Smithfield

• Alfonsina is a South American fusion restaurant coming to Smithfield

  

  If a restaurant takes as its influence the places a chef has lived and worked in, then in the case of chef Ricardo Younis Moreno you can expect a lively mix of Argentine, Mexican, and Peruvian flavors. Born in Argentina, with Italian and Lebanese heritage the chef has now landed in London where he's now working on bringing his restaurant Alfonsina to the London food scene.

  Ricardo, who most

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• Test Driving Ibai - a stellar Basque steakhouse in the City

  

  Brilliant Basque food and great steaks a few minutes walk from Smithfield Market make Ibai worth crossing town for.

• Test Driving Cloth - an excellent wine-led bistro in historical City surroundings

  

  Cloth sees some very knowledgeable wine folk teaming up with a chef with an enviable CV, all in a properly historical City of London building. We went down to take a look.  

• Origin City opens, courtesy of the 56 West Smithfield Wine Bar team

  

  When you’re already running an exceptional wine bar and shop, the next step is surely to launch a restaurant. That’s the philosophy from the team at 56 West Smithfield wine bar who have just opened Origin City in West Smithfield.

  Provenance is a big calling card here, with all the meat sourced from the

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• Test Driving 56 West Smithfield - a groundbreaking wine bar in the City

  

  Given the current cost of living crisis we're all for a new wine bar that's bringing down the cost of drinking good wine.

• Test Driving Restaurant St. Barts - a modernist dream in the old heart of London

  

  This new Smithfield restaurant wants to give London diners a real experience for their money. We went to see how that plays out in reality.

• 56 Smithfield gives Farringdon an affordable new wine bar

  

  We're always keen to hear about new wine bars opening in London. The arrival of 56 Smithfield in Farringdon couldn't be more handy in these cash-pressed times, particularly when you hear that this new spot is selling all the wines at their original, local winery prices. If you fancy drinking in, then just add a fiver as a corkage fee.

  The folk behind it are the family who run organic vineyard Château De La

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• Restaurant St Barts sees the Fenn team come to Smithfield with a 15-course tasting menu

  

  6/9/22 - Updated with the opening date

  They've had success with Nest in Hackney and an even bigger hit with Fenn in Fulham, now the same team are heading eastwards again.

  Johnnie Crowe, Luke Wasserman and Toby Neill are the people

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• St John brings back its bacon sandwich

  

  It was a casualty of the various lockdowns but the good news is that, from today, the St John bacon sandwich is back. One of London's top ways to start the day has returned to the menu at St John Bread and Wine in Spitalfields and will be available for takeaway there every day of the week

  But that's not all the good news we have from Fergus Henderson because they've also reverted the bar area at St John Smithfield back to

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• Trattoria Brutto is Russell Norman's next restaurant, which is all about Tuscany

   

  15/09/21 - updated with launch details and the menu

  Since leaving the Polpo group, Russell Norman has been busy writing cookbooks, but we've all been wondering when he would make his return to restaurants. Well now we know - he's opening Trattoria Brutto. That comes from the phrase "brutto ma buono" meaning Ugly but good.

  It's

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• St John restaurant celebrates its 25th anniversary and new book with an epic party

  

  There are bound to be a few sore heads in London today (including ours) following the riotous partying in Smithfield at St John restaurant last night.

  Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver threw one hell of a bash to celebrate both the restaurant's quarter-century anniversary and the launch of their new book, The Book of St John.

  There were platters of pigs heads, Welsh rarebit, snails wrapped in bacon and buns of suckling pig and

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• Test Driving Lino London - industrial chic in EC1

  An ex-Dairy head chef leads Lino, an all-day bar and restaurant beside St Bart's. We head down for a look.  

• LINO sees the former head chef of The Dairy take on an all day restaurant and cocktail bar by Smithfield

  With the former head chef of The Dairy heading up the kitchen team, this new all day restaurant and cocktail bar in the City looks worth checking out.

• Test Driving Bowling Bird - a bit of a Smithfield secret

  Tucked down a side street in Smithfield The Bowling Bird sets its store out as a place where the produce is of the highest quality and the wines are more than a match. 

• Test Driving Club Gascon - the London institution gets a huge overhaul

  London Institution Club Gascon has undergone a pretty big refurb. We head down to see what's new about the space.