where: Clapham
CORNERSTONE
Nathan Outlaw’s main man at Outlaws at the Capital for the past couple of years, and a firm fan favourite on BBC’s Great British Menu, chef Tom Brown is striking out alone this year to open Cornerstone in Hackney. If his enthusiasm for Cornish ingredients, specifically fish, and simple, honest cooking done with great precision continues, then he, and East London, could be on to a real winner. The best ingredients, the best way to cook fish and a thoroughly nice chap to boot, we’re rooting for this one to be a success. While it may be a little out the way, you could always elongate your lift home?
When: March
Where: Hackney
BRAT
Tom Parry, the ex-head chef of acclaimed Kitty Fisher’s, has teamed up with Ben Chapman, the brains behind Kiln and Smoking Goat, to open Brat. First things first, those are some serious credentials on the current scene in London. But wait until you hear this; the restaurant will be above Smoking Goat 2.0 in Shoreditch, and centred around the asador oven and elemental cooking over fire so beloved of the Basque region, Etxebarri style. We think this is a match made in heaven, and when you throw some seriously fresh, locally sourced fish into the mix, then we’re sure this will be the opening of the year.
When: Spring
Where: Shoreditch
MADAME WONG
Restaurant A. Wong and chef/proprietor Andrew had a wonderful year. But rest on his laurels, he won’t. Rumours abound that the chef will be opening his more casual, sister restaurant, speculatively called Madame Wong, in the city’s Bloomberg Arcade. If it’s anything like the original, which does some of the best Chinese we’ve ever tried, then London is in for a treat.
When: April
Where: The City
