August is the month London stops pretending to be responsible.
Lunches drift into cocktails. Dessert becomes a destination. Nobody questions why you are ordering smoked salmon from a trolley, drinking Champagne beside a railway station or buying vinyl when you do not technically own a record player.
These are the sixteen bookings, openings and excellent bad influences worth clearing your diary for this month.
Coppa Club Tower Bridge: For Main Character Brunches
Coppa Club Tower Bridge has the sort of view that makes even lifelong Londoners reach for their phones. The riverside igloos have been refreshed with warm toned interiors and glass chandeliers, while the menu brings croquettes, red mullet and prawn linguine, harissa baked eggs and spiced French toast.
@coppaclub | coppaclub.co.uk/tower
LUCA10: A Greatest Hits Album You Can Eat
LUCA is celebrating ten years with a £75 menu of returning favourites. Parmesan fries lead into Ligurian tomatoes with yellow peaches and stracciatella, taglierini with Cornish lobster, and caramelised lemon tart with fennel ice cream. Numbers are limited and the menu must be ordered in advance, so book accordingly.
@luca.restaurant | luca.restaurant
Berners Tavern: Because Dinner Deserves a Trolley
Berners Tavern has introduced a £25 smoked salmon trolley, with Loch Duart gin cured and beetroot cured salmon sliced tableside and served with capers, shallots and dill cream cheese. Add courgette flower, scallop crudo, confit duck and summer spritzes, and dinner suddenly feels far more theatrical.
@bernerstavern | bernerstavern.com
Brasserie Constance: The Trifle Redemption Tour
Trifle is back, and Brasserie Constance is giving it the glow up it deserves. Adam Byatt and Charlie Crote’s team serve an individually portioned version that changes weekly with the seasons, including cherry and almond or English strawberry and elderflower. Family buffet baggage officially removed.
@brasserieconstance | brasserieconstance.com
Rum Kitchen: National Rum Day, But Make It an All-Nighter
Celebrate National Rum Day on 16 August at Rum Kitchen Camden with DJs, beach shack-style sharing plates and an extensive rum collection. Cocktails include the Rumbustion Colada, Pom Pom Daiquiri, Jamrock Punch and Rude Boy. Happy hour runs from 4pm until 7pm, with two cocktails for £12.
@therumkitchen | rumkitchen.co.uk
Old St. Records: Buy Vinyl, Lose Track of Time
Old St. Records now has an in-house record shop curated by Cigarette Records. Around 5,000 titles span disco, funk, soul, reggae, house, garage, jungle, punk and rock, with plans to double the collection. Go in for a quick browse. Leave with an album and a new personality.
@oldstrecords | oldstreetrecords.com
Vagabond Soho: Wine Tasting Without the Lecture
Vagabond’s Ganton Street flagship offers more than 140 wines by the glass through self pour machines. Choose tasting measures or full glasses, explore independent producers and wines made at Vagabond’s urban winery, then settle into the terrace before confidently recommending something you discovered seven minutes earlier.
@vagabondwines | vagabondwines.co.uk
Jurkish at Ninety One Brick Lane: Two Cultures, One Very Good Idea
Jurkish combines founder Nazli Ramadan’s Jamaican and Turkish Cypriot heritage through plantain hummus, curry goat manti, oxtail pide, jerk chicken and pistachio künefe brownies. Sundays bring Jurk chicken, mint Jurk lamb shank or hot honey pumpkin with roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and Jurky gravy.
@91bricklane | 91livingroom.com
Aqua Nueva: Soho’s Frozen Tequila Emergency Plan
Aqua Nueva’s Playa Rooftop brings cabanas, surfboards and frozen tequila to Soho. The Frozen Mockingbird mixes Casamigos Blanco with jalapeño agave, watermelon and lime, while the Siesta, Barcelona Highball and Picantico offer equally persuasive alternatives. The nearest beach is irrelevant when the slushie contains tequila.
@aquanueva | www.aquanueva.co.uk
Adam Handling Chocolate Shop: Chocolate, But Make It Weather Appropriate
Adam Handling Chocolate Shop is cooling down Covent Garden with bespoke iced chocolate milk made from twelve single origin chocolates. Choose flavour profiles ranging from fruity and floral to intensely roasted. Drinks start at £6.50, while the £5 chocolate soft serve comes finished with extra melted chocolate.
@adamhandling | www.adamhandlingchocolate.co.uk
Feels Like June: California Without the Jet Lag
Feels Like June brings a little West Coast energy to Canary Wharf with breakfast burritos, salad bowls, grilled meats, colourful cocktails and a summer terrace. It is built for lunches that begin with every intention of returning to the office and end with somebody ordering another round.
@feels_like_june | www.feelslikejune.com
Boisdale: Carnival Starts in Canary Wharf
On 29 August, Boisdale of Canary Wharf welcomes Saxon Sound System for a Carnival warm-up of reggae, dancehall and classic anthems. Caribbean dishes include saltfish fritters, jerk chicken with rice and peas, salmon and king prawn Rundown, and rum baba. DJs and MCs take over from 8pm.
@boisdale | www.boisdale.co.uk
Bintang: Brunch Has Finally Escaped Avocado
Bintang’s Kentish Town terrace serves the brunch London actually needed. Think ube French toast, tocino burgers and silog breakfasts, alongside calamansi chilli wings, beef sisig, oxtail kare kare and oak smoked chicken inasal. Clarified ube coladas and pandan Old Fashioneds make productive afternoon plans increasingly unlikely.
@bintang_restaurant | www.bintangrestaurant.co.uk
The Orchard Room in Bloom: Afternoon Tea With Better Lighting
The Orchard Room’s botanical afternoon tea features an English pea and mint tartlet, coronation chicken brioche, a smoked salmon and lemon éclair, warm scones and floral pâtisserie. Nazani Tea pairings accompany the menu, while the signature glass ceiling and cascading flowers make even pouring tea feel faintly cinematic.
@theorchardroomlondon | www.theorchardroom.com
St. Pancras London: Miss the Train on Purpose
St. Pancras London’s Laurent Perrier terrace is dressed in soft pink flowers and fairy lights. Champagne Palomas, Clear Margaritas and Sbagliatos accompany Suffolk charcuterie, the 1869 cheeseburger, fried fish sandwiches and shrimp brioche buns. It is a very good reason to arrive early or miss the train entirely.
@stpancraslondon | www.stpancraslondon.com
Ixchel: Dinner by the Light of the Buck Moon
Ixchel’s August Full Moon specials bring a late summer twist to the King’s Road. The Salmon Tlayuda layers fresh salmon, black beans, fish crackling, cheese crust and salad over crisp Oaxacan flatbread, while the Blood Orange Mezcal Paloma mixes Casamigos Mezcal, blood orange, lime, agave and soda.
@ixchellondon | www.ixchellondon.com
August is short. London’s list of distractions is not. September can deal with the consequences.
