The restaurant openings to look forward to in 2020

Kol: Mexican meets British with a touch of Noma's magic

High-end Mexican is set to be a significant trend for 2020, led by Santiago Lastra, the chef who project managed Noma’s Mexican pop-up. Lastra’s name may also be familiar from several residencies at Carousel. Kol, meaning cabbage, and plentiful seasonal foods not usually associated with fine dining will be key to his Marylebone offer. Latra has spent the last two years researching and sourcing British suppliers for his Mexican-nuanced menu.

Expect thrilling new culinary combinations from langoustine tacos with sea buckthorn and kohlrabi ceviche to lamb leg tostada cured in gooseberries with walnut oil and fermented chilli. Desserts with include an intriguing chocolate tamales with corn husk ice-cream. The mostly biodynamic wine list is mainly sourced from Central and Eastern Europe and includes a Slovakian house wine. There will be a tortilla station and open kitchen, plus downstairs a chef’s table and a Mezcaleria, serving – guess what – artisanal mezcals and rare agave spirits besides cocktails.

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Muse: Tom Aikens is back with a journey through his culinary life

Tom Aikens is back with a tasting menu-based restaurant that traces his journey through haute cuisine, though presumably evading the lows of his branding as chef while at Pied à Terre and closing a restaurant owing millions to suppliers. Hopefully, he has had a period of reflection and turned over a new leaf. Housed in a renovated mews property in Belgravia, the cosy 25-cover restaurant will offer each and every guest a kitchen-table experience from either the counter or table side.

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Chuku's: Nigerian tapas from a sensational pop-up

Brother-sister duo Emeka and Ifeyinwa Frederick are opening a permanent Chuku’s restaurant in Tottenham in early 2020, following several hugely successful pop-ups around east London. The offering? Superb small plates exhibiting a modern take on traditional Nigerian dishes. The vibe will be rooted in Nigerian culture, with warm colours, artworks and music all reflecting the country’s artistic heritage. The interiors have been inspired by traditional West African adobe buildings, and British-Nigerian designer Yinka Ilori's patterns and bold colours.

Dishes on the opening menu include plantain waffles and a rice pancake topped with pumpkin and peanut sauce. To drink, there will be Nigerian beers and cocktails including hibiscus sangria and a palm wine concoction.

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Oklava Bakery + Wine: the newest offering from Selim Kiazim

Selim Kiazim and Laura Christie are simplifying the offering at their restaurant Kyseri as 'bakery and wine', with the emphasis on unusual pide such as black sea cheese and butter pide and their much-loved manti (Turkish pasta such as beef and cherry). Opening for breakfast through to dinner and Saturday brunch, there will be baharat spiced bread, a daily borek and tahinli (a thin pastry with tahini and sugar). Be sure to try the luscious Medjool date butter toastie at breakfast, whipped feta on toast, poached fruits and rosemary brown butter and eggs with house-cured pastirma.

A mostly low-intervention wine list will focus on small, regional producers in Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon, Georgia and Greece.

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Noble Rot: bringing impeccable wines to Soho's former Gay Hussar restaurant

There’s great anticipation in Soho as wine-bar-cum-restaurant Nobel Rot, owned by Dan Keeling an Mark Andrew, is opening on the historic site of The Gay Hussar. The menu, created by chef Paul Weaver with input from Stephen Harris – of Whitstable’s widely acclaimed The Sportsman – will include subtle references to The Gay Hussar's Hungarian glory days.

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Ampeli: introducing the Athenian wine bar to the capital

Taking its cues from the new-school wine bars of Athens-born Jenny Pagoni’s hometown, Ampéli’s in Fitzrovia will boast a wine list focusing on unsung Greek wines. The menu takes inspiration from both Greece and the neighbouring Mediterranean countries. The calm interiors with pale green walls are a nod to the olive groves of the Greek islands and will act as a canvas for artworks from a rotating line-up of artists.

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Manzi's: the legendary Soho seafood restaurant resails

Truly paying tribute to a dining legend: Manzi’s fish restaurant in Soho, courtesy of Corbin & King, will serve affordable seafood on the corner of Greek Street and Bateman Buildings. It will be in the same spirit of Brasserie Zédel: fun and affordable with a distinct nautical theme by interior designer Brady William who made Soutine so stylish.

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The Connaught Grill: a classic reimagined by Jean-Georges Vongerichten

The Connaught will open under the culinary direction of Jean-Georges Vongerichten (who, of course also runs the hotel's Jean-Georges restaurant) with an open kitchen complemented with wood-burning grill and rotisserie. There'll be a daily special, British game, fish, seafood and a rather special wine list. There will also be a homage to classics from the old Connaught Grill which ran for 45 years under the truly legendary Michel Boudin, including Oeuf en surprise. The room promises to be as grand as the original grill, which closed two decades ago on Bourdin's retirement.

The new interior will focus on art and craftsmanship, incorporating the stunning organic works of George Nakashima Woodworkers in Pennsylvania. Nakashima's daughter Mira will lead the project, creating extraordinary signature wall panels, tables and chairs, more often seen and revered in museums.

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Louie: New Orleans meets Paris

This could be one of the hottest openings of 2020 and the most original: Louie, which is named after Louis Armstrong (despite the different spelling), brings American chef Slade Rushing – a five-time James Beard award nominee (a barometer of American culinary excellence) – to London. Here, he'll be bringing a blend of flavours from New Orleans, Paris and London to the menu. The restaurant is run by Paris Society, whose Parisian restaurants such as Loulou are extremely hot right now, so expectations are high. It is on the former L’Atelier Robuchon site, right by The Ivy in the heart of Theatreland.

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Eataly: London gets a branch of the lauded Italian food market

Eataly brings a playground of Italian gourmet experiences to London, offering shops, cafés, restaurants and a cookery school within its 40,000 square metres. Other branches of Eataly already exist in 34 cities, from New York to Sao Paulo. London's eagerly anticipated vast Italian food centre will have a terrace on Bishopsgate and be adjacent to Liverpool Street.

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Akoko: West African cuisine in Masterchef: The Professionals style

Akoko is the first project from last year’s Masterchef: The Professionals finalist William JM Chilila. He'll be opening this West-African influenced restaurant in Fitzrovia which sounds very cool with bespoke ceramics inspired by the legendary West African 1960s ‘Queen of Pottery’, Ladi Kwali. The menu sounds very exciting with dishes including lobster with egusi Ijebu velouté and pounded yam.

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Brindisa Kitchen: a Spanish pilgrimage in Borough Market Kitchen

This January, the team behind Brindisa – the pioneers of authentic Spanish food in London – will open Brindisa Kitchen at the new Borough Market Kitchen. Inspired by the food of La Ruta de la Plata, meaning ‘the Silver Route’, the journey winds through Spain’s western peninsula from Andalucía in the south to Asturias in the north, along a road created by the Romans as a highway for goods, troops and traders.

Brindisa Kitchen will serve everything from sea urchins from the Cantabrian sea to wild game and pulses from the woodlands of Salamanca.

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