Just opened
Ogof, Cardiff
Opened December 2025
A neighbourhood restaurant and bar inspired by Paris’ cave à manger culture, which blends great wine with à la carte fare, has landed in Cardiff’s Pontcanna district. Ogof (‘cave’ in Welsh) is part-natural wine shop, part-casual eatery, with an emphasis on seasonal, ingredient-led menus. For lunch, there’s a line-up of daily specials and sandwiches served with homemade bread, while dinner shifts to sharing plates such as swede rarebit croquettes and pork rillettes. Ogof’s offering is shaped by its close relationships with local farmers and producers, including a collaboration with importer Wright’s Wines to curate a characterful natural wine list.
Corenucopia by Clare Smyth, London
Opened December 2025
Britain’s first and only female chef to earn three Michelin stars, Clare Smyth MBE is looking to build on the prodigious success of Notting Hill’s Core with her latest restaurant, Corenucopia. The luxury bistro concept in Chelsea focuses on elevated British classics: think Dover sole fish and chips with a lobster mousse, or a refined sherry trifle. For potato lovers, there is even a dedicated side menu with 13 dishes to try, from mashed potato with caviar to Lyon-style boulangère potatoes. The restaurant’s Cellar Room, with soft leather walls and a quality sound system, can be reserved for intimate private dining experiences.
Trillium, Birmingham
Opened December 2025
Birmingham’s own Glynn Purnell – the Michelin-starred chef behind the city’s former Jessica’s and Purnell’s restaurants – has teamed up with wine specialist Phil Innes for his latest venture. Trillium, next to Snow Hill railway station, serves up distinctive seasonal cooking that is made to be shared. Small plates at the 48-cover restaurant include a pheasant kyiv and butterflied grilled mackerel, with slow-braised Herdwick lamb shoulder and mushroom orzo among the larger dishes. The bold wine list from Innes, of Birmingham’s Loki Wine, has a vast selection of drinks by the glass and the bottle to complement head chef Richard Palmer’s food.
Market Place Leicester Square, London
Opened December 2025
The West End’s newest star is Market Place Leicester Square, Central London’s largest food hall. The five-floor venue hosts 16 food vendors, among them Instagram-hit bakery Bread Ahead and Yorkshire Burritos, dishing up roast dinners in Yorkshire pudding wraps. Also on site are three bars, various events spaces and comedy club, Belly Laughs. The Leicester Square spot becomes the flagship of the Market Place brand, whose other food halls in the capital include St Pauls, Vauxhall, Peckham and Harrow.
STACK Newcastle
Opened December 2025
After lying empty for 25 years, Newcastle’s Grade II-listed Worswick Chambers have been given fresh life as a three-storey leisure venue, centred around a street food and bar offering. STACK Newcastle brings together eight food traders from the north-east of England and beyond, including Bao Down, serving up Asian fusion food, and Liverpool fried chicken brand Pattersons. There are also eight bars to choose from, such as tequila-focused Cazcabel and draughts and spirits specialists Barley & Me. The central Newcastle site is STACK’s second Geordie site, joining St James’ STACK, which feeds hungry fans at Newcastle United’s stadium.
Coming soon
In Lamentation, Boston Spa
Opens February 2026
Known for his culinary showmanship, Yorkshire chef Michael O’Hare is bringing his ultra-creative fine dining to a village north-east of Leeds. In Lamentation, an intimate 16-cover restaurant in Boston Spa, will open for four services each week. O’Hare, whose former restaurant The Man Behind the Curtain was Leeds’ first Michelin-starred venue, will not share menus online, instead preferring to surprise diners on the night with daring, contemporary menus.
The Crazy Goose, Brighton
Opens February 2026
A new gastropub from the team behind Brighton’s Burnt Orange is winging its way to the city this February, taking over the Coal Shed’s original Boyce Street premises. The Crazy Goose, a stone’s throw from the seafront, promises comfort food with seasonal flair: there’ll be locally sourced meats and seafood on the menus, alongside a signature Sunday roast. The two-storey premises will offer a relaxed bar space on the ground floor, with food served in the upstairs dining area.
Dishoom Permit Room, Liverpool
Opens March 2026
Dishoom’s latest Permit Room – a nod to Bombay’s post-prohibition drinking culture – arrives in Liverpool this spring. The all-day café-bar concept, popularised in 1970s India, has already reached Brighton, Cambridge, Oxford and London, with Liverpool’s Permit Room its first northern outpost. Expect Dishoom classics like Chicken Berry Britannia and 24-hour Black Daal, alongside lighter bites, beer snacks and even breakfast naan rolls, for the ultimate dawn-to-dusk dining.
Tatlers by Tarragon, Aberdeen
Opens spring 2026
Chef Graham Mitchell is a stalwart of the Granite City’s restaurant scene, where his two eateries – Tarragon by Graham Mitchell and Tarragon On The Terrace – celebrate the best of north-east Scotland’s produce. This spring, they’ll be joined by Tatlers by Tarragon, a 150-cover restaurant in the space that once housed the city’s Tatlers Bar. Like its counterparts, the restaurant is expected to champion Scottish beef and seafood.
One to watch
Oudh 1722, London
Opens spring 2026
Aktar Islam, the mastermind behind Birmingham’s two-Michelin-starred Opheem, is set to make his London debut with Oudh 1722. Islam’s new venture, spanning three floors of a listed Victorian property near Borough Market, will put northern India’s Awadhi cuisine in the spotlight. According to the chef, the menus will draw on the techniques and traditions of the royal courts of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
