Summer is finally heating up and so is the hospitality scene: eight new restaurants of note are opening this month in something of a glut and there is a decidedly French flavour to several of them. In London, the team behind Medlar in Chelsea are back with Cornus in Belgravia, a brasserie called Marceline opens in Canary Wharf and in New York, an iconic bistro has been revived.
Up in Scotland, The MacAllan is opening a new restaurant with help from a Spanish institution, while in Italy, Alain Ducasse tempts travellers and tourists to a hotel with a view in Naples.
Read on to discover the most exciting new restaurants to visit this August.
The best new restaurants to visit in August 2024
Cornus
London, UK
Cornus is the new restaurant from the team behind Medlar in Chelsea, which opened on the King’s Road in 2011 and has been a reliable (and great value) option for classically cooked food ever since. Their new spot on the fourth floor of a building in the Eccleston Yards development near Victoria takes this approach up a notch, with Gary Foulkes, previously of Michelin-starred restaurant Angler, creating exceptionally refined dishes cooked with the principles and precision of traditional French cuisine. Hand-rolled spaghetti with lobster, caviar and Amalfi lemon is the show-stopping starter, while the more understated Devon crab with avocado, wasabi and lime is a lighter, more summery (but no less flavourful or photogenic) way to begin. Mains include a glossy piece of Newlyn cod with girolles, squid and Alsace bacon; Southdown’s lamb with a pepper piperade, lamb kofte and fried capers and olives; and Landes chicken with Scottish langoustines and truffle sweetcorn. Wine director Melania Battiston, also an IWSC judge, has created a diverse and interesting list with a refreshingly large number of options by the glass, while the dining room itself is elegant and traditional without feeling overly formal. Expect star-shaped recognition from the Michelin inspectors shortly.
Open now, cornusrestaurant.co.uk
Il Ristorante Alain Ducasse
Naples, Italy
With incredible views across Naples and the bay to Sorrento from the ninth floor of the Romeo Napoli hotel, Alain Ducasse’s new restaurant has a spectacular backdrop for food that looks just as good. Executive chef Alessandro Lucassino, originally from Tuscany, comes to the restaurant fresh from working at several top restaurants in Paris, including Ducasse’s Cucina, and is marrying French and Italian techniques and flavours. A la carte dishes include Mediterranean blue lobster, thin asparagus, fava beans and green peas (pictured); rack of veal, grilled radish with seaweed, crushed herb and lemon bread; and John Dory, rock fish broth, sea fennel and glasswort. Five and six-course tasting menus are also available and diners can expect the best wines from Italy and beyond thanks to the restaurant’s 16,000-bottle cellar.
Open now, theromeocollection.com
Plates
London, UK
A plant-based restaurant might seem unlikely from anyone related to Nigel Haworth, the Lancashire chef whose hotpot was the star of an early series of the BBC’s Great British Menu, but two of his children, Kirk and Keeley, have now opened Plates in Shoreditch… and minced lamb is nowhere to be seen. Kirk Haworth has worked at The French Laundry, Restaurant Sat Bains, The Square, The Quay, as well as his father’s restaurant, Northcote, and is applying Michelin-star level techniques to vegetarian dishes after a health scare in 2016 led him to explore a plant-based diet. The restaurant serves two set menus for £75 and £90 that feature dishes such as barbecued maitake mushroom, black bean mole, kimchi, aioli and puffed rice; mung and urad bean lasagna, cucumber, Tokyo turnip, miso and chive sauce; and raw cacao gateaux, sour cherry, coconut blossom ice cream, African pepper, toasted macadamia and raw caramel sauce. The restaurant is fully booked for the foreseeable future but the Haworths intend to open a terrace soon that will add some extra tables.
Open now, plates-london.com
Le Veau d’Or
New York, USA
Not so much new as resurrected, the Upper East Side’s 55-cover Le Veau d’Or maintains its position as the city’s oldest French bistro. Originally a family restaurant, it’s now run by experienced chefs Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr (Le Rock, Frenchette). The three-course set menu is still just $125 per person and is big on tradition: filet de sole, frogs legs, mussels, poussin and duck with cherries. Even better, the wine list features a hundred bottles and you can stop in for a drink without dining.
Open now, lvdnyc.com
Goodbye Horses
London, UK
On the border of Islington and Hackney in De Beauvoir, Goodbye Horses is the starring part of a new three-pronged affair in a former pub. Jack Coggins, former chef at Papi, The Baring and Planque runs the kitchen, while Nathalie Nelles, formerly of P Franco, takes care of the wine list. Dishes include chicken fat and sardine toast; Cornish crab blini; baby leeks, green garlic, caseificio and hazelnut; cuttlefish, wheat sauce and chilli. Nelles is focused on ‘going beyond natural’, sourcing biodynamic and organic wines, as well as celebrating producers that are working to preserve the health of soils in their vineyards.
In the day, the venue’s coffee and gelato shops should please the locals. Co-founder George de Vos was one of the minds behind Brilliant Corners, a listening bar in nearby Dalston that celebrated its tenth birthday last year: on his home turf, this new opening is bound to succeed, all to the soundtrack, naturally, of more than 2,500 records.
Open now, goodbyehorses.london
TimeSpirit at The Macallan Estate
Aberlour, UK
The Macallan and the team behind Spanish restaurant El Celler de Can Roca are celebrating the whisky brand’s 200th anniversary this summer with the launch of a new restaurant on the estate (pictured) in Arberlour. A nine-course tasting menu will cost £95 per person, with a shorter version available at lunch for £65, and is billed as ‘a culinary exploration of The Macallan’ using locally sourced ingredients. Diners will also be treated to views across the Speyside hills from their seats in a space designed by award-winning architect David Thulstrup. El Celler de Can Roca, located in Girona, has three Michelin stars and has been twice voted the World’s Best Restaurant, so for lovers of fine food and whisky, TimeSpirit promises to be a must-visit.
Bookings to open shortly, themacallan.com
Lolo
London, UK
José Pizarro’s third venue on Bermondsey Street flings its doors open for all-day dining. More casual than his nearby tapas bar, guests can stop by for as little as a jamón sandwich or a glass of wine; it’s also the first time a Pizarro venue will serve breakfast. Already on the menu: sherry-cured salmon, salted cod and Iberico pork ribs. ‘Lolo’ is a nickname for Manuel, Pizarro’s middle name, and a gesture to the ways that a little informality can reveal a new, more personal side to someone familiar. Here’s hoping SE1 feels the same way.
Opens 16 Aug, josepizarro.com/venues/lolo
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Marceline
London, UK
Brasserie, bar, café and terrace, Canary Wharf’s latest arrival is all things to all diners this summer. Floating in the wharf itself in the venue below Hovarda, chef Robert Aikens serves a retro French menu with cheese soufflé, skate and ravioles du Dauphiné. For anyone going elsewhere for dinner, there are 30 bottles of wine sold by the glass, as well as an intriguing ‘mini-cocktail’ menu, headlined by an affordable ‘two-sip’ Martini.
Opens 5 Aug, marceline.london
