Russell Norman, the man who brought us Polpo, is back with a brand new place in Farringdon that's influenced by the restaurants of Florence. We went down for an early look.  

At this time of the year, ice-cream pop-ups are ten a penny in London, but we have to say The House of Ice Cream that opens today in Farringdon has got our attention. The two week pop-up by Fuller's Kitchen, next to The Conductor pub, has been timed to launch ahead of National Ice-cream Day and will be serving up ice cream with a side of chips, chicken and hot sauce.

Choose from two mains - ice cream and fries or with fried chicken, desserts consist of

Hearing the Quality Chop House was celebrating its 150th birthday with a special anniversary menu, it seemed a good time to head back to Farringdon to rekindle one of our longest running restaurant affairs in London.

Who doesn't love a good birthday celebration? Well, the one planned by The Quality Chop House for thier 150th anniversary sounds like it's going to be worth turning up for.

To commemorate serving food to Londoners since 1869, the Farringdon Road restaurant is putting on a special menu of QCH classics "reinterpreted by head chef Shaun Searley".

Dishes will include (brace yourselves):

• Beef fat brioche with duck liver parfait and black

Over in Farringdon, South African braai restaurant Hammer & Tongs are just getting ready to unveil their new wine bar. They've taken over the old basement bar to launch The Protea Wine Bar - a space devoted to South African wine.

The new bar will feature a 100% South African wine list - covering South African Cabernet Sauvignons, Pinotage, Chenin Blanc and more. They'll also be doing wine flights if you fancy trying something a little

Hippo Inns are turning three floors of Farringdon pub into an après ski fest of schnitzels, Alpine beer and hot toddies.

Right around the corner from the meat traders at Smithfield Market is this new plant-based all day spot, serving up smoothies and juices in the morning, salads and soups at lunch and then turning into a fully-fledged burger spot in the evening.

There’s a huge number of independent wine bars opening in London at the moment (something we fully support) and now Clerkenwell’s Quality Chop House is getting in on the act too. Quality Wines, which opened yesterday, will be part of their adjacent shop and cafe and will feature over 200 wines available to either take away or enjoy right there in the shop.

It’ll only function as a wine bar Tuesday to Saturday evenings so if you work nearby and were

Not content with a restaurant, bar and deli, Farringdon's Quality Chop House is now adding a cafe too. If you've been to the deli there recently - and we have many times for arguably the best pork pies in London - you'll have seen the wine shop that's next door (previously run by Noble Wines). It's that area that's becoming their new cafe. 

There you'll be able to sit down and work your way through as many of those pork pies as you can (and we

A historic London pub has been reinvigorated with the arrival of top chef Henry Harris. We went to check out the new look Coach

What: Bel Air Farringdon

In a nutshell: Healthy food, fast.

Summing it all up: Bel Air's an LA food inspired space that opened originally in Shoreditch serving salads and more. This sees them expanding to a second spot in Farringdon

A taste of South African barbecue, Hammer and Tongs, is coming to Farringdon Road with a braai grill that’s a whopping 3m in size, and a menu bursting with local ingredients.

We’re not going to lie - it’s rare we need to run to Google *quite* so many times when looking at a menu, but Hammer & Tongs gave us a run for our money, highlighting how woefully under-represented South African food is in London.