It didn't take James Lowe long to establish his first restaurant, Lyle's as one of the best in London. It opened in spring 2014, but was already awarded its first Michelin star this October, and was voted sixth best restaurant in the UK at the National Restaurant Awards in July. Why, do you ask? We'd wager it's because of Lowe's common sense approach to modern British cuisine, and vibrant menu featuring dishes such as raw Hereford rib with cured mullet roe, and lamb sweetbreads with yoghurt and baby gem lettuce.
Xavier Girard Lachaîne
Oklava is widely being touted as one of the most exciting restaurant openings in London this winter, and it's not hard to see why. The London food scene cottoned on to chef Selin Kiazim's skills after pop-ups at Ember Yard, Carousel London and a six-month residency at Trip Kitchen, and she's finally been able to open her first restaurant this November. Kiazim's menu will celebrate her Turkish-Cypriot heritage, but with influences from all over the world – which is only to be expected as she spent her formative years with fusion maestro Peter Gordon.
Tom Oldroyd's got a pretty impressive CV: he was chef director of the Polpo restaurant group, where he worked for five years, overseeing the launch of eight of the company's restaurants – the menu for the original Polpo in Soho was his handiwork. While the seasonal, British food (think crab tagliarini provençal with brown crab rouille and cured Welsh veal tonnato) is exciting enough in its own right, we're looking forward to the cocktail list, which Oldroyd devised with mixologist Ryan Chetiyawardana of the White Lyan, which came 26th on this year's list of the World's 50 Best Bars.
The Ninth is, confusingly, called The Ninth because it's the ninth restaurant chef-patron Jun Tanaka has worked in, although it is the very first one he's owned. He earned his stripes under the likes of Michel Roux Jr., Marco Pierre White and Eric Chavot before setting out with business partner Mark Jankel. The restaurant offers refined French-Mediterranean sharing plates, with a menu anchored by pickled, brined and cured specialities.
After a long and successful post at City favourite L'Anima, Italy's Francesco Mazzei has been given his own kitchen – the newly renovated Sartoria on Savile Row.
