Good things come to those who wait.
But for those who prefer to know what’s coming now, here you’ll find – in handy chronological order – a running tally of the most exciting restaurants slated to open in London in December and beyond.
After all, a lot of new restaurants open in London each month. We don’t have the exact figures to hand, but it could be upwards of a billion. But the upcoming highlights include the return of James Cochran with a relaxed gastropub in Islington; some impressive-sounding Korean fusion fine dining; and a neighbourhood bakery & restaurant with a crack team behind it…
Behold, all the top London restaurants opening soon:
The Brave | Islington
Fortune and love favour The Brave – and so will everyone in North London, probably. This smart Islington gastro marks the return of beloved chef James Cochran after he closed his restaurant 12:51 in the summer. The idea here is to bring wild produce from across the UK to a cosy pub setting, with everything from Cochran’s Scottish-Caribbean heritage to his experience cooking in Michelin Star kitchens leaving their mark on the menu…
Opening: 5th December
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Plans for a restaurant led by Michelin-star winning chef Brad Carter might have fallen through, but Undercroft is being reincarnated with someone new at the helm. That someone is none other than celebrity chef Aldo Zilli, and he’ll be launching this restaurant uniting “the holy trinity of food, drink and music” in quite an unusual London space: the deeply atmospheric vaults nestled below the ancient St George’s Church in Mayfair…
Opening: 10th December
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The Dreamery | Islington
Only a barnstorming success like Goodbye Horses could make a team confident enough to open an ice cream bar in December. And that’s exactly what the founders are doing – just a few doors down from their hyped wine bar/restaurant, they’ll be opening The Dreamery: a gelateria-wine bar that brings two of the world’s most delicious foodstuffs under one roof…
Opening: 12th December
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Don’t Tell Dad | Queen’s Park
Joining the growing gourmand’s paradise on Lonsdale Road up in Queen’s Park is this bakery & dinner spot with an absolutely A+ team at the helm. The restaurant menu will be taken care of by head chef Luke Frankie (whose glittering CV includes places like Noble Rot, Forza Wine, and Spring), while the bakery will be the domain of Layla‘s Keren Sternberg…
Opening: January
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Rake | Islington
After Tiella’s stellar residency at The Compton Arms draws to a close on 20th December, the pub will be gearing up to welcome a new outfit in the new year. And because they won’t just settle for any common or garden pop-up, they’re bussing in the fantastic team behind modern British concept Rake – which was one of our favourite new openings when they took over the dining room at The Gun in Clerkenwell earlier this year…
Opening: 9th January
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The Black Cow at The Stage | Shoreditch
The Black Cow is making its debut on The Stage, a new Shoreditch development on the site of one of Shakespeare’s old theatres. And it’s set to be a reprise of the popular Camden restaurant, specialising in dry-aged steaks with Middle Eastern influences and signature cocktails, with a huge, spotlit open kitchen – so you can soak up the theatre of it all.
Opening: January 2025
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Mr Porter | Mayfair
‘Companion by day, hunter by night’, but also, primarily, a steak restaurant, Mr Porter is coming to Mayfair all the way from Amsterdam. The interiors are going to be gorgeously sleek and low-lit, with a circular bar for signature cocktails and intimate, curved booths for enjoying their famed steaks in every cut…
Opening: February 2025
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Cálong | Stoke Newington
After 17 years of working in Michelin starred European kitchens, chef Joo Won returned to his native Korea and saw his homeland’s cuisine with new eyes. He thus decided to open his own pop up (called Cálong) which served French & European cooking with Korean flavours to a pretty rapturous reception – and now, he’s opening his own permanent restaurant.
Opening: Early 2025
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Kricket | Shoreditch
Kricket is hopping over to Shoreditch – yes, that quickly after opening their new Canary Wharf restaurant. Their Anglo-Indian sharing plates are the stuff fusion dreams are made of, and this’ll be the first time you can enjoy them for lunch.
Opening: March 2025
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Luna | Tower Bridge
The Legare team are bringing you something new to moon over: Luna. It’ll be an intimately cosy, wood-panelled wine bar and restaurant on the shores of the Thames, complete with a tiny little terrace. On the menu: fresh oysters, French fries and a cellar full of biodynamic wines…
Opening: Spring 2025
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Noisy Oyster | Shoreditch
Firebird is birthing something new: the team behind Soho’s open fire spot is opening a design-led bistro specialising in seafood and martinis. Wood and concrete will come together to shape an intimate 50-seater space, all orbiting a bar serving up signature mini martinis…
Opening: Spring 2025
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Varrons | Location TBC
The team behind the upcoming Varrons are very much the Boyzlife of the London restaurant scene.
For this is a supergroup formed of Jack Williams (ex-Westerns Laundry), William Thompson (Jolene, Cadet) and Ben Clyde (Primeur), whose respective talents in the kitchen, behind the bar and in the wine cellar make them a pretty powerful trio…
Opening: Sometime in 2025 – catch them cooking at Cadet for now.
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Langosteria | Westminster
Milan’s modestly glamorous seafood spot Langosteria is the next restaurant to join the line-up at The OWO, where it’ll be rubbing shoulders with fellow Milanese export Paper Moon. After shoring up in Paris and St. Moritz, this is their first UK restaurant – and while the menu’s still under wraps, we can attest that the food at the original is exceptionally good…
Opening: 2025
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Simpson’s in the Strand | Strand
The word ‘institution’ gets flung around a lot these days – mainly by us – but Simpson’s genuinely is one. It’s been lavishing diners on the Strand since 1828, and throughout its time has been famous for cross-city chess matches and silver trolleys for table-side meat carving. The place had a pretty tough few years before finally shuttering for good during the pandemic – or so we thought. Because Simpson’s is set to reopen in 2024, and who better to revive it than Jeremy King…
Re-opening: 2025
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Himi | Carnaby
Tamas Naszai and Tomoko Hasegawa have spent the last two years calling the shots at their unbelievably good omakase restaurant, Roji. And now they’re temporarily closing that to hand the power back to their diners with the opening of Himi, a contemporary izakaya where – rather radically – you’ll get to choose what you eat…
Opening: Winter 2025
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Lil’ Nashville | Chiswick
Apart from having unaffordable houses, Beyoncé and Chiswick seem to have very little in common. Well, all that’s about to change, because soon they’ll both be into country music thanks to the arrival of Lil’ Nashville early next year – a proper honky tonk bar with whisky, BBQ, and live music every night…
Opening: 2025
Want to read about somewhere that’s actually open, like, now? Check out our pick of London’s best new restaurants