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1 week ago | 
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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 15th June 2025Marvee’s Food Shop, Notting HillDavid Ellis made himself comfortable at south London chef Dom Taylor’s Caribbean restaurant in Ladbroke Grove, named after his mother Marveline and a follow-up to his successful pop-up The Good Front Room at the plush Langham hotel in the West End.
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2 weeks ago | 
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A new-wave, retro-inspired all day Vietnamese cafe called Lai Rai opens on Rye Lane in Peckham tomorrow, Saturday 14 June. Meaning “little by little”, Lai Rai is said to be inspired by the ‘bia hoi’ tradition of meeting up with friends for a beer and a snack. It will serve sweet Vietnamese coffee and bánh mì stuffed baguettes by day, switching in the evening to cocktails and larger dishes.
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An ambitious Chilean restaurant with a menu overseen by Santiago-based chef Carolina Bazán (pictured) opens tomorrow in Great Portland Street, Fitzrovia. Mareida is the brainchild of first-time restaurateur Prenay Agarwal, a Mumbai-born former financier who acquired a taste for Chilean cuisine while living in Santiago.
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Former MasterChef: the Professionals winner and leading Midlands chef Stuart Deeley launches a new restaurant next week at Mallory Court country house hotel outside Leamington Spa in Warwickshire. Birmingham-bred Stu, who won MasterChef in 2019, worked at Mallory Court early in his career after studying at Halesowen College.
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2 weeks ago | 
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High-profile pastry chef, writer and Junior Bake Off judge Ravneet Gill and her fellow-chef husband Mattie Taiano have this week opened their first restaurant, a ‘chophouse’ called Gina in Chingford, on north London’s Essex outskirts.
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Paris-based Big Mamma Group are opening two enormous new Italianate extravaganzas this month – Circolo Popolare (pictured) in Manchester, their first UK venue outside London, and Barbarella in Canary Wharf. Circolo Popolare Manchester, which launched last week, is themed around an al-fresco festa in Sicily and set across two floors of ex-footballer Gary Neville’s £400million St Michael’s development in the city centre.
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2 weeks ago | 
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Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant reviewers were writing about in the week up to 8th June 2025Eel Sushi, Notting HillDavid Ellis raved over a tiny no-booking bar with a dozen seats which serves “London’s best sushi”, the latest opening in the nascent Notting Hill empire from Chris D’Sylva, across the road from Dorian, his “mothership”.
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3 weeks ago | 
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Superstar West Country chef Michael Caines will finally make his London debut this year following the announcement of his appointment as ‘culinary strategist’ at the Stafford hotel in St James’s. Under the new arrangement, his Lympstone Manor in Devon becomes an ‘associate member’ of the Stafford Collection.
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Veteran Leeds Japanese restaurant Fuji Hiro has been given a new lease of life, and will reopen next week following its closure earlier this year after almost three decades. James Douglas, co-founder of the Red’s True Barbecue chain, stepped in to acquire the lease and renovate the Merrion Centre venue. He said: “Fuji Hiro has held a special place in the hearts of Leeds locals for decades.
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The couple behind Cambridge’s high-flying Restaurant Twenty-Two are to open a more relaxed modern British bistro called Margaret’s nearby next week. Co-founders Alex Olivier and Sam Carter say the new venue will offer “uncomplicated dining with a casual yet considered menu that will move with the seasons”, using high-quality from the same local suppliers as their flagship. Restaurant Twenty-Two wins a 5/5 rating for its “fabulous tasting menus” in the 2025 Harden’s Guide.
