London's best new restaurant and bar openings

Kerridge’s Bar & Grill, the Corinthia Hotel London

Tom Kerridge’s first London restaurant, Kerridge’s Bar & Grill opens at the Corinthia Hotel London on September 10. The chef remains best known for The Hand and Flowers in Marlow, which in 2011 became the first pub to receive two Michelin stars (a rating it still holds today), and his new outpost in the capital will aim to reach similarly high standards while also celebrating the best of British cuisine.

Its menu comprised of “refined British comfort food and re-born classics”, dishes on offer will include the likes of Cornish crab vol-au-vent with avocado, apple and crab bisque, alongside Cotswold White chicken with braised gem lettuce, lemon and polenta. Appropriately there’ll be a proper Sunday lunch menu, alongside pre- and post-theatre dining options. A private dining room promises to offer a more exclusive experience and the bar - divided from the main dining room by a partition of antique mirror panels - will offer English sparkling wines and British bar snacks alongside the expected champagne and cocktails.

Maos, Hackney

“An interdisciplinary space dedicated to nurturing engagements and interactions between diverse practices”, Blue Mountain School is a six-storey townhouse in Hackney that includes an exhibition space and archive. Now accepting bookings from the public, the latest addition to the property is Maos, the new venture from chef Nuno Mendes.

Enjoying an experience that Mendes says will be “more like a dinner party than a traditional restaurant”, up to 16 guests will gather around a communal table for a 14-course menu that draws influences from Europe and further afield but, the team say, “free from classical distinctions”. Which kind of sounds like they’ll be serving fusion food. Dishes will include smoked celeriac dashi with wasabi leaf oil; slow-grilled Iberico pork with nukazake carrots and sour carrot jus; and barley kojiand honey capping ice cream with tiger lemon oil. Wine will be a focus too, with diners invited to choose bottles that complement their own tastes rather than being allocated a pairing by a sommelier (though of course someone will be there to advise). Tickets cost £150 per person, exclusive of drinks and service.

Jolene, Hackney

The team behind Primeur and Westerns Laundry, Jeremie Cometto-Lingenheim and David Gingell’s new venture is bakery and restaurant Jolene on Hackney’s Newington Green. Breads, pastries and fresh pastas will be the focal point here, with sustainably sourced grains grown by a farmer who is exploring new agricultural methods to counteract the ecologically harmful practices followed by some major farming corporations. (It’s all a bit complicated to get into given the short word count I have here, but if you drop in the team can explain it all in detail.)

Indulgent baked specialities will include raisin bread and sausage rolls, madeleines and financiers, croissants and cinnamon buns. From 7pm Thursday to Sunday, the establishment will serve up simple dinner dishes featuring ethically sourced fish from Cornwall and Devon, British meat and stuffed pasta.

Gunpowder Tower Bridge

It should be a bit easier to get a table in the newly opened, 100-cover Gunpowder in Tower Bridge than the original, miniscule restaurant in Spitalfields. The second outlet will include plenty of Gunpowder’s signature dishes, including the Kashmiri lamb chops, while new additions to the menu include lentil and beetroo salad with spicy orange and ginger, and chicken lollipop Madras style.

Kahani, Sloane Square

By Cadogan Hall, Indian restaurant Kahani is the first solo venture from chef Peter Joseph, who for a decade was executive chef at Tamarind. Inspired by his upbringing in Tamil Nadu, India’s southernmost state, the menu features the likes of smoked Malabar prawns with coconut and Keralan spices, and tandoori calamari with Kasundi mustard. As for the name, Kahani means ‘story’ and the restaurant is intended to be a social, relaxed space.

Genesis, Hackney

Well placed in Shoreditch, Genesis on Commercial Street is a vegan restaurant that will offer a GMO-free, organic menu inspired by street food from around the world. Quick and convenient, the menu will feature salads, tacos, burgers and the like, alongside ethnic dishes such as char kway teow, a Malaysian dish of brown rice noodles, stir-fried veg and black bean sauce. Included among the dessert options will be the Uk’s only organic, vegan soft-serve ice-cream. Genesis opens on September 11.

Pergola, Olympia London

Rooftop venue Pergola opens in a new location at the end of September. Fully enclosed and set to open year-round, the rooftop venue at Olympia London will incorporate communal seating for up to 500 punters and will host three restaurants alongside a vast bar. The dining venues to feature this time are crab specialists Claw, burger purveyors Patty & Bun and pizza shop Passo. Launching on September 27, Pergola will be open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday (private bookings taken Monday and Tuesday). And for more sky-high venues in the city, see our guide to London's rooftop restaurants and restaurants with views.

Bife, Aldgate

Its menu centred on the best cuts of Argentinian beef, Bife on Middlesex Street in Aldgate will offer all manner of steaks alongside Argentine empanadas and other national specials such as lomitos, gourmet sandwiches associated with the founders’ home city of Córdoba. Despite the focus on meat, vegetarian and vegan options are offered too and the drinks menu extends from Argentinian wines to a selection of 16 gins and complementary speciality tonics on a dedicated G&T list.

1251, Islington

His appreciation of diverse cuisine honed by his West Indian mother and Scottish father, Whitstable’s James Cochran will serve an ambitious and diverse modern-British menu at 1251 in Islington. Sharing-style dishes are a focus and include the likes of jerk-spiced monkfish with iceberg lettuce and watermelon, and goat with black-eyed pea dahl, roti and Scotch Bonnet jam and pineapple.

Maison Bab, Covent Garden

Kebab specialist Maison Bab opens by Seven Dials on September 17. Beyond offering an eight-strong kebab menu (each under a tenner), the venue will include a “hidden” 10-seater upmarket restaurant called Kebab Queen. (It wouldn’t be quite right to describe it as secret, given information about the venture is included in a press release.). The latter opening (which will launch at a later date) will offer a six-course, kebab-focused tasting menu costing £55 per person. To celebrate Maison Bab’s opening, diners will get 50 per cent off food between the launch date and September 23.

Park Chinois Cabaret, Mayfair

Inspired by the dinner-dance clubs of 1930s Shanghai, fine-dining Chinese restaurant Park Chinois is aiming to consolidate its celebratory atmosphere with the launch of its new and immersive cabaret show, taking place at the venue’s Club Chinois from September 14 onwards. Set to run from Wednesdays to Saturdays until the end of the year, the ambitious new show will feature aerial burlesque, fire-eating and flamenco; the production’s artistic director Diana Pintado Cadenas promises it will be “mischievous, funny and jaw-dropping.” Diners will be charged a £15 entertainment fee alongside the cost of their meal, and acts will run every 15 to 20 minutes.