January is a time of year when many of us crave a change from traditional roast meats and root vegetables, and this selection of new restaurants to kick off 2025 offers a range of flavours, from Malaysian spice to the taste of a Turkish grill.
Despite the variety of cuisines and styles covered, several of the new restaurants share the aim of providing a neighbourhood haunt for locals looking for something cosy and casual. This has been a trend on the restaurant scene ever since the end of the pandemic and it shows no sign of abating.
As ever, much of the hospitality industry will now find itself abruptly immersed in the bust of the new year after the boom of December, so these new restaurants will welcome your custom more than ever, as will many others. With so many great new and existing restaurants to try, it seems a shame to lock yourself away for the month, so read on to discover six of the most exciting new restaurants to visit this January and get inspired for the new year’s eating.
The best new restaurants to visit in January 2025
Esra
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Chef Selin Kiazim, who ran the restaurant Oklava in London from 2015-2023, has opened Esra in the East Docklands area of Amsterdam with her partner Steph de Goeijen. The food consists of meat, fish and vegetables cooked over smoke and fire with a big Turkish influence. Dishes include the likes of grilled hispi, yoghurt sauce, chilli, apple and smoked almond salsa and bergamot; braised short rib orzo with bone marrow, confit garlic toast; and sea bass on the bone with coriander, garlic, fenugreek tepsi. De Goeijen has created the wine list, which features Turkish and Mediterranean wines and her own pithy, idiosyncratic tasting notes (e.g. ‘if Stevie Nicks was a wine’). With just 26 seats and a couple at the helm, this is bound to feel like an intimate, neighbourhood restaurant but one serving great food and the wines to match.
Open now, esra.amsterdam
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The Snail
New York, US
New for Greenpoint in Brooklyn is this American bistro serving seafood, steak, burgers and flat iron chicken, amongst other classics. There’s a list of around 40 wines, encompassing sparkling, skin contact, whites and reds, plus nine cocktails, including two types of Martini, a Hemingway Daquiri, a Tokyo Old Fashioned and a Mezcal Margarita. The restaurant itself looks simple but elegant, with leather banquettes and mid-century modern touches, all set to subtle lighting and candles at night. The spectacular towers of oysters, prawns and crab should keep diners coming back.
Open now, thesnail.nyc
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Jöro
Sheffield, UK
Not an entirely new restaurant but one reborn in a vastly different setting, as Jöro moves from a shipping container in the Kelham area of Sheffield to what was once a mill by the River Don in Oughtibridge. The huge increase in space and practicality afforded by the new premises gives more space for chef Luke French to create ‘modern dishes with Asian influences’, which are served via tasting menus. An open plan dining room with 11 tables is the setting for the 19-course tasting menu at dinner, which costs £125 per person. Jöro won three AA rosettes in its previous form and the new setting should put it on a path to further accolades. Sheffield is not awash with fine-dining options, so this is a great addition to the city’s food scene.
Open now, jororestaurant.co.uk
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Pinna
London, UK
The eponymous restaurant of head chef Achille Pinna is billed as ‘Sardinia on a plate’ but as it’s in Mayfair, don’t expect anything remotely rustic or cucina povera in style from the island in question; this is a glamorous restaurant serving luxury ingredients with the high-end wines you’d expect in one of London’s most exclusive postcodes. There’s Bluefin tuna carpaccio, truffle tagliolini, whole lobster spaghettoni, Veal Milanese and wild turbot on the menu, while the wine list has sections dedicated to Sardinia and Sicily for each colour, plus an extensive selection of wines from the rest of Italy and the big names (with big prices) from France and other parts of the world. A short list of nine cocktails looks promising, as does a pudding of dark chocolate cake with olive oil fior di latte ice cream and a pairing of vintage port.
Open now, pinnamayfair.com
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Little Capo
Edinburgh, UK
Little Capo is billed as an all-day restaurant-bar and has opened in Edinburgh’s New Town to serve Italian small plates, cocktails and wine. Drinks include a Golden Martini, made with sherry and vermouth, and a Negroni Sbagliato Bianco, while the food on offer includes Cioppino (a tomato and fish bisque), a beef shin ragu and tiramisu. Little Capo’s long bar is designed to welcome drinkers and solo diners alike – the idea was to create a casual neighbourhood bar, rather than a formal restaurant.
Open now, instagram.com/little__capo
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Rasarumah
Los Angeles, US
Chef Johnny Lee, formerly of Pearl River Deli in L.A’s Chinatown, has now opened Rasarumah in the Historic Filipinotown neighbourhood, where he is focusing on the flavours of Malaysia, serving the likes of pork jowl satay, chicken wings, steamed black cod and wagyu beef randang, occasionally with techniques borrowed from other Asian cuisines. The menu is reassuringly short at around 13 dishes and sambals, preserves and pickles made in house are there to elevate them to another level. There are 10 wines available by the glass, plus sakes and a beer on tap.
Open now, rasarumah.com
