New opening

London's boom of interesting new restaurant openings continues for March with an iconic restaurant reborn, the promise of a glamorous hotel seafood spot and a hotly-anticipated restaurant from an ex-Kiln head chef.  

If you've been watching the Being Gordon Ramsay documentary on Netflix, you'll know that one of the key storylines has revolved around the chef's multiple openings in the 22 Bishopsgate skyscraper in the City. In the opening episode (spoiler), you see his dismay to hear that of the various restaurants planned, Bread Street Kitchen on the 59th floor, is going to be delayed by months. Given that the rest of the operation opened back in February last year, the opening ended up being delayed a full 15 months in total.

Clearly, the team behind it must be feeling bullish as they've just

Just outside St Ives in Cornwall, as part of the Carbis Bay resort, there's an absolutely spectacular restaurant space with a completely uninterrupted sea view. Until last year, that was the home for Adam Handling's Ugly Butterfly, which we took a Test Drive of ourselves. And soon, it's going to be the Cornwall home of Restaurant Story's Tom Sellers, called MOR.

Sellers had already popped up there in pre-Covid times, so it's a space he's familiar with.

They only just opened their first London restaurant on Charing Cross Road last year, but Tigermilk have already lined up their second.

This time they're opening in Spitalfields, and it's a pretty huge endeavour, fitting in 280 people (230 inside, 50 on the terrace). That makes it the French-originating group's biggest place ever, out of the 13 restaurants they've opened across Europe so far. It's also certainly one of the largest restaurants in Spitalfields. Apparently, it won't all be one massive dining room, though, as it's being made as "a fully realised hacienda unfolding room

Since the closure of Koyn, restaurateur Samyukta Nair had said she would be looking for a new place to put Koyn Thai (which we loved when we visited). Now she's found that space - it's taking over the ground floor of MiMi Mei Fair and will be called MIKO Mei Fair. 

That lower-ground space had a distinctly different look from the rest of MiMi Mei Fair, so it does seem like a good fit. The kitchen here will be led by Soonthorn Apaipat, who was the Head Chef of KOYN Thai, so if you were a

If you had thought that London had reached peak hype pizza with the opening of Crisp Pizza in Mayfair, then you couldn't be more wrong. The arrival of Bar Etna on Newington Green this spring is going to set fire to the scene, given who's involved.

The pizzeria will be an innovative team-up between the Four Legs founder Ed McIlroy and Philadelphia chef and restaurateur Joe Beddia. Obviously, you'll know the former for their North London hype spots, The Plimsoll and Tollington's. As for Beddia, he's a Philadelphia-based pizza chef whose first opening in Philly, Pizzeria Beddia, was

You've got to hand it to Times restaurant critic Giles Coren. Somehow, he's managed to persuade one of his favourite London restaurants Med Salleh, to open a new restaurant right down the road from his home. If there was ever a shoo-in for a Times review it would surely be this one.

If you haven't been to either their Bayswater or Westbourne Grove restaurants then here's Coren's description to give you

At the time of writing, it might not seem like the time to start talking about rooftop restaurants, but come late spring there's a new opening to keep an eye on. Sabine has already opened a rooftop bar in the City with a great view of St Paul's and now they're getting ready to open a second.

This time, they're taking over a rooftop in Holborn at the top of the NYX hotel. There's been a rooftop bar there for a while, but so far the hotel has struggled to give it an identity, something that Sabine should be able to help sort out. While there is a terrace with retractable windows,

The City is about to get a new steakhouse, albeit with a name that's probably going to cause more than a little confusion when you try to tell friends about it. Opening in Leadenhall Market is MRBL, a restaurant that has dispensed with vowels. 

Billed as a modern British steakhouse, it's set across two floors (and an outdoor terrace) with Executive Chef Matt Colk in charge (previously Aviary and The Gun) and comes from a team that previously launched Boom Bab Burger (also in Leadenhall Market). 

The menu is obviously going to revolve around the steaks, with

It seems that everyone is on the rebrand train at the moment, with a lot of big relaunches in London. The latest is in Mayfair and sees omakase restaurant Taku being relaunched as Sushi Amamoto. 

That sees the restaurant being taken over by chef Shogo Amamoto, whose Sushi Amamoto restaurant in Taipei is a big deal with two Michelin stars, a year-long waiting list and an insane $2000 menu. Here in London he's retaining the team that was previously leading Taku, including head chef Jongho Park.

As for what to expect from the new place, it sounds like a similar affair to

French bakery Copains has already been a big hit since opening their first UK bakery in Covent Garden. Now they've just arrived on Islington's Upper Street (opening beside Toast). 

The bakery, which originated in Paris, is known for being fully gluten-free but also for its beautiful-looking pastries. They make the most of using non-wheat alternative flours to create everything from focaccia and baguettes to croissants and doughnuts. 

We had a sneak preview of the new Islington opening, and it looks just as beautiful as the one in Covent Garden (albeit a little

If you've been to El Pastor in Soho, you'll have noticed that their basement bar is closed for a complete overhaul. When it's finished, they'll be unveiling it as their new cocktail bar, El Siete.

The new look of the bar will be going for a brutalist and modernist approach, inspired by the same kind of architecture in Mexico City. It has a new entrance too, no longer tied to the entrance of El Pastor. You'll be able to track the bar down by the "discreet pink door" on Brewer Street and apparently that pink aesthetic will continue on the walls in the bar below.

Down there,

Taqueria in Notting Hill has been one of London's most longstanding Mexican restaurants, having opened on Westbourne Grove some 20 years ago. However, they've decided that after two decades, it's time for a bit of a rethink, and they've found the ideal man to help with that. Last year, Jackson Boxer breathed new life into his Notting Hill restaurant Orasay by relaunching it as Dove, and now he's helping to do the same with Taqueria, which is relaunching as TAQ. 

To do that, Boxer is teaming up with chef Eduardo Yishima, who himself has a good pedigree in London Mexican

17/2/25 - Updated with the opening date

They only recently opened in Westbourne Grove but now Alley Cats are opening their next restaurant on Portobello Road, barely a 15-minute walk away. 

Their latest pizza restaurant is adding something that none of the others have, though - a slice hatch. So if you don't fancy waiting for a table, you'll be able to grab an 18-inch slice from said hatch. If that's not enough for you, then the main restaurant is a large two-floor affair, which also has an off-road terrace space, so it should be generally easier to get a table

Just under a year ago, the popular Hackney pub The Gun announced it was closing down. Back then, its owners, who also run The Compton Arms in Islington, cited the current economic conditions saying "despite our very best efforts it has become unsustainable to continue trading". Well, where one door closes, another opens and it looks as though the pub is about to get a new lease of life.

It's been bought, according to trade title Propel, by J-Pub Holdings. That in itself doesn't sound particularly exciting until you discover that the man behind that is Kotaro Ogawa, the man behind