Italian

• Il Gattopardo is a new high-end Italian for Mayfair by the group behind Zuma and Amazonico

  

  Updated 25/9/23 with opening date and menu details

  A new high-end Italian restaurant is heading to Mayfair. This time, it's the turn of Il Gattopardo, a restaurant that they say is inspired by 1960s Italy. 

  It's got something of a pedigree, however, coming from the same restaurant group that brought us Bar De Pres, Zuma, Roka and

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• Test Driving Forza Wine - an instant smash hit overlooking the Thames

  

  Forza Wine have made an impressive jump from Peckham to the South Bank. We head out to their terrace to see how they've settled into the National Theatre.  

• Magenta, the modern Italian restaurant in King's Cross that you need to know about

   

  Magenta in King's Cross is turning out a menu of excellent modern Italian cuisine - we went down to try it for ourselves.

• Bocconcino Italian restaurant is coming to Soho

  

  Updated 10/9/23 with soft launch info

  It feels like only yesterday we were telling you about Mayfair’s Bocconcino opening a new restaurant on The Strand, but we’ve just heard it has been rescheduled until later in 2024. Hold onto your Bellinis, though, there’s a new

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• Aqua's next is Italian restaurant and cafe Luci in Covent Garden

  

  9/8/23 - Updated with the opening date

  They opened Shiro in Broadgate only late last year, but the Aqua Restaurant Group already have another restaurant lined up called Luci. They've taken over a space in The Yards section of  Covent Garden (once held by a Jack Wills store

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• Forza Wine are coming to the National Theatre

  

  Be it galleries or theatres, it seems that big London institutions have realised that it's now good sense to have an in-house restaurant that's a draw all in itself. Jose Pizarro at The Royal Academy, ...

• The Piccadilly Cicchetti is moving to a much bigger Grade II listed building

  

  Cicchetti must be doing rather well for themselves. Owned by the San Carlo Group (the same people who run the Selfridges rooftop restaurant), the Piccadilly Cicchetti is getting ready to move to a much bigger space - just down the road. 

  They're moving to part of the Grade II listed Piccadilly Arcade. It's a two-floored part of the arcade that will be double the

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• Lavo Ristorante heads to London from LA with its giant wagyu meatballs

  

  Is there room for another glitzy Italian restaurant in London? We ask because news reaches us of an American import, LAVO Ristorante, which is coming our way from America. It's part of the TAO Restaurant group which now also owns Hakkasan and Yauatcha, and this will be the group's first LAVO in Europe - they have several dotted across the states and one in Singapore.

  The London restaurant will be part of the new

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• Lina Stores are bringing their pasta to Clapham

  

  2/6/23 - updated with the opening date

  If you've been wondering what was going to take the place of the old site of St Clair in Clapham, wonder no more - it's going to be the latest opening by Lina Stores.  

  This outpost is being billed as a neighbourhood restaurant, so you're not going to get the deli add-on that some of the other Lina Stores have. Instead, it's an Italian restaurant

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• Previewing Cantinetta Antinori - luxe yet cosy Italian in Knightsbridge

   

  Cantinetta Antinori arrives in Knightsbridge as a joint venture between a global restaurant group and a top Italian winemaker.  We popped in to check it out in a recent preview dinner. 

• Test Driving Carlotta - Big Mamma's Marylebone home continues their winning streak

  

  Billed as a more "intimate" Big Mamma restaurant, Carlotta has arrived on Marylebone High Street. We went down to discover exactly what Big Mamma considers intimate... 

• Terra Moderna is a new Antipodean-Italian restaurant in Belsize Park

  

  It’s starting to feel like ‘Antipodean-influenced’ needs to be a whole new subgenre of restaurants, such is its rise in London launches. Belsize Park is now home to a modern Italian restaurant that champions its Antipodean inspiration. It’s called Terra Moderna and comes to you from Italian head chef Mirko Pisano (previously Senior Chef Partie at Apex Temple Court Hotel) and founder Jeffrey Young, who has an Australian

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• Cantinetta Antinori comes to London with Florentine T-bones and fine wines

  

  Updated 31/3/23 with more details

  The Antinori family are arguably the most famous name in Italian wines, so it's fair to expect that their upcoming London restaurant will have a pretty decent wine list. Cantinetta Antinori will be an interesting team-up in Knightsbridge between the Italian winemakers and the Monaco family - the Giraudis - who opened Le Petit Beefbar in London last year.

  The

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• Test Driving Jacuzzi - Big Mamma goes extra extra in Kensington

  

  The latest restaurant from Big Mamma has arrived in Kensington and we got in early for a preview. Here's what to expect from Jacuzzi.

• Jacuzzi sees Big Mamma hit up Kensington High Street and go more extreme than ever

  

  17 January 2023 - Updated with a look inside

  Big Mamma never do things by halves but they're taking things one step further as they head west to Kensington for their next restaurant Jacuzzi. 

  It's their next big opening after Ave

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