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What is the story about?
In December 2024, UK restaurants and pubs saw a much-needed 3.2% year-over-year increase in sales. But this autumn’s opening season in London feels a little quieter than usual. It’s been a challenging year for UK restaurants, because everything from inflation to a rise in employer's insurance costs. The city also lost several high-profile restaurants: Lyle’s, Margot and Claude Bosi at Bibendum have all shut their doors.
Which makes the new places arriving in the second half of 2025 feel notable. Several of them have just opened, as if September is a race to be first out of the starting gate. Others are taking a little more time and plan to be ready for the holidays.
Among the trends you’ll see: lots of Italian food. “Italian is having a moment,” says star chef Angela Hartnett, whose major new dining room Cicoria in the Royal Opera House plays into the theme. “Food in London went French, and now it’s coming back to Italy.” Other spots include the launch of the world-famous red-sauce joint Carbone in the Chancery Rosewood and Stevie Parle’s modern-minded Motorino.
Also read | Top 10 cities that serve the best food: An Indian city takes 5th spot, and it's not Delhi
Carbone and Hartnett are part of another big trend this season as well: the return of places with big names behind them. Also coming to the Rosewood is one of the world’s most famous sushi chefs, Masa Takayama. You’ll be hearing, too, from the excellent Clare Smyth and the UK’s most profane chef, Gordon Ramsay, who’s backing a new incarnation of a legendary fine dining spot. They’re just some of the 16 restaurants to start booking this autumn in London. Bon appétit.
Carbone, Mayfair
London has been buzzing about the arrival of New York’s high-powered red sauce spot from Jeff Zalaznick, Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi ever since news broke about its opening in early 2024. Now it’s the biggest deal in town. Past the doorman and down a flight of stairs decorated with a mural of nightclub scenes from Ken Fulk is the swanky dining room, outfitted in deep reds, dark woods and vintage lamps. The supersized menu features Carbone’s greatest hits—from table-side Caesar alla ZZ salad (£31, or $42) to spicy rigatoni vodka (code name: “spicyrig,” at £29) and chicken scarpariello with sausage ragu (£46). New to the UK joint is a market-priced, over-the-top lobster risotto and lasagna bianco. The pricey wine list goes deep on French bottles. The music playlist is heavy on Frank Sinatra, but it gets funkier later at night. (Just opened)
Lagana, Shoreditch
The newest addition to the busy Shoreditch dining zone—alongside the reincarnated Thai spot Singburi and the buzzy Spanish Leyanda—is this friendly Greek spot with paper-cloth-covered tables and vintage chandeliers. Tzoulio Loulai, executive chef for the Pachamama Group, is serving plenty of little plates, like spicy feta with peppers (£6) to be accompanied by warm pita (aka, lagana), as well as crudos like yellowtail with tomato dressing (£22). There’s also wood-fired skewers: chicken thighs with yogurt (£7) and lamb chops with lemon oil (£11). Cocktails are named by color: Orange is a mix of apricot, gin and vermouth (£9). (Just opened)
Nela, Bayswater
Set in the new £1.5 billion Whitely development, where flats start at £1.5 million, is the wood-fire-powered Nela. Chefs Hari Shetty and Ori Geller, who launched the concept in Amsterdam a couple years ago and have continued it on the Spanish island of Ibiza this summer, cook in a wide-open kitchen in front of multiple grills. Menu specialties here include tomato and fior de latte pizza (£14.50), grilled red prawns with crispy garlic (£24), slow-cooked Scottish short rib (£35) and an appealingly long list of vegetables, including crispy zucchini with charred cucumber tzatziki (£13). The cocktail list has options designed to stand up to the fire-driven flavors, like the Smoke Signal, with Havana 3 rum, passion fruit, honey syrup and lime (£18). (Just opened)
Also read | 10 gut-friendly snacks recommended by an AIIMS and Harvard trained doctor
Luso, Fitzrovia
The destination Portuguese restaurant Lisboeta has reopened as Luso, with a new look but a similarly Iberian menu. At the 90-seat, bilevel, restaurant, consulting executive chef Leandro Carreira (an alum of the Sea the Sea) is specializing in dishes that extend beyond Portugal to include the Basque country and Andalusia. There’s standards like Iberico ham (£20) and amêijoas à bulhão pato (a garlicky Portuguese clam dish, for £29); bigger plates include frango piri piri, a delectable spiced-up grilled baby chicken (£26) and sea bass cooked in salt (£9 per 100 grams). The European wine list leans into bottles from Portugal, including a couple of barnacle-covered Herdade do Cebolal bottles that have been aged underwater. (Just opened)
Liverpool Street Chop House & Tavern, the City
Conveniently located across the street from the namesake station, Liverpool Street Chop House is the first new launch in a while from the group founded by Terrance Conran in the early 1990s. The menu from chef Mike Reid, a veteran of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and Le Gavroche (see below), pays further homage to the tavern theme. There’s a selection of oysters (some accompanied by beef consomme and horseradish, £5 each), smoked haddock Scotch eggs with the option of caviar (£12.50/£22.50) and ale-braised ox cheek and bone marrow pie (£18.50). Steaks come from Ethical Butcher farmers with options like a 10-ounce rib-eye (£46.50) and an 18-oz. Chateaubriand to share (£95). The design is similarly historically minded, with dark-wood walls, white linen cloths, and brass and gold detailing that flash back to tavern heydays. (Just opened)
Kudo, Marylebone
In a major move—both physically and spiritually—Amy Corbin and chef Patrick Williams have moved their enterprising South African dining empire Kudu and Kudo Grill from high-energy Peckham in South London to a city-central location a short walk from the fancy shops on Bond Street. A braai, or South African-styled grill, is front and center in the polished gold and rust red space, whose design features plenty of warm woods and mirrors. The braai is the focal point of the menu with mains like monkfish potjie with pickled fennel (£35) and poussin with Kashmiri chile crisp (£26), as well as starters like prawns with peri peri sauce (£28). Beverages also show off South African influences: Plenty of the wines are sourced from there, and cocktails like the Seis martini (£10) are made with the local minty plant buchu. (Just opened)
Alta, Soho
In more good news for fans of live fire and Spanish food, here’s Alta, now at home in the Kingly Court food hall. Rob Roy Cameron is an alum of the vaunted El Bulli, in Roses, Spain; his restaurant is named after the Northern Spanish peninsula that’s home to the foodie-favorite Basque region. Accordingly, the ambitious menu features small plates like razor clams with white saffron escabeche (£14), sardine empanadas (£12.5) and chicharron with mojo rojo (£8). The all-important grill section runs from hen-of-the-woods mushrooms (£28) to 35-day-aged beef (£55). The two-story space seats more than 100 diners; it’s outfitted in earth tones with exposed brick walls and poured concrete surfaces. Dino Koletsas’ wines are mostly European, and he’s installed a fun selection on tap. There’s also a solid offering of ciders.
Also read | International Chocolate Day 2025: These whiskies are infused with cocoa notes
Cô Thành, Covent Garden
This invigorating Vietnamese restaurant is the brainchild of Brian Woo, who cooked with the cult street-food hero Nguyễn Thị Thanh, aka the “Lunch Lady,” made famous by the late Anthony Bourdain. At this outpost of chef Woo’s Hong Kong flagship, the menu will unsurprisingly feature noodle soups like the ones that Thanh was famous for, including the sweet and sour bún Thái, a Vietnamese take on Thai tom yum, and bún mắm, a vermicelli noodle soup made from fermented fish and shrimp paste broth. Alongside will be an array of street food staples. The drinks list focuses on natural wines and Vietnamese-inspired cocktails, including a calamansi sour and Cà Phê Sữa martini—an espresso martini made with dark-roasted Vietnamese coffee. Projected opening: mid October
Tobi Masa, Mayfair
In mid-October, Carbone will be joined by another big-deal restaurant, from the sushi master Masa. He promises classics like his indulgent toro handroll, featuring the supremely fatty tuna topped with a dollop of caviar, as well as scallop muscat grape ceviche, coco curry Carabinero shrimp and the cult favorite Surimi pasta, featuring noodles crafted from fish; it’s a dish that Masa developed for his low-carb audience in New York. The dining room will have 90-plus seats; there’s also an omakase counter and cocktail bar. Projected opening: mid October
The Hart, Marylebone
The Public House Group, which has made West London pubs into destination hangouts, including most recently the Fat Badger and the Hero, decided it was time to look east. It’s chosen a building dating to the 1800s on a Chiltern Street corner that was once a pub. The group has restored some details, like the original stained-glass windows, but it’s otherwise just freshened things up, with handsome, expensive-looking dark-wood booths and stools as well as frosted-glass partitions in the ground floor pub.
Although it’s not officially launching until October when dinner will be served, customers can walk in and find requisite snacks such as pork pies and chicken liver toast as well as British beers like Portobello pilsner. The second floor is home to a dining room with candles lighting the tables, where the menu (also served downstairs) is classically focused with crab cakes, kedgeree and prime beef cuts from the group’s butcher in the Cotswolds, home to its popular haunt, the Bull, Charlbury. Projected opening: October
Also read | These 12 countries have more than one capital city: How many did you know about?
The Marlborough, Mayfair
The teams behind two of London’s recent breakout hit places—West London pizza sensation Crisp and Guinness HQ the Devonshire—have joined forces to open a new food-forward pub conveniently close to Selfridges. Carl McCluskey will be serving his famed thin, crispy-crusted pies at a downstairs pizzeria with a terrace for outdoor dining; upstairs, Osin Rogers has replicated the installation system that makes the Guinness so good at the Devonshire. They promise more pizza-friendly ales and lagers to go with it. The crowds will be epic. Projected opening: October
2210, Herne Hill
Nathaniel Mortley, better known by his social media moniker Natty Can Cook, has made his name around London for his exuberant Caribbean cooking. Now he’s opening his first official restaurant, 2210, in South London, not far from where he grew up in Peckham. It’s also near one of his formative cooking experiences: the Clink Project, a restaurant and hospitality training program staffed by people who are incarcerated, where Morley worked while serving time in HMP Brixton.
At 2210, he’ll serve dishes he made popular at pop-ups, such as jerk chicken supreme with pineapple salsa (£24), and the salt-cod-stuffed ackee and saltfish spring rolls (£11). New to his repertoire will be Scotch bonnet-glazed confit turkey wings (£10) and wiri wiri lamb rump, glazed in pepper sauce with tamarind jus (£28). For dessert, he’s serving the self-explanatory deep-fried apple crumble (£12). And to drink with all that, there will be a strong list of rums and riffs on Caribbean classics, such as rum punch and daiquiris. And at 2210, he’ll continue to work with the Clink. Projected opening: Oct. 22
Which makes the new places arriving in the second half of 2025 feel notable. Several of them have just opened, as if September is a race to be first out of the starting gate. Others are taking a little more time and plan to be ready for the holidays.
Among the trends you’ll see: lots of Italian food. “Italian is having a moment,” says star chef Angela Hartnett, whose major new dining room Cicoria in the Royal Opera House plays into the theme. “Food in London went French, and now it’s coming back to Italy.” Other spots include the launch of the world-famous red-sauce joint Carbone in the Chancery Rosewood and Stevie Parle’s modern-minded Motorino.
Also read | Top 10 cities that serve the best food: An Indian city takes 5th spot, and it's not Delhi
Carbone and Hartnett are part of another big trend this season as well: the return of places with big names behind them. Also coming to the Rosewood is one of the world’s most famous sushi chefs, Masa Takayama. You’ll be hearing, too, from the excellent Clare Smyth and the UK’s most profane chef, Gordon Ramsay, who’s backing a new incarnation of a legendary fine dining spot. They’re just some of the 16 restaurants to start booking this autumn in London. Bon appétit.
Carbone, Mayfair
London has been buzzing about the arrival of New York’s high-powered red sauce spot from Jeff Zalaznick, Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi ever since news broke about its opening in early 2024. Now it’s the biggest deal in town. Past the doorman and down a flight of stairs decorated with a mural of nightclub scenes from Ken Fulk is the swanky dining room, outfitted in deep reds, dark woods and vintage lamps. The supersized menu features Carbone’s greatest hits—from table-side Caesar alla ZZ salad (£31, or $42) to spicy rigatoni vodka (code name: “spicyrig,” at £29) and chicken scarpariello with sausage ragu (£46). New to the UK joint is a market-priced, over-the-top lobster risotto and lasagna bianco. The pricey wine list goes deep on French bottles. The music playlist is heavy on Frank Sinatra, but it gets funkier later at night. (Just opened)
Lagana, Shoreditch
The newest addition to the busy Shoreditch dining zone—alongside the reincarnated Thai spot Singburi and the buzzy Spanish Leyanda—is this friendly Greek spot with paper-cloth-covered tables and vintage chandeliers. Tzoulio Loulai, executive chef for the Pachamama Group, is serving plenty of little plates, like spicy feta with peppers (£6) to be accompanied by warm pita (aka, lagana), as well as crudos like yellowtail with tomato dressing (£22). There’s also wood-fired skewers: chicken thighs with yogurt (£7) and lamb chops with lemon oil (£11). Cocktails are named by color: Orange is a mix of apricot, gin and vermouth (£9). (Just opened)
Nela, Bayswater
Set in the new £1.5 billion Whitely development, where flats start at £1.5 million, is the wood-fire-powered Nela. Chefs Hari Shetty and Ori Geller, who launched the concept in Amsterdam a couple years ago and have continued it on the Spanish island of Ibiza this summer, cook in a wide-open kitchen in front of multiple grills. Menu specialties here include tomato and fior de latte pizza (£14.50), grilled red prawns with crispy garlic (£24), slow-cooked Scottish short rib (£35) and an appealingly long list of vegetables, including crispy zucchini with charred cucumber tzatziki (£13). The cocktail list has options designed to stand up to the fire-driven flavors, like the Smoke Signal, with Havana 3 rum, passion fruit, honey syrup and lime (£18). (Just opened)
Also read | 10 gut-friendly snacks recommended by an AIIMS and Harvard trained doctor
Luso, Fitzrovia
The destination Portuguese restaurant Lisboeta has reopened as Luso, with a new look but a similarly Iberian menu. At the 90-seat, bilevel, restaurant, consulting executive chef Leandro Carreira (an alum of the Sea the Sea) is specializing in dishes that extend beyond Portugal to include the Basque country and Andalusia. There’s standards like Iberico ham (£20) and amêijoas à bulhão pato (a garlicky Portuguese clam dish, for £29); bigger plates include frango piri piri, a delectable spiced-up grilled baby chicken (£26) and sea bass cooked in salt (£9 per 100 grams). The European wine list leans into bottles from Portugal, including a couple of barnacle-covered Herdade do Cebolal bottles that have been aged underwater. (Just opened)
Liverpool Street Chop House & Tavern, the City
Conveniently located across the street from the namesake station, Liverpool Street Chop House is the first new launch in a while from the group founded by Terrance Conran in the early 1990s. The menu from chef Mike Reid, a veteran of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and Le Gavroche (see below), pays further homage to the tavern theme. There’s a selection of oysters (some accompanied by beef consomme and horseradish, £5 each), smoked haddock Scotch eggs with the option of caviar (£12.50/£22.50) and ale-braised ox cheek and bone marrow pie (£18.50). Steaks come from Ethical Butcher farmers with options like a 10-ounce rib-eye (£46.50) and an 18-oz. Chateaubriand to share (£95). The design is similarly historically minded, with dark-wood walls, white linen cloths, and brass and gold detailing that flash back to tavern heydays. (Just opened)
Kudo, Marylebone
In a major move—both physically and spiritually—Amy Corbin and chef Patrick Williams have moved their enterprising South African dining empire Kudu and Kudo Grill from high-energy Peckham in South London to a city-central location a short walk from the fancy shops on Bond Street. A braai, or South African-styled grill, is front and center in the polished gold and rust red space, whose design features plenty of warm woods and mirrors. The braai is the focal point of the menu with mains like monkfish potjie with pickled fennel (£35) and poussin with Kashmiri chile crisp (£26), as well as starters like prawns with peri peri sauce (£28). Beverages also show off South African influences: Plenty of the wines are sourced from there, and cocktails like the Seis martini (£10) are made with the local minty plant buchu. (Just opened)
Alta, Soho
In more good news for fans of live fire and Spanish food, here’s Alta, now at home in the Kingly Court food hall. Rob Roy Cameron is an alum of the vaunted El Bulli, in Roses, Spain; his restaurant is named after the Northern Spanish peninsula that’s home to the foodie-favorite Basque region. Accordingly, the ambitious menu features small plates like razor clams with white saffron escabeche (£14), sardine empanadas (£12.5) and chicharron with mojo rojo (£8). The all-important grill section runs from hen-of-the-woods mushrooms (£28) to 35-day-aged beef (£55). The two-story space seats more than 100 diners; it’s outfitted in earth tones with exposed brick walls and poured concrete surfaces. Dino Koletsas’ wines are mostly European, and he’s installed a fun selection on tap. There’s also a solid offering of ciders.
Also read | International Chocolate Day 2025: These whiskies are infused with cocoa notes
Cô Thành, Covent Garden
This invigorating Vietnamese restaurant is the brainchild of Brian Woo, who cooked with the cult street-food hero Nguyễn Thị Thanh, aka the “Lunch Lady,” made famous by the late Anthony Bourdain. At this outpost of chef Woo’s Hong Kong flagship, the menu will unsurprisingly feature noodle soups like the ones that Thanh was famous for, including the sweet and sour bún Thái, a Vietnamese take on Thai tom yum, and bún mắm, a vermicelli noodle soup made from fermented fish and shrimp paste broth. Alongside will be an array of street food staples. The drinks list focuses on natural wines and Vietnamese-inspired cocktails, including a calamansi sour and Cà Phê Sữa martini—an espresso martini made with dark-roasted Vietnamese coffee. Projected opening: mid October
Tobi Masa, Mayfair
In mid-October, Carbone will be joined by another big-deal restaurant, from the sushi master Masa. He promises classics like his indulgent toro handroll, featuring the supremely fatty tuna topped with a dollop of caviar, as well as scallop muscat grape ceviche, coco curry Carabinero shrimp and the cult favorite Surimi pasta, featuring noodles crafted from fish; it’s a dish that Masa developed for his low-carb audience in New York. The dining room will have 90-plus seats; there’s also an omakase counter and cocktail bar. Projected opening: mid October
The Hart, Marylebone
The Public House Group, which has made West London pubs into destination hangouts, including most recently the Fat Badger and the Hero, decided it was time to look east. It’s chosen a building dating to the 1800s on a Chiltern Street corner that was once a pub. The group has restored some details, like the original stained-glass windows, but it’s otherwise just freshened things up, with handsome, expensive-looking dark-wood booths and stools as well as frosted-glass partitions in the ground floor pub.
Although it’s not officially launching until October when dinner will be served, customers can walk in and find requisite snacks such as pork pies and chicken liver toast as well as British beers like Portobello pilsner. The second floor is home to a dining room with candles lighting the tables, where the menu (also served downstairs) is classically focused with crab cakes, kedgeree and prime beef cuts from the group’s butcher in the Cotswolds, home to its popular haunt, the Bull, Charlbury. Projected opening: October
Also read | These 12 countries have more than one capital city: How many did you know about?
The Marlborough, Mayfair
The teams behind two of London’s recent breakout hit places—West London pizza sensation Crisp and Guinness HQ the Devonshire—have joined forces to open a new food-forward pub conveniently close to Selfridges. Carl McCluskey will be serving his famed thin, crispy-crusted pies at a downstairs pizzeria with a terrace for outdoor dining; upstairs, Osin Rogers has replicated the installation system that makes the Guinness so good at the Devonshire. They promise more pizza-friendly ales and lagers to go with it. The crowds will be epic. Projected opening: October
2210, Herne Hill
Nathaniel Mortley, better known by his social media moniker Natty Can Cook, has made his name around London for his exuberant Caribbean cooking. Now he’s opening his first official restaurant, 2210, in South London, not far from where he grew up in Peckham. It’s also near one of his formative cooking experiences: the Clink Project, a restaurant and hospitality training program staffed by people who are incarcerated, where Morley worked while serving time in HMP Brixton.
At 2210, he’ll serve dishes he made popular at pop-ups, such as jerk chicken supreme with pineapple salsa (£24), and the salt-cod-stuffed ackee and saltfish spring rolls (£11). New to his repertoire will be Scotch bonnet-glazed confit turkey wings (£10) and wiri wiri lamb rump, glazed in pepper sauce with tamarind jus (£28). For dessert, he’s serving the self-explanatory deep-fried apple crumble (£12). And to drink with all that, there will be a strong list of rums and riffs on Caribbean classics, such as rum punch and daiquiris. And at 2210, he’ll continue to work with the Clink. Projected opening: Oct. 22
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