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Alfresco
- Picnic in the Queen's back garden with Alfresco At The Palace
Update: 12pm. Well done to those of you who spotted it - this was our April Fool's Day story - joining a long line of times we've tried with varying degrees of success to pull the wool over your eyes. Mind you, it actually is a good idea....
It's been a very tough 12 months for the hospitality business. And for
... - Gordon Ramsay's Street Pizza gets ready to open at Battersea Power Station
Updated 31/3/21 with opening date
Back before Christmas, we talked about Gordon Ramsay's plans to roll out several of his more casual restaurants across London. However, with the arrival of a new lockdown, some of those plans were obviously pushed back.
But now it seems
... - St. Felix Place in Borough is London's newest outdoor eating and drinking space
From the team behind Flat Iron Square and Goods Way comes their latest alfresco project - featuring beer, BBQ, pizza and music
- The Berkeley adds multicoloured beach huts for alfresco dining
30/03/21 - Updated with new pics
When the first lockdown ended, The Berkeley was one of the first to completely reinvent its outside space, turning the back of the hotel into The Garden - a rather beautiful alfresco restaurant. Now, as we emerge from the latest lockdown,
... - The Dorchester unveils plans for a new roof terrace restaurant
The Dorchester has unveiled its alfresco plans for London's grand reopening next month and they include the arrival of a brand new roof garden. It's the first time the hotel has expanded its outdoor plans to its roof and the space will play host to a variety of pop-ups hosted by the hotel's various chefs, from executive chef Mario Perera to The Grill at The Dorchester's Tom Booton and Jean-Philippe Blondet
... - The Wigmore launches a huge summer terrace and garden with food by Michel Roux Jr
Finding unused alfresco space in the centre of London isn't an easy ask - but the folk at The Wigmore on Regent Street have managed just that. The gastropub, which is part of the five start The Langham London hotel, has not only found some alfresco space, they've found ALL the alfresco space.
Cunningly, they've connected the pubs terrace with the hotel’s courtyard garden area to form one large dining area, all covered
... - Kerridge's Garden Grill pops up at the Corinthia London
A Hot Dinners exclusive
It's fair to say chefs and restaurateurs are being pretty cunning when it comes to finding ways to ensure they can reopen on 12 April. Take Tom Kerridge for example. His restaurant, Kerridge's Bar and Grill, at the Corinthia London, doesn't have any outside space. But, as if by magic, the hotel's managed to conjure some out of thin air.
To that end, Kerridge's
... - The Terrace by Megan's is their new alfresco restaurant on Clapham Common
Megan's already have a successful restaurant in Clapham - but they're about to open a second. This has one key difference, it's going to be in the middle of Clapham Common and it's going to be an alfresco restaurant.
Called The Terrace by Megan's, it's taking over what used to be Recovery Kitchen, for a fully covered terrace restaurant. They'll have a slightly
... - Patty&Bun spin-off Sidechick is becoming a real restaurant
One of the developments we're seeing as we emerge into a post-lockdown world is that some formerly delivery-only businesses are getting ready to launch real life restaurants. The latest of these is Patty&Bun spin-off Sidechick, which is actually opening on James Street, just a few doors down from the original Patty&Bun.
If you're unfamiliar with Sidechick, they
... - Allegra is launching a Happy Burger pop-up on its terrace (and special residencies too)
With the April date of alfresco opening getting ever closer, one restaurant is trying something new when they return. Patrick Powell and the Allegra team will be opening their (fantastic looking) rooftop terrace with a new pop-up called Happy Burger
On the new menu will be:
- ‘The Happy Burger’, an Oklahoma-style onion burger with American cheese (and a Beyond Meat alternative too). If you don't know what an
- Leyton's Filly Brook pub crowdfunds its way to a new alfresco space
Having an outside space matters more than ever for hospitality businesses. Anywhere in London that can do alfresco will have a clear month's extra trading before inside dining resumes in May.
One East London pub's solution to the problem has been to seek help from its customers -
... - Central London's streets are reopening for alfresco dining in April
This is very welcome news. Westminster Council have just confirmed that Londoners can expect a return to dining in the streets of Soho, Marylebone and St James this summer.
The council said that as soon as venues were allowed to open (all being well this will be on 12 April) they'll support the hospitality industry with "the return of temporary measures to enable al fresco hospitality across Westminster". They've
... - Brat at Climpson's Arch is going to be a permanent fixture
When London emerged from its first lockdown all those months ago, one of the first restaurants to completely reinvent itself was Tomos Parry's Brat. While the original restaurant stayed where it was (with a bit of table rejigging) they complimented it with a sister restaurant at Climpson's Arch, correctly assuming that alfresco dining would be very much a big thing in 2020.
Brat at Climpsons
... - Bala Baya in Southwark is bossing the winter alfresco game with its umbrella terrace
Given the Tier 2 rules mean that all socialising is pretty much outdoors for the foreseeable, London's restaurants and bars have been busy weatherproofing their terraces and outside spaces. All of which makes it hard to stand out from the crowd, but Southwark restaurant Bala Baya seems to have succeeded.
They've just opened their Discarded Umbrella Winter Garden. It's a tie in with Discarded Spirits Co and Bala Baya’s
... - MM Caffe is an alfresco cafe from Mercato Mayfair, just off Oxford Street
They've already achieved a pretty impressive makeover of nearby Grade 1 listed St Mark's and now Mercato Metropolitano have gone outside to Brown Hart Gardens, the raised garden area just in front of the Beaumont Hotel (most recently the Bonnie Gill seafood shack). Their latest opening is
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