No summer holiday plans this year? Never fear, as several of the best new restaurants to visit in July are keen to transport you to Spain. The Basque Country, an area on the northern Spanish coast, has a reputation as one of the great regions for food and drink lovers, so it’s understandable that it offers much inspiration to chefs in other parts of the world. The style of cuisine, based on fresh, high-quality ingredients cooked simply, is proving a hit with diners too.
In London, the influence is obvious at a steakhouse using the finest Spanish beef on an imposing wood-fired grill, while in New York, it’s the theme of the menu at a hip venue in the Lower East Side. Spain is also the driving force behind a restaurant in a town popular with tourists in Cornwall. Away from Mediterranean influence, a healthy serving of 1920s Americana is dished up at a bistro in Los Angeles, while farm-to-table dishes emerge from the kitchen at a restaurant in Sydney.
Read on to discover the most exciting new restaurants to visit this July.
The best new restaurants to visit in July 2024
Ibai
London, UK
Those familiar with the City may consider it replete with places to eat steak but Ibai, a French-Basque steakhouse not far from St. Pauls and Smithfield Market, is more than another anonymous member of the crowd. That’s because Nemanja Borjanovic, one of the restaurant’s three founders, is also owner of Txuleta, an import business bringing high-quality Spanish beef to the UK market. The showstopping cuts cooked on Ibai’s wood-fired grill are from three special breeds of cattle, including the Galician Blond, which is slaughtered much older than average, intensifying the meat’s flavour and ensuring it has become highly prized among steak enthusiasts.
Taking advantage of the restaurant’s access to impeccable beef is Richard Foster, previously exec head chef at Chiltern Firehouse, who first met Borjanovic as one of his customers. Sommelier Hugh Jones is building up a stash of predominantly French, Italian and Spanish wines. Old vintages are on offer, as well as small batches of special wines deliberately priced to tempt wine lovers. A 2017 Biondi-Santi, for example, is £250, while 2016 Chateau Le Gay is £185 – prices not much higher than retail – and there are plenty of other options between £40 and £80. ‘One of our aims is to ensure the wine, especially in the higher reaches of the list, is well priced and enables people to indulge in some incredible bottles,’ Jones told me.
Open now, ibai.london
Ardor
St. Ives, UK
A former head chef at La Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and The Idle Rocks hotel in Cornwall, Dorian Janmaat, is opening his first restaurant this summer. Ardor in St. Ives is a restaurant heavily influenced by Spain, serving Cornish seafood and produce sourced from Andalusia cooked over charcoal. Much of Janmaat’s childhood was spent between Ibiza and the Spanish mainland, giving him a taste for the flavours of the Mediterranean, the country’s coastal food markets, the stylish simplicity of the cooking and the relaxed atmosphere in the restaurants.
Dishes include fritto misto; monkfish tail, nduja and samphire sauce; Iberico pork loin; grilled prawns and rotisserie chicken but pintxos, along with other snacks, will also be available for counter lunches and apéro hour. As well as two bistro-style dining rooms, there’s a chef’s counter in front of the rotisserie and Josper grill, plus a bar where Mediterranean-inspired cocktails are mixed. The interior design is classic and elegant, featuring designer wooden chairs, frosted glass and quartz surfaces.
Opens 6 July, ardorstives.co.uk
Eel Bar
New York, US
Pinstripe neon lighting around the ceiling’s edges, old-fashioned diner chairs and its name in a block-capital sans serif font are all good indicators that Eel Bar is one of the hippest new places to visit in New York’s Lower East Side. The restaurant takes inspiration from the Basque Country, so there are snail pintxo, croquetas, baked oysters, black rice and chicken al ajillo on the menu, along with a dessert of Tarta San Marcos. The drinks list incorporates an extensive range of vermouths, as well as plenty of wines from France and Spain. Despite the commitment to the theme, this is not a restaurant to arrive at with the expectation of stepping into San Sebastian-on-NYC; a trendy restaurant likely to make many an Instagram-influencer page is the aesthetic.
Open now, eelbarnyc.com
Skof
Manchester, UK
Skof is the first restaurant from chef Tom Barnes – fans of the BBC’s Great British Menu may recognise the name, as he reached the final of the 2020 edition of the show. A previous winner of the Roux Scholarship and a former head chef at Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume, Barnes has an impressive CV, having also worked at the three-Michelin-star Restaurant Geranium in Copenhagen.
Making its home in an old warehouse in the NOMA district of Manchester, the restaurant focuses on modern British cuisine, heavily influenced by Rogan’s style after Barnes’ 12 years under his wing. In the evenings, diners can choose between 12 and 15-course tasting menus that feature dishes such as cured mackerel with potato flatbread, fermented gooseberries and radish; barbecue lobster on grilled sourdough soaked in its own emulsion with aged pork fat (pictured); and roasted duck with fig leaf, ibis celeriac and wholemeal bread. A four-course version of the menu is available at lunch. The restaurant itself is intentionally informal, with exposed red brick walls, terracotta tiles and an absence of starched tablecloths but that’s no reflection on the seriousness of the food; Skof immediately won ‘One to Watch’ at the National Restaurant Awards last month and Michelin stars seem likely in due course. This might be one to book while you can.
Open now, skofmanchester.co.uk
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The Benjamin Hollywood
Los Angeles, US
The Benjamin Hollywood is a new bistro on Melrose Avenue that’s putting an upmarket twist on American classics. In the art-deco dining room, guests can choose from starters of deviled eggs, crab beignets, prawn cocktail, crudo and more before moving on to main courses of burger, roast chicken, strip steak and whole roasted fish. As much attention has been lavished on the cocktail list as the food itself, with a total of nine Martinis on offer, as well as sparkling and seasonal creations. The wine list is short but was specifically devised to appeal to ‘a wine snob’ and is French-focused, with wines from Champagne, Sancerre, Bordeaux, the Rhône and Burgundy available. Cosy olive-green booths upholstered in mohair surround a central bar that’s designed for long evenings of drinking and snacking.
Open now, thebenjaminhollywood.com
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20 Chapel
Sydney, Australia
Corey Costelloe was culinary director at Sydney’s Rockpool Bar & Grill for more than a decade, becoming something of a legend on Sydney’s restaurant scene in the process. Now he has opened 20 Chapel in Marrickville, a neighbourhood bistro offering top-quality Australian beef and pork that’s reared especially on a farm owned by another of the restaurant’s three founding partners, Dave Allison. Stix Farm in Hawkesbury also supplies the restaurant with fresh organic fruit and vegetables, so there is genuine farm-to-table ethos behind the menu. As well as steak and market fish, the menu features pumpkin agnolotti, baby octopus, mushroom panisse and Sichuan spiced duck leg. The concept is simple: ‘cooking over fire with the finest produce.’
Open now, 20chapel.com.au
The Park
London, UK
Famous restaurateur Jeremy King continues his rebirth in London’s hospitality industry following the opening of Arlington with The Park, a ‘grand café’ just over the road from Kensington Gardens that’s catering for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Park is more of a mid-century-modern take on the all-day brasserie, as opposed to the art-deco ornateness of Corbin and King’s Brasserie Zedel and The Wolseley, with a menu focused on American and Italian-influenced dishes. In the evening, these include Chicken Milanese, grilled swordfish, veal chop, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and a selection of salads and pasta. At breakfast, guests can choose from pancakes, French toast, potato latkes, smoked salmon and more. The wine list continues the theme, with bottles, minus the odd exception, solely from the US and Italy. Prices start at £36 and work their way up to the heady heights for the likes of Ornellaia, Gaja, Ridge, Corison, Shafer and Harlan Estate.
Open now, theparkrestaurant.com
