The perfect restaurant openings in London in 2022

Restaurants are constantly announcing new restaurants, but London’s early starters are already taking serious steps for 2022. After a brief nightmare over Christmas, when rising omicron cases meant diners were not going out and restaurants didn’t embarrass staff, both out of fear of being forced to be on December 25th alone, January is already looking more hopeful. Case growth in the city is declining, and as of now, no Covid-19 restrictions are on the horizon, let alone in the near future.

And many of those openings are much longer plans than just a tumultuous few weeks. Some are first permanent restaurants for successful pop-ups; Some are hoping for a revival after being forced to close in 2021. And the gastrotourism boys’ club is coming, whether the city likes it or not.

Here are the biggest London restaurant openings in 2022.

The biggest tickets in town

Arcade Food Hall as it opened in 2019. Paul Winch-Furness

Arcade Food Hall

Address: 103 – 105 New Oxford Street, WC1A 1DB
key people: JKS restaurants.
What to expect: A very ambitious new restaurant and food counter from one of London’s most successful groups in a dining hall that deserved better in its original guise.
Planned opening: 2022

Tatale makes the move from supper club to restaurant without losing its conversation piece.

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Address: 66 – 68 Great Suffolk Street, Southwark SE1 0BL
key people: Akwasi Brenya-Mensa, from the excellent Supper Club Tatale and Co / Mensa, Plates and Friends.
What to expect: Less a straight-forward ‘closure’ to the restaurant and more a continuation of the culinary and cultural dialogue that the supper club format generates, now supported from its base at the Africa Center.
Planned opening: January 2022

Ombra’s new space will make it possible to roll even more fresh pasta. Michael Protin

oven

Address: Vyner Street, Hackney E2
key people: Ombra chef and owner Mitshel Ibrahim.
What to expect: A pastificio and a forno ‘resentfully’ linked to the Ombra restaurant on Vyner Street, which will allow for both improved wholesale production and a new foothold for the operation.
Planned opening: Spring 2022

Chef Nuno Mendes will make a big return with Lisboeta.

Lisbon

Address: 30 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia WC1B 4AF
key people: Nuno Mendes, former Executive Chef of Taberna do Mercado, Viajante and Chiltern Firehouse.
What to expect: A three-part ‘declaration of love to Lisbon’ consisting of a ground floor and first floor restaurant and a basement dedicated to Mendes’ version of a chef’s table.
Planned opening: Spring 2022

Chef Chantelle Nicholson will open Apricity after launching a pop-up called All’s Well in 2020.

Sunny

Address: 68 Duke Street, Mayfair W1K 6JU
key people: Chantelle Nicholson, former chef and owner of Tredwell.
What to expect: A restaurant that talks about sustainability and actually seems willing to go the route of including the welfare and finances of its employees in the conversation, beyond where its carrots might come from.
Planned opening: Spring 2022

Chris Corbin and Jeremy King’s Soho restaurant will be a long time coming after delays due to Covid-19 and investor difficulties. Corbin and King

Manzis

Address: 1 – 8 Bateman’s Buildings and 55 Greek Street, Soho W1D 3EN
key people: Corbin and Kings Chris Corbin and Jeremy King.
What to expect: A new Seafood Palace for Soho with over 240 covers and al fresco dining, three years in the works.
Planned opening: 2022

Resurrections and Lasting Foundations

The Ledbury closed abruptly in the summer of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then it has been closed. Ola Smith

The Ledbury

Address: 127 Ledbury Road, Notting Hill W11 2AQ
key people: Brett Graham
What to expect: Remodeling and redesign of the iconic, formerly two-Michelin-starred restaurant. This will definitely extend to the dining room and the building – what that means for the food has yet to be revealed.
Planned opening: Summer 2022

The coffee bar at Kapihan’s original Battersea location. Michael Protin

Coffee shop

Address: open
key people: Nigel, David and Plams Motley.
What to expect: A revival for one of London’s finest bakeries and cafes, based on Filipino ingredients and culinary stories.
Planned opening: 2022

Tom Zahir Browne’s duck and andouille gumbo served at the Decatur Quality Wines residency in Fall 2021. Michaël Protin

Decatur

Address: open
key people: Tom Zahir Browne.
What to expect: Definitely: some more pop-ups challenging the impasto notions of southern cooking; hopefully a permanent restaurant dedicated to this pursuit.
Planned opening: 2022

A Dexter beef and fermented wild garlic loaf served at one of Anglo Thai’s residences in 2019. Jeremy Nothman

Anglo Thai

Address: open
key people: John and Desiree Chantarasak.
What to expect: A central London home for one of the most exciting exponents of uncynical ‘fusion’ cuisine out there, whose tension between the language of Thai cuisine and its traditions and British ingredients resolves their tensions in exciting dishes.
Planned opening: spring 2022

The gastrotourists are back

The famous Rubik’s Cube dessert from Björn Frantzén’s Stockholm restaurant of the same name. Martin Botvidsson / Stefan vdKG

,Frantzen

Address: Harrods, 87 – 135 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge SW1X 7XL
key people: Björn Frantzén from the three Michelin star Stockholm restaurant that bears his last name.
What to expect: A sanctuary of international gastronomic tourism.
Planned opening: Fall 2022

Chef Mauro Colagreco. Matteo Carassale / Mirazur

Mauro Colagreco at Raffles

Address: The Old War Office Building, Whitehall SW1A 2EU
key people: Mauro Colagreco of the three Michelin star and formerly “world’s best” restaurant Mirazur in Menton, France.
What to expect: A tripartite shrine to international gastronomic tourism.
Planned opening: end of 2022

A trio of shaped patisserie fruits – and a choux from Cedric Grolet’s Le Meurice boutique in Paris. The Hotel Meurice

Cedric Grolet at Berkeley

Address: Wilton Place, Knightsbridge SW1X 7RL
key people: Cedric Grolet from the eponymous patisserie boutiques in Paris.
What to expect: Trompe-l’oeil fruits and elegant flowers and plenty of influencers.
Planned opening: early 2022

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