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The hottest new restaurants opening in March 2022

This month is awash with new openings. From new projects from culinary greats in London and LA to first-time ventures from rising star chefs in Paris and Melbourne, find new must-visit restaurants in our rundown of this month’s most-exciting global launches

Words by Louella Berryman

noci london
New kid on the block Noci is serving freshly-baked herbed focaccia with datterini tomato and olives on its Sicilian-inspired menu

It feels as if hospitality is finally back in full swing this month, with international openings galore. This month sees the much-anticipated opening of Nuno MendesLisboeta in London, a Portuguese restaurant from the group that brought us new favourites like Santiago Lastra’s KOL. There’s more Portuguese fare across the pond too – Alfredo Pedro’s Portuguese-Brazilian Ipanema makes a triumphant return to New York City with a revamped menu and restaurant space this month, after briefly relocating to Connecticut during 2021.

ipanema dish
Moqueca de Mariscos - a spicy Bahian coconut stew with shrimp, mussels and squid at Ipanema

More exciting new openings lie in other culinary capitals like Copenhagen, where the Danish duo behind restaurants Sol & Luna, Polly and Frank are opening an anti-small plates bistro with French and British influences and a 200-strong wine list. New European cuisine is making a splash in Hong Kong too, with chef Peter Find moving on from the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong to open his own restaurant in the city’s LKF Tower and aiming to elevate traditional German dishes from a childhood spent in the small village of Bersrod.

These restaurants are just a snippet of the exciting new venues opening this month. Read on for our selection of global restaurant launches to have on your radar in March.

New restaurants opening around the world in March 2022

untitled melbourne

Untitled

Melbourne, Australia

The first of two restaurants with somewhat vague names on this list, Untitled is the newest player on Melbourne’s Swan Street, nestling beside smart cocktail bar Ugly Duckling. Behind the new restaurant is former Young Chef of the Year Tim Martin, who is delivering a modern menu with definite European inflections. Dishes like prosciutto with melon escabeche nod to retro classics, while the duck ragu gnocchi finished with saltbush (a herb typically found growing in Australia’s desert plains) signals to the local take on European flavours. The 100-seater restaurant and bar occupies a former art shop across three storeys and is serving classic aperitifs and a healthy spread of acclaimed European wines, alongside Australian names.
Now open, untitledrichmond.com.au

upstairs at the george

Upstairs at The George

London, UK

Back in November 2021, the team behind London restaurant group JKS (Bao, Hoppers, Gymkhana) revived central London pub The George, which had remained closed for the five years previous. Now they open a brand-new restaurant space and English sparkling wine bar that, as the name suggests, lives above the pub. Dishes are said to be inspired by Michelin-Starred chef James Knappett’s memories of growing up in his family’s pub. There’s sausage and mash – but with two types of sausage, both cured and stuffed in-house, one made with wild venison haunch and the other with pork shoulder. Another twist on a British pub grub classic will be scampi and chips, but with the luxurious twist of using Scottish Langoustine for the scampi and crushed peas instead of the traditional mushy variety.
Now open, thegeorge.london/upstairs

grimal copenhagen

Grimal

Copenhagen, Denmark

Grimal is the fourth restaurant to open in Copenhagen from restaurateur Anders Vendelbo and head chef Anders Strier. The pair have already found success with Polly and Sol&Luna in Frederiksburg and Frank in the city centre, and are now moving over to Vesterbro for their new venture. The bistro-style venue will do away with small plates and tasting menus, serving an a la carte menu featuring food inspired by France, the UK and Denmark. Three traditional courses (plus cheese) are on offer, as well as a selection of snacks including duck and pork terrine, chicken liver parfait and Scotch egg. The wine list holds an impressive 200 bottles too.
Now open, instagram.com/bistrogrimal

shisen hanten

Shisen Hanten

Singapore

Although not strictly a new restaurant, this Michelin-Star Cantonese restaurant from Chen Kentaro has a new home at the Hilton Singapore Orchard, now the largest hotel in Asia Pacific. The first outpost of the beloved Sichuan restaurant group outside of Japan, Shisen Hanten shares the same menu, with signatures like foie gras chawanmushi (savoury egg custard) with crab roe soup and Chen’s mapo doufu (Sichuan tofu) featured. The high-ceilinged dining room has views over the city and shares the building with the hotly anticipated restaurant Osteria Mozza from chef Nancy Silverton, also rumoured to be opening this spring.
Now open, shisenhanten.com.sg

heimat

Heimat

Hong Kong

With its name directly translating in German to ‘homeland’, it’s clear that the first solo venture from Peter Find, who has been executive chef at several Michelin-Starred hotel restaurants, will aim to pay homage to his German heritage. The restaurant will serve elevated versions of traditional German dishes, taking shape as a six-course tasing menu and including the likes of Brittany lobster with ‘58-degree egg’ and frankfurter herb sauce, as well as a pork dumpling with gherkins and caper, a German speciality known as konigsberger klopse. LKF Tower, home to a number of restaurants, is where Heimat will find home, with the design featuring blond woods, warm tones and pops of blue, taking inspiration from the minimalist style of German-American architect Mies van der Rohe
Now open, instagram.com/heimathk

goddard and gibbs

Goddard & Gibbs

London, UK

There’s nothing quite like the Great British seaside, and thankfully for Londoners, ex-Ormer chef Tom Moore is bringing that fish-and-chip feeling to Shoreditch. The new restaurant includes a dining space centred around a modern sculpture by Jacu Strauss based on stacking pebbles at the beach, a wine bar with retractable floor-to-ceiling windows for al fresco sipping in summer, and a takeaway ‘hatch’. The menu will feature locally sourced seafood with dishes like roasted skate wing with XO butter and spring greens and steamed Dorset mussels with coconut, chilli and lemongrass – plus soft serve ice cream with sprinkles to polish things off. While the restaurant will first focus on lunch and dinner, keep your eyes peeled for the breakfast offering opening later in the year.
Opening 3 March 2022, goddardandgibbs.com

lisboeta

Lisboeta

London, UK

The Portuguese chef who put London’s Chiltern Firehouse on the map and continued to push the envelope at restaurants Viajante, Taberna do Mercado and Maos has a new venture, Lisboeta, a love letter to Lisbon. Mendes is working with MJMK Restaurants, the owners of the UK capital’s KOL, Bar La Rampa and Casa do Frango, to create a restaurant where guests can dine like a Lisboeta. The menu takes its influence from Portugal’s tascas (casual, often family-run restaurants) serving sharing dishes like seafood rice on communal tables for lunch and dinner. Unsurprisingly, the wine list takes a Lisbon-themed direction too, focusing on producers from the area and its sub-regions and featuring both high-profile names and new faces on the winemaking scene.
Opening 21 March 2022, lisboeta.co.uk

n/soto

n/soto

Los Angeles, USA

Japanese-American chef Niki Nakayama’s second opening in LA comes with the heavy weight of expectation. Her first restaurant, n/naka, received recognition as one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, as well as earning a Michelin Star for its take on kaiseki-style cuisine, her menu specifically celebrating seasonality by presenting ingredients in their most natural state. The new restaurant started its life as a California-Japanese izakaya (a sort of Japanese pub) selling bento boxes, continued as a pop-up in Little Tokyo and will finally open a bricks-and-mortar site in Mid-City very soon. The menu will include modern sashimi as well as nostalgic dishes that explore the evolution of Japanese food in America.
Opening March 2022, n-soto.com

noci

Noci

London, UK

London’s no stranger to the pasta restaurant concept. Since the opening of Padella in 2016, the city has been obsessed, and a new contender is now coming for the crown. Noci will open its doors to guests in Islington this month, serving up a short, seasonal menu of pastas and street food snacks inspired by Sicily’s bustling markets. Fried parcels of leek, taleggio and gorgonzola will feature on the fritti section of the menu, followed by pasta dishes inspired by head chef Louis Korovilas’ travels around Italy – including Gnocchetti, a small pasta reminiscent of its namesake potato dumpling, served with confit tomato and smoked ricotta. Diners can sit at the large communal table or take a pew at one of the window seats overlooking Islington Green.
Opening March 2022, nocirestaurant.co.uk

ipanema

Ipanema

New York, USA

This Little Brazil mainstay was a familiar sight in New York’s Midtown until the pandemic forced the Portuguese-Brazilian restaurant to close in 2020. Portugese restauranteur Alfredo Pedro’s restaurant briefly lived on in a temporary Connecticut location operated by his sons, Carlos and Victor, but it is now making a return to Manhattan this month. The new restaurant will be kitted out in classic rich woods and with Portuguese tiles, with a new all-day café serving breads and pastries made by the venue’s first pastry chef, Per Se alum Alejandra Nicolon. Expect family-style meals like a whole roast pig (available by advance order), as well as the return of favourites like Ipanema’s moqueca (seafood stew). Behind the drinks is renowned Brazilian bartender Márcio Silva, who will serving Caipirinhas and other South American classics.
Opening March 2022, ipanema.co

quelque part

Quelque Part

Paris, France

The mysteriously named Quelque Part, or ‘Somewhere’, is the first restaurant from Top Chef winner Florian Barbarot. The menu will be seafood-oriented, with a distinct Grenoble slant, reflecting the chef’s roots. Dishes on the uber-modern menu include mullet cooked over a wood fire with cauliflower corals, something you might only see with a scuba mask on. The interiors of the restaurant will be minimalist in design and given a somewhat space-like feel thanks to the low lighting and the light-coloured, natural world-inspired shapes that will feature in out-there tableware (pictured).
Opening March 2022, instagram.com/q_u_e_l_q_u_e_p_a_r_t_