April is a bumper month for brand new London restaurants and bars, with this lovely lot poking their heads above the parapet of a long, dull winter in order to serve you with everything from sausages to sushi. Not to mention there’s a brand new Yard Sale Pizza popping up in Tufnell Park as well as Lina Stores’ first ever west London restaurant, which comes to South Ken on April 19, and a new outpost of Mexican taco spot El Pastor at Battersea Power Station, opening April 26, as well as a Portobello road branch of Poppie's chippie Keen eyes might have seen the recent under-the-radar opening of Tower Hill’s Dream Xi’an too, the latest from Guirong Wei, chef and founder of biang biang noodle emporium Master Wei.
1. Fish and flesh; Greek style
Oma, Borough
The pedigree on this one is strong. Oma comes from David Carter – the founder of Smokestak and co-founder of Manteca – and is inspired by Greek coastal flavours, with chefs from Kiln and Sabor behind the menu. There’ll be a crudo bar (‘Oma’ means ‘raw’ in Greek) and live fire cookery, and you can expect dishes such as hung sheep’s yoghurt with a salt cod XO sauce, hummus masabacha with tahini and green zhoug or squid skewers with garlic and za’tar. The raw bar could have anything from gilthead bream with jalapeño aguachile and datterini tomato, to yellowfin tuna with clementine and aged soy. Below Oma you’ll find the equally new Agora, a walk-ins only joint focussing on full-animal cookery with a nod to the food of Athens. April 16 is opening night.
2-4 Bedale St, SE1 9AL
2. London’s latest lesbian bar
La Camionera, Hackney
Nothing this year has caused a sensation quite like La Camionera did back in February. Widely marketed as London’s newest lesbian bar (there’s currently just one other in the capital) but initially opening as a fortnightly pop-up, its inaugural night saw Broadway Market heaving with hundreds of women and non-binary folk, all trying to get into the secret-ish basement below long-standing cocktail bar Off Broadway. Having closed to recalibrate and raise funds, it looks like the trans-inclusive drinking den will be opening for good in its very own permanent, full-time venue on Well Street at some point this April.
243 Well Street, E9 6RG
3. Fallow goes east
Roe, Canary Wharf
Will Murray, Jack Croft and James Robson, the chefs behind popular St James’s root-to-stem spot Fallow have branched out with new sister site Roe. It’s named after the UK’s native deer species, which will no doubt be making an appearance on the menu, alongside ‘underused and underappreciated produce’. At 350 covers, it’s a biggie, and comes complete with an ‘aeroponic’ green wall where where peas, Padron peppers and chillies will be grown. Dishes will include a maitake mushroom cornish pasty, baked potato cooked in kombu stock and served with walnut and truffle ketchup with crispy seaweed, and black pudding and pork belly skewers glazed with fermented plum sauce. It opens on April 22.
Five Park Drive, Wood Wharf, E14 9GG
4. One big sausage party
Bangers, Shoreditch
It's been kicking about for a while on the delivery apps, but Bangers has now got its own bricks and mortar home, and it’s opening on April 19. The breakfast bar’s concept is basically ‘Normans, but make it high street’, so it’s greasy spoon classics all the way, with bacon sarnies, hash browns, baked beans and their signature smashed sausage, egg and cheese sandwich on the menu. Sustainability is a focus, as is free-range meat, and homemade, small-batch sauces.
5 Leonard Circus, EC2A 4DQ
5. The banging bagna cauda spot
Caldesi, Belsize Village
Opening early April, this neighbourhood Italian is a little sister to Caldesi’s Marylebone spot, which has been serving fuss-free Tuscan classics since 2002. Expect more of the charming same here, with bagna cauda with sourdough soldiers, deep fried ravioli, fettuccine lobster and milanese classica veal chop, as well as a ‘gourmet’ pizza menu.
29 Belsize Lane, NW3 5AS
6. A bar with toasties
Two Drops, Battersea
Coal Drops Yard’s The Drop bar has spawned. Two Drops opens by Battersea Power Station on April 26, and its focus is on two of the best inventions humankind has ever had a hand in; booze and cheese toasties. Sourdough slices stuffed with oozing hot Jurarégal is your go-to order, and you can wash it down with an epic plonk list, or a big old pint of Guinness. Not into cheese? Then the lunch spesh of salt beef, pickled gherkin & horseradish toastie – or smoked haddock & English mustard, or marmite & shallot – will keep you entertained.
Circus Road West, SW11 8EZ
7. Some more Euro small plates – why not, eh?
July, Fitzrovia
Chef Holly Hayes, who’s previously done kitchen time in 40 Maltby Street and KOL, is behind the pass at July, a new all-day Alsatian spot in Fitzrovia. It’s French/German cuisine all the way, with lunchtime sandwiches packed with roast beef, horseradish crème fraiche and watercress, or nettle and spinach soup with smoked bacon. Dinner revolves around the three noble ‘S’s; seasonal, sustainable, and small (plates). There’s also a wine bar in the mix, and it opens April 25
10 Charlotte Street, W1T 2LT
8. The boujie bistro
Cloth, Farringdon
There's an all-star cast pulling the strings at Cloth – which opens on April 29 – with head chef Tom Hurst coming directly from Lasdun at the National Theatre, following stints at everywhere from Brawn and The Marksman, to Levan and Larry’s. Alongside wine importers Joe Haynes and Ben Butterworth, this intimate wine bar and bistro will take over a ye olde site underneath the one-time home of John Betjeman and plans to serve an equally poetic offering of British produce and excellent vino. Dishes such as Cornish squid with black olive, preserved lemon & lardo, as well as brown crab & berkswell tagliarini, and Somerset hogget, grilled cos lettuce, smoked tongue and anchovy are all on the launch menu.
44 Cloth Fair, EC1A 7JQ
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