Peruvian inspiration
Martin Morales, founder of Peruvian restaurant Ceviche, will open a restaurant called Casita Andina later this month. Inspired by the family run restaurants of the Andes, called 'picanteria' (many of which are attached to farms, allotments or orchards) it will comprise a basement kitchen, ceviche counter, takeaway area and patio. Peruvian dishes will use traditional ingredients such as quinoa, fish and chocolate.
Casita Andina, 31 Great Windmill Street, W1D 7LP. Opens: 28 July.
Scandi smokehouse
Rök Smokehouse and Bar have announced the opening of their second site, this time in Islington. A 60 seat restaurant and bar will open on Upper Street, serving the same Nordic influenced food as their Shoreditch site. New dishes will include mackerel with pickled onions and flamed crisp bread, and guinea fowl with cured pork belly and butter poached wild vegetables.
Rök Smokehouse and Bar, 49 Upper Street, N1 1RA. Opens: 1 July.
Follow the spice trail
An ex-Palomar chef has launched Foley's on Foley Street, a new restaurant serving dishes inspired by the spice trail. The restaurant comes after a successful pop up in Shepherd's Bush earlier this year, and a 70 cover, two-floor restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a seated bar area like The Palomar. Expect dishes like cornflake crusted chicken with pickled mushrooms, corn, endive and chorizo.
Foley’s, 23 Foley Street, W1W 6DU. Opens: 1 July.
Burger chain comes back home
The Meatliquor burger restaurant chain will open a new site in East Dulwich this month, bringing their food back to south London, where it all started. These guys consistently make some of the best burgers in London, and we dream about their green chilli cheeseburger regularly. Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis will open the site on Lordship Lane in late July.
Meatliquor ED, 37 Lordship Lane, SE22 8EW. Opens: late July. Edit 29 July: This opening has been delayed due to unforseen issues with power supply.
Proper kebabs
The much-anticipated shawarma bar from the guys behind Haggerston restaurant Berber & Q is set to open this month in Exmouth Market. The new restaurant will, unsurprisingly, specialise in shawarma, alongside Middle Eastern cocktails, wine and beer. Lamb shawarma and chicken will be served on plates with herb salad, green chilli, grated tomato, tahini and sumac onions. Guests can then make wraps with the various elements… or not. Other dishes will be available, like Berber & Q’s hugely popular grilled cauliflower, which made it onto our list of the best cauliflower dishes in London.
Berber & Q Shawarma Bar, 46 Exmouth Market, EC1R 4QE. Opens: 4 July.
Bengali home dining
A Bengali home dining concept will launch on Tottenham Street this month. Shrimoyee Chakraborty will launch the restaurant following the success of pop-up restaurants where she served classic, family-style dishes. The restaurant will do dishes such as Malai prawn curry and Doi Phuchka, crisp, tangy semolina balls with potato, black chickpeas, tamarind and yoghurt filling.
Calcutta Street, 29 Tottenham Street, W1T 1RU. Opens: July, date TBC.
Jerusalem street food
Tabun Kitchen is being described as a 'Jerusalem street food hub' and will focus on serving wraps served with various fillings such as chicken, lamb or falafel. There will also be a range of salads, like tabbouleh and breakfast dishes such as shakshuka. Expect Middle Eastern inspired cocktails in the evening.
Tabun Kitchen, 77 Berwick St, W1F 8TH. Opens: July, date TBC.
More Mexican
There's been a wave of Mexican restaurants opening in London recently, which hopefully marks a journey towards an improvement in standards. Peyotito will open this month, headed by Eduardo Garcia of Maximo Bistrot, a restaurant in Mexico City that made it onto the Latin American Best 50 Restaurants list. The menu will be contemporary and brunch will be served at weekends.
Peyotito, 31 Kensington Park Road, W11 2EU. Opens: 4 July.
Meatballs in Tooting
Twin brothers and street food traders the Belpassi brothers are opening their first restaurant in south London. The brothers have travelled across northern and central Italy researching the perfect meatball and are bringing their knowledge all the way back to Tooting. Classic pork and beef balls will be available with homemade sauces, served on a base of polenta or pasta, or in a sandwich.
Belpassi Bros., 70 Tooting High St, SW17 0RN. Opens: July, date TBC.
BBQ restaurant returns to Soho
Remember how Pitt Cue upped and moved to Spitalfields, leaving their little original site behind? Well that was briefly Rockadollar Dogs, but they’ve closed and now Pitt Cue are reclaiming the site. There were a lot of complaints that the new Pitt Cue wasn’t serving the same food as the original (pulled pork and the like) so readers will be glad to learn that’s exactly what will be happening at Little Pitt.
Little Pitt, 1 Newburgh St, W1F 7RB. Opens: July, date TBC.
