London has been busy making dinner plans on our behalf. This autumn’s openings include Filipino-inspired pizza, a ten-seat sushi counter and a burger restaurant with a perfectly sensible interest in champagne. There is also a new Italian at Olympia with room for 500, should your group chat finally agree on a date. From Chelsea to Canary Wharf, these eight arrivals are making the sofa a slightly harder sell.
Bunso, Hawley Road
Omar Shah and the team behind Belly have turned their attention to dough, with some particularly good ideas about what to put on it. At Bunso, longanisa sausage, calamansi hot honey and pickled papaya share a pizza, while tortellini comes filled with crab Bicol Express, a coconut-rich preparation with chilli. Vinyl plays through a purpose-built hi-fi system, although the oxtail pappardelle may prove distracting. The pizzeria opened on 13 October, with the daytime bakery joining it this month. Expect pandan cream cruffins and banana turon pain suisse to complicate any plans for a modest breakfast.
ENDO, Chelsea
Ten seats, a counter crafted from 200-year-old Kyoto hinoki wood and one very compelling reason to clear the evening. Endo Kazutoshi’s new Chelsea restaurant opened on 1 October in the former Five Fields townhouse, taking inspiration from Tokyo’s sushi counters of the 1920s and 1930s. The third-generation sushi master draws on longstanding relationships with specialist producers in Britain and Japan, serving an omakase menu kept under wraps until dinner. Those of us who usually inspect the menu a week beforehand will have to find another hobby.
@kazutoshi.endo | endo-chelsea.com/
Milk Burger, Westbourne Grove
A bone marrow and truffle burger with a glass of champagne is a proposition that requires very little explaining. At Milk Burger, executive chef Jorge Paredes, formerly head chef at OMA, turns his attention to comfort food, with a spicy smash burger and Cuban sandwich also on the menu. Founders Alina Kosichkina and Dima Zakhodiakin previously built a restaurant portfolio in Kyiv; interiors come courtesy of David Archer, whose projects include Chiltern Firehouse. It’s walk-ins only, open daily from noon until 9pm. An excellent reason to find yourself on Westbourne Grove around lunchtime.
Cassette, Covent Garden
The Levan team’s new French restaurant brings a welcome appetite for long dinners to Maiden Lane. Head chef Essa Fakhry, previously of Dublin’s Note and London’s Planque, leads the kitchen, with early menu plans including coq-au-vin jaune pie and grilled monkfish au poivre. The setting is a Grade II-listed building, and music runs through its identity: co-founder Mark Gurney owns a record label and DJs, continuing a connection established at Levan. There’s plenty here to build an evening around. Theatre tickets might simply get in the way.
@cassettelondon | cassettelondon.co.uk
Bamboo Mat, Wood Wharf
Seabass ceviche with mango and passionfruit, charcoal-grilled lamb chops and sushi flame-torched at the table: Bamboo Mat has arrived in Canary Wharf with plenty to get distracted by. Chef-owners Denis Gobjila and Victor Rosca’s Japanese-Peruvian cooking now spans two floors in Wood Wharf, with a raw bar and cocktail lounge downstairs. The signature Volcano Maki supplies the tableside flames, while three tasting menus, including a vegetarian option, offer some direction. Useful when your approach to ordering is largely pointing at things and saying “and that”.
@bamboomat_canarywharf | bamboo-mat.co.uk/restaurant-canary-wharf
ALBA Omakase, Knightsbridge
ALBA’s new ten-seat counter explores the connections between Japanese and Italian coastal ingredients, with sea urchin, bluefin tuna belly and caviar among the attractions. Japanese head chef Takuya Kaneko, previously of Zuma, leads the experience, with menus created by creative chef Dmytro Pak. Nine- and twelve-course options are available at 6.30pm and 8.30pm, Tuesday to Saturday, with a view of Harrods accompanying proceedings. This is an evening to settle into, watch the chefs and give dinner your undivided attention. The phone can survive without you.
@alba_ldn | alba-ldn.uk/omakase
Juno, Olympia
Arriving at Olympia this October, Juno is taking a fairly expansive approach to Italian hospitality. Its 11,500-square-foot home inside the Grade II-listed National Hall accommodates up to 500 guests, with hand-stretched Neapolitan pizza, pasta and cocktails keeping everyone fed and watered. DJs and live entertainment give the evening somewhere to go, while the all-day format leaves room for long lunches. One to bear in mind when someone suggests a quiet dinner, then asks where you’re going afterwards.
Carmelina’s, Covent Garden
Joining Covent Garden’s dining scene this October, Carmelina’s at The Webster hotel has most eventualities covered: handmade pasta, seafood, porchetta with friarielli, the bitter Italian greens, and somewhere downstairs for a cocktail afterwards. Head chef Simone Serafini oversees the kitchen, while Red Deer’s interiors bring together black-and-white tiles, warm timber and vintage artwork. An upstairs café-bar opens onto a covered terrace; downstairs, Carla’s takes care of the later hours. The arrangement makes a persuasive case for letting lunch run on. You may want to be vague about what time you’ll be home.
@ristorantecarmelinas | thewebsterhotel.com/london/eat-drink/carmelinas/
