Cafe

• Fantail open a second cafe, at Finsbury Park

  

  Two years after opening their first cafe, the duo behind Fantail in Islington, Jonny and Joel, have moved further north to Finsbury Park for their second venture.

  They've taken over the long-vacant spot on 250-252 Seven Sisters Road (at the end of St Thomas's Road). The new location makes it very handy for commuters using Finsbury Park station, not to mention presenting locals with a nicer independent alternative to the

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• Friends of Ours are popping up for six months at the Serpentine Gallery

  

  They're responsible for serving up one of Shoreditch's most popular brunch menus. Now Friends of Ours are hoping to bring that same joy to West Londoners. This weekend they launch a six-month pop up brunch restaurant inside the Serpentine North Gallery's Zaha Hadid building.

  The new restaurant will take over from what used to be a Benugo, serving up the Friends of Ours brunch-with-a-twist dishes for a

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• Mayfair is getting a Ladurée café serving up macaron lattes and more

  

  Earlier this year we reported on the arrival of a new type of cafe from Ladurée in London. Notting Hill was the first place to get one and things must have gone well, as the French company is just gearing up to open in Mayfair too. It's in a good spot, just opposite Socca on South Audley Street and will have

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• Boxcar Bread & Wine is a new bakery by day, wine bar at night for Connaught Village

  

  If there are two things Londoners are obsessed with right now, it's bakeries and wine bars. So the arrival of Boxcar Bread & Wine is going to be a boon for the well-heeled denizens of Connaught Village as it's a neat combo of both. It comes from the same team behind Boxcar Bar and Grill and Boxcar Baker & Deli in Marylebone. 

  This new neighbourhood spot, taking over

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• Abuelo have opened a new Aussie coffee shop off Oxford Circus

  

  Six years after they opened, bringing a mix of Aussie and Latin American influences to London's cafe scene, Abuelo have expanded with a second cafe. Their latest opening is in Marylebone, just off Oxford Circus making it a very handy pitstop to know about if you're up in the West End working or shopping.

  If you haven't been to the OG Covent Garden cafe, then here's a bit about them. It's run by mother and daughter team Lynette

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• Abney Park in Stoke Newington has a chic new cafe

  

  As part of £5m spent on its restoration, Abney Park in Stoke Newington now has a modern new cafe. The pair behind it are Hackney locals Toby Williams and Lianna Jewell, a husband and wife team. They also run local catering company Sabel Food which has worked on festival food for Lost Village and Wilderness as well as doing events like a birthday bash for Ottolenghi and TV and film shoots.

  The cafe they say

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• Birley Chocolate shop opens its doors in Chelsea

  

  Just over a year since Birley Bakery opened its doors on Chelsea Green the same team have now opened a chocolate shop and cafe on the same street. Birley Chocolate is ostensibly, as the name would suggest, a chocolate shop. But the new space has a proper cafe space at the rear of the store where they're going to be serving breakfast and lunch.

  On the menu there'll be overnight oats and croque madame croissants for breakfast

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• Café Petiole is an "almost vegan" cafe in Somerset House from Tendril's Rishim Sachdeva

  

  15/5/24 - updated with the opening date

  After opening up Tendril in its permanent Mayfair location last year, Rishim Sachdeva already has his next restaurant planned, Café Petiole in Somerset House. 

  Like Tendril, this will be a "mostly vegan" affair, a small all-day cafe which will also have a few grab-and-go

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• Sam's Kitchen is taking from Sam's Larder in Chiswick

  

  We bring good news for Chiswick folk who've been perturbed by the delayed reopening of Sam's Larder after Christmas. Over the past few weeks it's been transformed into a Sam's Kitchen and is about to open its doors once more.

  Following in the (successful) footsteps of the Sam's Kitchen in Hammersmith, this new 40-seat cafe will be a daytime operation focusing on breakfast and lunch options. Head chef Abbie comes

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• Viral brunch spot Apple Butter is opening a second cafe, off Oxford Circus

  

  With perma queues outside its Seven Dials restaurant, it was only a matter of time before the super popular brunch spot Apple Butter opened a second place in London. And so it has come to pass. They're just about to open off Oxford Circus and while the all-day brunch that made them go viral will be on offer, this new restaurant has a lot of new dishes planned.

  In addition to the Lotus Biscoff and Oreo pancakes that

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• Layers Bakery opens in E14 with ex-Hedone team in charge

  

  If your cravings lean towards the freshly baked kind, then you might want to consider joining the queue outside Layers Bakery, which opened a store and cafe down by the waterfront on the Goodluck Hope island in East London last month. It joins a hub of other creative outlets and independent businesses on the industrial-inspired riverside development on the Leamouth Peninsula, where you can see everything from the English National

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• Test Driving Baudry Greene - a hit of Euro style and substance on a Covent Garden corner

  

  This cosy new Covent Garden spot segues effortlessly from being a place to pop in for breakfast to a post-work hangout. We slinked in for early evening drinks and snacks.

• Philippe Conticini are bringing their giant croissants to Islington

  

  If, like us, you live around Islington and have been wondering what's taking over the big site that used to be Rudy's Vegan Diner then wonder no more. Getting ready to open there is Philippe Conticini. 

  If that name sounds familiar, it's because you might have come across his work at the café in South Kensington or Camden's Buck Street Market. Or perhaps it's because

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• Louie Louie is gone but Saint Louie has risen in Walworth

  

  It's been a while since the dark days of Covid, but the pandemic's effect on London's hospitality trade is still being felt. Popular South East London cafe Louie Louie was the most recent victim, having to close its restaurant on Walworth Road "mainly due to our landlord's intransigence by insisting on 100% of the rent throughout lockdown."

  But when one door closes another opens, and for the Louie Louie

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• Baudry Greene is the 10 Cases team's new European cafe in Covent Garden

  

  Here at Hot Dinners we are partial to a good cocktail and bar snack offering. So when we heard that the folk behind the 10 Cases and Parsons in Covent Garden were opening a new bar and cafe with some particularly good examples of both on the menu, we paid attention.

  Baudry Greene is right beside owners Will Palmer and Ian Campbell's wine bar 10 Cases and across the road from their fish restaurant Parsons.

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