New restaurant openings in 2020
With a new year, comes the prospect of many great meals to be eaten - so which restaurants should you look out for in 2020?
Muse
Set to open on January 11th is British chef Tom Aikens' Muse. Set in a converted Georgian townhouse on Belgravia’s Groom Place the restaurant will seat 25, with menus at Muse have inspired by the pivotal moments and key people in Tom’s personal life and career.
The six-course and ten-course tasting menus will include dishes like 'Conquering the Beech Tree, inspired by the chef's childhood memories of climbing a huge beech tree in his garden - on a plate, this will be langoustine, pork fat and burnt apple - as well as 'The love affair continues' inspired by Joël Robuchon and Pierre Koffmann, an ode to Robuchon’s famous mashed potato and Koffmann’s method of cooking fish in goose fat.
Kray Treadwell
Ex-Man Behind the Curtain chef and Great British Menu 2019 contestant Kray Treadwell is in the planning stages of launching his first restaurant, following a successful series of pop-ups.
Confident he’ll have a permanent site by Spring next year, the chef hopes that his unconventional style - not dissimilar to that of his former boss, Michael O'Hare - will stand out and be different.
In a recent interview with The Staff Canteen, the chef explained: "I want people to be able to come in and eat a tasting menu for £60, listen to music they are familiar with and make it like they are having a night out. Basically, I don’t want a fine dining restaurant, but I want the food to be of that standard."
Oklava Bakery + Wine
Selin Kiazim's new project will replace Kyseri on the Fitzrovia site which closed earlier this year. The chef crowdfunded close to £20,000 for the new bakery and wine bar, which will see her pursue her long-time personal passion for Turkish baking, complemented by Laura’s love of wines from the same region.
Originally planned for autumn 2019, Mathura is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2020.
Named after a capital city of King Kanishka, an emperor of the Kushan dynasty in the second century, the 200 cover restaurant and bar will be housed in the former Westminster Fire Station.
Mathura’s menu will stay true to Atul Kochar's signature Indian flair, using premium, locally sourced British produce.
The chef behind nose-to-tail Brighton pop-up, Flank, Tom Griffiths is getting a permanent site to house his original take on barbecue food.
At an unspecified date next year, he told The Staff Canteen will launch Flank Restaurant, which he said will be more like his original pop-up.
"It's going back to the roots of nose-to-tail but a lot of refinement," he said, taking a similar approach to Tom Brown at Cornerstone, only with meat, not seafood.
The Connaught Grill had a first running between 1955 and 2000. 20 years later, it's back.
The original restaurant was a very traditional establishment, widely perceived as the pinnacle of haute French cuisine in the capital.
The kitchen will be overseen by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, whose eponymous restaurant at The Connaught will sit alongside the rejuvenated restaurant and Helene Darroze's recently-relaunched restaurant, with a menu focused on British ingredients, for a modern take on The Grill Room classics.
But, as co-owner Paddy McKillen explained, the new restaurant will be aimed at a generation, with "a Connaught Grill of today, not yesterday, using craftsmen and chefs of today, but with the spirit and old school charm of the legendary Connaught Grill.”
Noble Rot Soho
The famous duo behind the wine and culture magazine-turned hip wine bar Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew are opening their second venue on Greek Streetin Spring 2020.
The food menu will be overseen by the chef Paul Weaver, with help from consultant chef Stephen Harris.
Born from their eponymous wine magazine, Noble Rot has been a massive hit with food and wine enthusiasts alike, and the new restaurant will be sure to excite a few London dwellers.
Noma Mexico's Santiago Lastra is returning to London Marylebone to open Kol, which will showcase his modern take on Mexican cuisine, only using the best of British ingredients.
The chef is said to have spent the last two years sourcing suppliers. His menu will include foraged food from the woodlands of Kent, Scottish shellfish and vegetables and herbs from a small-scale farm in Hertfordshire.
The 56-seater dining room will boast an open kitchen with a tortilla station, and, in the basement will be a mezcal bar called Mezcaleria.
NoMad London
Infamous New York hotel NoMad is coming to London, with chef Daniel Humm at the helm.
After his debut at Claridge's in early December 2019, the chef will take charge of the food and beverage offering at the former Bow Street Magistrates Court and Police Station in Covent Garden, promising the same high calibre, casual-elegant level as its American counterpart.
Originally the chef was planning on overseeing the new hotel restaurant with his longstanding business partner, Will Guidara, but he will do so alone following their decision to part ways.
Akoko
Masterchef: The Professionals' William JM Chilila is planning a restaurant in London's Fitzrovia - which will shine a light on West African cuisine in a new, elevated way. Set in a polished and relaxed decor, the restaurant will use English ingredients and African spices to prepare dishes that will include smoked jollof rice, grilled aged beef suya with caramelised onion and confit tomato, barbecued baby aubergine maafe and smoked goat consommé.
28 Market Place
GBM finalist, formerly of The Square and of Fenchurch Restaurant chef Dan Fletcher is finally set to open his own restaurant. 28 Market Place will be set in a 17th century, grade-two listed building in the market town of Somerton.
Joined by senior sous chef Matt Heeley, the restaurant will have a West Country, hyper-seasonal produce focus and an extensive wine list.
Originally located at Bruton Place the highly acclaimed restaurant left many mourning it when it was replaced by Bellamy's. Its return will bring great joy to the residents of Mayfair, will it will (appropriately) be located.
If the name didn't make it clear, the restaurant focuses on fish eggs, with all the expected trimmings: baked potato with sour cream, blinis, taramasalata, you name it.
Lerpwl
Ellis and Liam Barrie's new Liverpool restaurant will open in February 2020. Pronounced ‘Ler-pool,' a wink to both Liverpool and North Wales - as the brothers grew up in Liverpool and launched their renowned restaurant the Marram Grass in Anglesey - Lerpwl translates to the Welsh word for the city.
Twice a Great British Menu contestant, Ellis Barrie has earned a beaming reputation since opening the Marram Grass with his brother Liam in 2009, and Lerpwl sets similarly high expectations.
Focusing on the trade links between the city and the rest of the world, using Welsh and foreign produce - from home-grown aged swine to Italian white truggles.
Since winning MasterChef: The Professionals 2018, Laurence Henry - who trained, amongst other places, at two Michelin-starred Restaurant Sat Bains - has seen his career turbo-boosted, receiving more offers of investment than he could possibly accept.
Hoping to open the doors early April, the chef said his as-of-yet unnamed restaurant will have a separate bar and will offer a tasting menu of modern British dishes, highlighting local ingredients from his region.
Stu Deeley
Not unlike Laurence, MasterChef: The Professionals winner 2019 Stu Deeley got a huge confidence boost from having taken the crown.
The chef announced that he would be leaving The Wilderness shortly before the final aired on television, and, in an exclusive interview with The Staff Canteen, he shed some detail on his new project.
This will see him and his partner Natasha opening a new venue as early as February in the Jewellery Quarter.
The 30-seater venue will open five days a week and will showcase the unique style that earned him the title - Japanese, Indian, British fusion, influenced by his native city of Birmingham. His sous-chef Nathan will be joining him at the restaurant.
Taking a guess at the reaction the restaurant is likely to get among locals, the chef said: "Brummies are very proud of their own and when a Brummie does well, everybody loves it, it's almost like a village-like feel in a city, so to be able to open my own restaurant in my hometown is the best feeling."
Tom Shepherd
Former head chef of Michelin-starred Adam's in Birmingham, Tom Shepherd, will be opening his first solo venture in 2020. The restaurant will be located in the same building as his dad’s jewellery shop and although he is yet to reveal the name of his restaurant Tom has a very clear vision of what style of food he will be offering. He is designing a relaxed, 32 cover restaurant with a glass fronted kitchen that is open at both ends - he wants people ‘to feel part of the experience as they walk in.’
Tom previously worked at The Latymer with Michael Wignall and as development chef at Restaurant Sat Bains. He has been with Adam Stokes at Adam’s for two and a half years, retaining its star and helping to evolve an already successful business.
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