Paris welcomes a pair of new restaurants this month that will appeal to two different crowds: one is a small, experimental, ‘hyper-seasonal’ concept restaurant that develops a set menu around whatever ingredients are freshest, while the other is a glamorous, exclusive and opulent venue in a new five-star hotel that pays homage to the American chop house. In London, Michelin-star seafood chef Tom Brown returns to the place where he began his career in Knightsbridge and the owners of hip pub The Baring branch out with a second establishment in Camberwell.
Read on to discover the most exciting new restaurants to visit this April.
The best new restaurants to visit in April 2025
Tom Brown at The Capital
London, UK
The Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge has been refurbished with a ‘refreshed, contemporary design’ and the overhaul includes bringing in chef Tom Brown to run a modern seafood restaurant. Brown closed his Michelin-starred spot, called Cornerstone, in Hackney Wick in 2024 and is now back at the hotel where he previously worked as head chef under seafood guru Nathan Outlaw. The 28-cover restaurant will offer a 12 and 14-course tasting menu at dinner, plus 8 and 10-course menus at lunch. Dishes on the menu for opening include wild bass with buttermilk and vanilla; tuna with soy and quail egg; monkfish with roast chicken and wild garlic; and Turbot with smoked eel and black truffle.
Opens April 10, tombrownatthecapital.com
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Temple & Chapon
Paris, France
The new five-star Experimental Marais hotel has its own restaurant and, as with the rest of the building, it appears little expense has been spared in its creation. The grand dining room, complete with mid-century modern touches, is illuminated by huge chandeliers overhead and candlelight from ornate holders on every table. Guests sit on suede-upholstered seating where they can choose from a brasserie menu created by chef Mélanie Serre that pays homage to the classic 1950s American chop house. Starters include beef carpaccio, oysters, crab cake and lobster roll, ahead of dishes such as grilled lobster, sole meunière, beef fillet and pork belly as main courses. As befitting a luxury Parisian hotel, there is an extensive wine list that majors on the most celebrated regions of France, including almost 50 different Champagnes; the selection of vintage bottles, featuring names like Philipponnat’s Clos des Goisses, Bollinger R.D. and Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill, is particularly eye-catching.
Open now, templeetchapon.com
Templar
London, UK
The corporate lights of Westfield Stratford may not seem like the most obvious draw for good food and wine but to the rear of the shopping centre is a new ‘cultural hub’ called Stratford Cross, home to the dance theatre Sadlers Wells East, BBC Music Studios, a new outpost of the V&A opening in May and now Templar, a wine bar and restaurant focusing on modern European dishes. The man behind the menu is chef Richard Sinclair, who has experience at Italian restaurants Terra and Lardo, plus two years in the kitchen at Fitzrovia’s Michelin-starred Pied à Terre. Small plates include sea bass crudo, smoked duck breast, salt-baked celeriac and an excellent pig’s head croquette with fennel and Muscat grape salad. A section of more substantial dishes features a pork chop with Tropea onion, cider and pepper sauce; a 12hr lamb shoulder with Hispi cabbage and red wine jus, plus there are often bone-in steaks to share as specials. The wine list is dominated by bottles from France, Italy and Spain but generally steers clear of big names, so is particularly appealing to wine lovers with a sense of adventure. A 2017 Barbera from Castello di Cogognola, to the east of Piedmont, for example, makes an unusual treat.
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Maison Passerelle
New York, US
Luxury French department store Printemps has opened a new site in New York’s Financial District and it will be the home of Maison Passerelle, a fine-dining restaurant run by chef Gregory Gourdet, a previous winner of the James Beard Award. Naturally, the theme is French cooking but perhaps more unexpectedly, the menu will explore the legacy of France, including colonialism, around the world. The menu is set to include a creole cassoulet, a glazed duck with pineapple and tamarind jus, and a sirloin steak with a Haitian coffee, chili and spice rub.
Opens 17 April, maisonpasserellenyc.com
Comptoir De Vie
Paris, France
‘Hyper-seasonality’ is the ethos behind this diminutive restaurant in the Montorgueil district of Paris. A six-course set menu costs €90 and aims to celebrate French produce while ensuring minimal waste via nose-to-tail cooking. Dishes on the restaurant’s first menu include green and white asparagus tart with 30-month old Comte, brown butter and cured egg yolk; Mesquer Pigeon breast and confit leg, Shiatsu pumpkin puree, vin jaune sauce and sage oil (pictured); and blackened apple ice cream with rye miso caramel and puff pastry. A cocktail flight is available to complement each of the dishes on the menu. The stylish, avant-garde room for diners on the ground floor features a counter around an open kitchen; a fitting match for this high-concept restaurant.
Open now, devie.bar/comptoir-devie
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The Kerfield Arms
London, UK
The Baring in Islington opened almost three years ago, arguably making it one of the first in the current wave of ‘posh pubs’ that are high-end restaurants in everything but name (think of the restaurant at The Devonshire, The Prince Arthur in Belgravia and The Grill at The Hero as more recent examples). The Baring has become much loved and successful since then, meaning the owners (pictured) are now branching out south of the Thames in Camberwell with The Kerfield Arms, in a the pub that was previously called The Crooked Well. The style of cooking will continue the approach at The Baring, so expect punchy flavours with seasonal, ‘humble’ ingredients: there will be fried pig’s head, smoked eel and warm tartare sauce; Yorkshire hogget with violet artichokes, bagna cauda and pine nut; and grilled monkfish, with handrolled fregola in a shrimp bisque. The wine list will consist predominantly of European wines with a focus on small producers and there will be outdoor seating, which feels timely with the onset of early evening sunshine.
Opens 15 April, thekerfieldarms.co.uk
