23/11/16 - updated with soft launch info

Does London have room for two places serving up freshly rolled pasta? Given the permanent queues outside Padella, one would think so. All of which is good news for newcomer Emilia’s Crafted Pasta which is opening next month at St Katharine's Dock.

The restaurant's founder Andrew Macleod’s says he wants this to be the best pasta restaurant outside of Italy. To that end, every bit of pasta in the place

Sumosan Twiga will open in Sloane Street in November, after the Japanese half of the venture makes the short jump from its previous home in Mayfair. The new restaurant will serve award-winning sushi, sashimi and other high-end Japanese hot dishes alongside classic Italian. There’ll also be an express lunch bento box available for £29. 

Japanese and Italian are a match made in heaven according to the owners, as both cuisines

The Savile Row Martini.

Updated 27/10/16 with Test Drive

Like the sound of strong cocktails and brilliant Italian bites to accompany them? Who wouldn't? Italian mixologist Simone Caporale (who used to work at Artesian - once the World's Best Bar) is

We Test Drive Margot, an Italian restaurant bringing a little of Mayfair service to Covent Garden.

12/10/16 - Updated with soft launch info.

It's always a good news day when we hear about a new Salt Yard Group restaurant opening. Their next place will be Veneta, opening in the St. James’s Market development later this year. Here's what we know about it so far:

It's inspired by Venice - Chef Director Ben Tish, and Head Chef Jamie Thickett (formerly of Opera Tavern) will oversee the menu. Seafood lovers will be happy

Updated 4/10/16 with soft launch details

There's a new restaurant from Kurt Zdesar on the way - he's behind Chotto Matte and Black Roe - and this time he's opening an Italian restaurant with Stefano Stecca. Stecca has worked with Locatelli and Novikov and the menu will be based on recipes from his childhood (with a bit of a modern twist). 

That Italian menu will have pasta handmade on-site and stone-baked pizza from a wood-fired oven. They're

There's a new Italian restaurant coming to Shoreditch called Popolo (yes, you did read that right). It comes from Jonathan Lawson, who has worked with Theo Randall for five years and is now opening his own place, joining up with his business partner, Munur Shah. 

It's a small restaurant at 32 seats and the menu at Popolo is being described as Italian with a touch of Moorish and Spanish - and in practice, that means dishes

It's all change in the City where trad British restaurant Harper's has been entirely transformed into Roma, an Italian restaurant focusing on all things Roman. The site itself on New London Street has a rather lovely connection with the new approach to food - it's where an actual Roman fort used to stand back in the day.

​The wine list has a Roman Empire theme - so every wine is traced back to vineyards which the Romans would have known. As for the food, apparently

Over in Knightsbridge the multi-million pound renovation of The Franklin Hotel has come to an end with the hotel reopening today. The property was closed for a year while it was done up by new owners the Italian group Starhotels, who brought in Anouska Hempel to oversee the new-look.

The 35 room hotel overlooking Egerton Gardens now has a restaurant with a well known Italian chef in charge. Alfredo Russo is best known for his Turin restaurant Dolce Stil

The people behind Soho's Mele e Pere have gone east to set up a waterfront trattoria in the old Olympic village, now called Here East. We head down there for a look. 

Tooting is getting a meatball shop as twin brothers and street food traders Livio and Lorenzo Belpassi move into their first bricks and mortar operation. Belpassi Bros will sell the hand rolled meatballs that the brothers have been dishing out in Spitalfields for the past few years, served up with homemade sauces in a sandwich, on polenta or with pasta.

The South London restaurant is the result of three years hard slot from the brothers who jacked in their old jobs

There's a new neighbourhood restaurant open in Putney where Old Saigon used to be. With room for just 36 diners over two floors, Totide London is a partnership between three Italians - Marco, Mattia and Christian (who also has a restaurant back in Italy.

In the kitchen is chef Lorenzo Perfetti. As for his menu, well the idea of fried bread from Emilia Romagna filled with 22 month old Parma ham sounds like it could be pretty good and there's all the usual types of pasta

A new bar has opened on Camden High Street and the clue to what it's serving is in the name - Trufflesecco. Yep, that's right it's a Prosecco and truffles bar.

We don't know much more than that - but dishes on the menu include ‪‎crostino‬ with truffle sauce and gnocco fritto with ‎mozzarella‬ and ‪‎mortadella‬.

And, if you're after something to take away, they feature a selection of truffle goods, pasta and wines to buy.

Trufflesecco is

Old Street continues to attract new and interesting restaurants this year. Following on from Hill & Szrok and news of Sardine opening in May, comes Enoteca Da Luca. This is the latest launch from the Enoteca restaurant group which