Oriole reopens on 28 August in Covent Garden, offering innovative cocktails and Latin American-inspired cuisine. The downstairs restaurant, designed as a speakeasy, features dishes like hamachi tiradito and lamb rump with huacatay. The Bamboo Bar upstairs offers aperitivo-style cocktails and bar snacks.
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The UK pub and bar market is expected to grow by 1.7% in 2024, reaching a total value of £23.6 billion, according to Lumina Intelligence’s latest report.
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Margo, a new dining and drinking destination by Scoop restaurant group, opens this September in Glasgow. Headed by chef Robin Aitken, the menu focuses on seasonal produce, Scottish seafood and in-house crafted bread and pasta. Highlights include smoked haddock churros with manchego and saffron and Margo focaccia with prawn head butter. Desserts like baked rice pudding crème caramel offer a sweet finish.
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Chef José Pizarro’s new venture, Lolo, opens this month on Bermondsey Street. This all-day dining concept features a menu divided into breakfast and lunch/dinner offerings. Breakfast highlights include eggs with PX sherry-cured salmon, while lunch and dinner feature octopus salad with roast tomato and blackeye beans. The drinks menu includes Bloody Marys and Mediterranean wines.
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Restaurant Pine's head sommelier Vanessa Stolz opens our summer Q&A series with a taste of life on Newcastle's buzzing restaurant scene.
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Clinton Cawood examines the sectors of the market faring best and those suffering the most.
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Buckingham Schenk has announced Emma Hardy as a national account manager. Hardy joins the on-trade sales team, focusing on wholesale and expanding the market for the business.
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Flavour. When it comes to food and drink – it’s the most important thing. As a producer, you can be entirely carbon neutral, use the finest ingredients, have the sharpest packaging – but if your liquid isn’t up to scratch, you won’t last long. But beyond that, producers are now using flavours to expand their ranges, tap into new markets, and attract new demographics of drinkers to their brands. As a man who has sampled thousands of liquids and has reasonably good taste (although I’m sure my colleagues might not agree, especially when it comes to taste in music or fashion!) here’s my reckonings about flavour trends in the spirits industry.
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Trade credit insurer Atradius has revealed a 59% decrease in claims for late or failed payments in the food and drink sector between May 2023 and May 2024.
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Chef Jackson Boxer, in collaboration with the Experimental Group, opened Henri last month, bringing a Parisian-inspired restaurant to Covent Garden. This new venture blends Boxer’s London restaurant expertise with the Experimental Group’s global hospitality experience, featuring standout bars and restaurants worldwide. Designed by Dorothée Meilichzon, Henri combines French brasserie charm with British pub elements, showcasing botanical shapes and Art Nouveau accents.
The menu offers a range of snacks, entrées and charcoal-grilled dishes, including Parisian classics like Fried Pieds de Cochon and Seaweed Canelé. The drinks menu features cocktails inspired by French icons including the Marie-Antoine, blending rye, ginger syrup and peach bitters; and the Gaston, crafted with Cognac, byrrh and maple syrup. The wine list showcases exceptional French wines, perfect for long lunches and celebrations.
JKS Restaurants, founded by Jyotin, Karam and Sunaina Sethi, is set to launch Ambassadors Clubhouse this summer at 25 Heddon Street in Mayfair. Named after Sethi’s maternal grandfather, a former Indian Ambassador, the restaurant draws inspiration from his summer house in Dalhousie and the founders’ Punjabi heritage.
The menu celebrates the cuisine of undivided Punjab, featuring classic dishes like Paan Patta Chaat, Mooli and Dahi Kebabs and Hariyali Rara Rabbit Keema. The drinks menu highlights tequila and mezcal cocktails, including ‘Punjabi Margaritas’ with north Indian fruits and chaat masala spiced salts. The 140-cover restaurant includes a 40-cover outdoor heated veranda and three private dining spaces, featuring interiors with classic Indian patterns and modern prints.
The trend to premium drinking is predicted to continue as consumers continue to drink less but better, according to the latest insights from analyst CGA by NIQ. Moreover, while ‘value-for-money’ remains key, this is about drinks ‘worth the price’, rather than ‘cheap’.
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Archive & Myth, a new cocktail den, has opened in London’s West End. Situated below Leicester Square, this hidden gem offers a unique escape with a drinks menu crafted by award-winning mixologist Jack Sotti. Highlights include full-sized creations like the Mizuwari, Whiskey Sour and Absinthe Frappe, plus miniature delights such as the Martini Mineraux and the Sazerac de Nata. The venue also features select bites from The Hippodrome’s Chop Chop restaurant. The venue, hidden behind a password-protected door off Cranbourn Street, leads deep beneath The Hippodrome Casino to a central bar with counter seating, plush fabric nooks, exposed brick and dark wood accents.
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Archive & Myth, a new cocktail den, has opened in London’s West End. Situated below Leicester Square, this hidden gem offers a unique escape with a drinks menu crafted by award-winning mixologist Jack Sotti. Highlights include full-sized creations like the Mizuwari, Whiskey Sour and Absinthe Frappe, plus miniature delights such as the Martini Mineraux and the Sazerac de Nata. The venue also features select bites from The Hippodrome’s Chop Chop restaurant. The venue, hidden behind a password-protected door off Cranbourn Street, leads deep beneath The Hippodrome Casino to a central bar with counter seating, plush fabric nooks, exposed brick and dark wood accents.
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Harpers is delighted to reveal our newly expanded Top 50 Sommeliers list, celebrating the best in this dynamic and hugely important part of the hospitality and drinks world. Special congratulations go to Gareth Ferreira MS, head sommelier and beverage director at Core by Clare Smyth, who tops an incredible round up of talent.
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Chef Adam Handling (pictured) has announced the opening of The Tartan Fox in Cornwall. Located between Newquay and Truro, The Tartan Fox is Handling’s second venture in Cornwall, joining his St Ives restaurant and bar, Ugly Butterfly.
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The closure of Michel Roux’s Le Gavroche earlier this year surprised many, following the earlier shutdown of Roux at the Landau at The Langham, now replaced by Mimosa. But Roux is not finished with The Langham; he is merely shifting locations. Roux will take over the Palm Court space with a venture called Chez Roux. The new opening blends British classics with traditional French cooking methods, featuring dishes like Welsh rarebit and grilled lobster with fries and béarnaise. Diners can enjoy a selection of ‘60s-inspired cocktails such as the Queen’s Dubonnet and Madeira Cobbler. The wine list combines English and French influences, featuring Champagnes alongside English sparklings from Hambledon Vineyard.
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In mid-July, Cornus will open in London’s Belgravia, the second restaurant from David O’Connor and Joe Mercer-Nairne of the renowned Medlar in Chelsea. Chef Gary Foulkes, formerly of Michelin-starred Angler, will lead the kitchen, presenting a menu that highlights British seasonal produce with vibrant and precise cooking.
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One of the best recent openings we’ve lighted upon is Michael Sager’s new outpost Bruno, which has tucked neatly into the leafy environs of the East End’s Victoria Park Village. A decade on from the opening of his seminal Sager + Wilde in nearby Hackney Road, Bruno, named after his father, offers a now familiar Hackney mix of low-intervention wines and simple but tasty dishes, all served up by a super-friendly team in this characterful ex-stable.
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The results of the Sommelier Wine Awards (SWA) 2024 are now live, revealing the Gold, Silver and Bronze medal wines.
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