December is upon us, Christmas can now be mentioned without sheepishness and party season is kicking off; it’s a good time to enjoy great food and wine with friends and family. The final month of the year is the busiest period for the hospitality industry and there are plenty of new restaurants looking to capitalise.
This month, there are exciting new venues to check out in Lisbon and New York, both of which come from experienced restaurateurs. London welcomes a fine-dining restaurant from a familiar face and Melbourne gets a taste of France in a historic building renovated especially for the purpose, complete with terrace for al fresco dining as the weather heats up Down Under.
Read on to discover the most exciting new restaurants to visit this December.
The best new restaurants to visit in December 2024
Lora
Barcelona, Spain
Lovers of Studio Paskin’s restaurants in London, namely The Palomar, The Barbary and Evelyn’s Table, will have a home-from-home in Barcelona with the opening of Lora. To be found in the new SLS hotel at the Port Fòrum marina on the city’s coastline, the restaurant takes inspiration from ‘Barcelona to Beirut’ along the Mediterranean coast, so there will be fresh fish and rice dishes alongside slow-cooked meats and Middle Eastern spices. Dishes include a Pata Negra pork chop; 12-hour shoulder of lamb with saffron rice; chilli cauliflower; and oyster mushroom with lovage tahini. The restaurant’s wine list is yet to be published but expect wines from Lebanon, South Africa, Sicily and beyond to complement Spanish bottles such as Viña Tondonia from Rioja and Terroir al Límit’s Priorat.
Opening date in December TBC, slshotels.com/barcelona
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Zimmi’s
New York, US
After months of delays, Manhattan’s West Village finally welcomes this new 40-seat bistro. Jenni Guizo, former wine director for restaurateur Danny Meyer, has partnered with Maxime Pradié, once chef at Lodi, to deliver classic dishes influenced by France and Italy in a relaxing dining room replete with traditional bistro details. Diners can expect dishes such as sorrel soup with trout roe and yoghurt; lamb stew with olives; fresh tagliolini with truffle; and saffron soufflé.
Opening date in December TBC, zimmisnyc.com
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Santa Joana
Lisbon, Portugal
The new Locke de Santa Joana hotel in Lisbon welcomed the team behind Spiritland to shape its bars and it made a similarly shrewd move in asking Nuno Mendes to take responsibility for the main restaurant. Santa Joana is the result of that partnership and the concept will be familiar to those who know Mendes’ restaurant Lisboeta in London: modern twists on traditional Portuguese cuisine. Snacks like grilled chicken hearts and chickpea fritters are complemented by oysters and a raw bar offering prawn, amberjack, beef tartare and tuna belly. Mains include poached hake, roast turbot, pork presa and beef fillet. Mendes has an impressive track record of supporting smaller Portuguese wine producers, so expect a diverse and interesting list to enjoy alongside the food.
Open now, santajoanalisboa.com
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Row on 5
London, UK
If you’ve kept even the most fleeting eye on new restaurant openings in London this year, it won’t have escaped your attention that Jason Atherton has been a busy man. Amongst his six new establishments for 2024 is this, the most traditional, fine-dining venue of them all. Atherton has long-harboured the ambition to have a restaurant on Saville Row and Row on 5 will be in the same vein as his two-Michelin-star restaurant in Dubai, Row on 45 (‘Row’ is an acronym for Atherton’s ethos of ‘refinement of work’ not the ‘Row’ in Saville Row), offering a 15-course tasting menu for around £200. The concept is ‘peak seasons of British produce’ and dishes include Orkney scallop, Scottish langoustine and Cornish turbot. Atherton’s closure of Pollen Street Social and opening of the brasserie-style Sael was about offering top quality food in more casual surroundings; Row on 5 is Atherton’s flagship London restaurant, showcasing the best of his cooking in a smaller, more intimate environment. This won’t be a spot for a casual weeknight dinner but exquisite food and wine undoubtedly await guests.
Open now, rowon5london.com
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Maison Bâtard
Melbourne
From restaurateur Chris Lucas, who already has more than 10 other restaurants across Australia, comes this ‘celebration of modern French culture’ in a historic building on Melbourne’s Bourke Street. After extensive renovation work, the main restaurant takes up the ground and first floors but there’s also a rooftop terrace and a club for cocktails in the basement. The dining room, decked out in white marble and brass fittings, is the backdrop for classic French brasserie food, including pâté en croûte, chicken liver parfait, roast duck, steak au poivre and lobster à l’Américaine. There’s also crudo, oysters and caviar, making this a particularly great place to drop in for seafood and Champagne.
Open now, maisonbatard.com.au
Amélie
London, UK
A former arts and crafts warehouse now known as the Pantechnicon building in Belgravia has been given a major overhaul recently, welcoming new restaurant Amélie as part of the process. The restaurant aims to bring a little Provence to this prestigious part of town and the menu is suitably glamorous, topped with a choice of Oscietra and Beluga caviar, followed by starters of oysters, steak tartare, scallops, grilled octopus and the like. There’s an onus on sharing and many of the main courses, such as seared Dover sole in a Champagne sauce, orzo with lobster and a veal chop are designed for two. A wine room on the floor between the restaurant’s bar and dining room houses around 2,000 bottles, including the best of Bordeaux and Burgundy, plus old vintages of Tignanello, Ornellaia, Vega Sicilia Unico, Promontory, Diana Madeline and other famous names from around the world. Champagne fans will be pleased to hear that more than 60 different bottles make it on to the wine list.
Open now, amelie-restaurants.com
