[Translate] Inspired by Peru’s burgeoning nouveau cuisine scene, the team behind next-door Winebar’s set up a modernly clean, high top-heavy space with polished wood and dimly glowing beaker-like glass fixtures, which backdrop a mostly small plates menu with sections for Causas (dumplings...
Kick back on the colourful recycled furniture at the first London outposts of the low-carbon fast food chain and enjoy international veggie dishes like meatless Tex Mex burgers, roasted vegetable lasagna and biriani, as well as wraps and salads.
Guilt-free eating: the carbon footprint for each dish appears on the menu next to the equivalent for the meat version.
Two locations: 190 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8JL and 181-183 Wardour Street, London W1V 3FB
Boasting “seasonal, market driven” French fare, this new ‘burg concern features an extended bar backed by a handcrafted mirror and connected to the open kitchen (plus an elevated, leather-couched waiting area and wood-fenced back garden) that’s kicking off brunch only with a lineup including a selection of Herve Katz charcuterie, French Toast “creme brulee”, bacon-cheeseburger sausages from Meat Hook, and smoked salmon w/ hard boiled egg, for those who don’t mind putting on a little (Chow Yun) fat.
251 Grand Street (between Roebling and Driggs), Williamsburg, NY 11211 +1 (718) 486-3300 LeComptoirNY.com
Map powered by MapPress
An industry vet (Daniel, Buddha Bar…) who always wanted a place of his own finally gets one at this high ceilinged, red accented, fountain & lantern deco’d Franco-Moroccan bistro, where the chef’s hooking up goodness like moules frites du jour, phyllo stuffed with braised chicken & feta, and Lamb Mitonnee w/ olives, coriander, artichokes and nugget potatoes, a nickname Earl Boykins much preferred to Small Fry.
4 W 19th Street (between 5th and 6th Ave.), New York, NY 10011 +1 (212) 929-4444
Yes, we know. You’re going to say “This is not a restaurant.”
You are sooo mistaken…
Stop by the recently opened East Village corridor for owner JoAnna Troccoli’s addictive vegan treats (must-put-down banana cacao macaroons) and iced Counter Culture java.
On a personal note; sliced banana, with apple butter and walnut crumbles, or sea salted cucumber, avocado, and lemon on multigrain is yum.
182 Ave. B (between 11th & 12th Sts.), New York, NY 10009 +1 (212) 677-4460
Pushing their much-loved specially-sauced fried chicken wings and fueling pitchers from 10 taps, the Korean giant’s new locale’s arrived with a mod-sports bar vibe just in time for football, with numerous projectors and TVs filling out a space decked with memory foam banquettes, black lacquer tables, and wooden accents reclaimed from the Brooklyn Bridge, which unlike accents reclaimed from the Boston Bridge don’t think they sound wicked smaht.
325 5th Avenue (between 32nd and 33rd St.), New York, NY 10016 +1 (212) 686-8282 BonChon.com
Go outerborough to get the full Dominuevo experience at this tropically flavored, neon lit, bi-level 120-seater, which’s pairing 50+ rums with bites like Cazuelitas (deep fried tortilla bowls) filled with ham-wrapped shrimp, rock shrimp & avocado-chardonnay cream tamales, traditional paellas and churrasco, and langosta pasta w/ truffle cream, asparagus, morels, and a poached egg, who was easily tempted away as he was down on his muffins.
107-11 Northern Blvd. (btw 107th and 108th St), Queens, NY +1 (718) 565-5479 GabbanaNY.com
Excellent, recently opened no-fuss Japanese restaurant in Soho serves authentic hot and cold udon noodles made on-site using imported Japanese wheat flour and served with toppings such as crispy tempura batter, thinly sliced beef or seaweed.
And, some people say getting good Japanese food in London is virtually impossible…
No reservation necessary.
49 Frith Street, London W1D 4SG
Keeping on an old name can be a good business move — you maintain customer recognition, and if you’re the Dalai Lama, you avoid getting carded for beer, because your ID says you’re like six-hundred and eighteen. Keeping the name, but changing everything else, the all-new Kyashii, opening today.
The upscale Japanese restaurant’s swinging open the doors with new management, a new chef, and a new, uber-chic look: white walled & black floored, with an upstairs champagne bar rocking DJ decks & 18 plasmas, a ground-floor brasserie where fresh fish is prepped before your eyes, and an underground rentable space encircled by seven tropical aquariums, so your sushi can serve as a warning to the others. Starters see crispy spicy squid with Japanese chilli pepper, a five-variety Pacific oyster platter (from spicy radish to a sake shooter), and honey-glazed baby-backs with a “caramel net”, which must be how they catch jelly fish. Signature rolls include the avo-wrapped tempura prawn Dragon, the seared salmon-wrapped crab & mustard seed-mayo Tataki, and a massive, seven-fish Rainbow, which is even tougher to stuff in your mouth when it’s been zipped up by that damn pink hippo.
Kyashii’s also serving up robata like a Japanese chilli-sauced lamb rack , peppercorn scallops with spinach & shimeji mushrooms, and a fillet slathered with a mustard sauce dubbed “dynamite” — a name you should recognize as signifying “reincarnation or not, this mustard is going to kill you”.
4a Upper Saint Martin’s Lane, London WC2H 9NY 0207 836 5211 Kyashii.co.uk
Map powered by MapPress
It’s almost autumn, and your plan for a summer-perfect body has yet to take hold. But the prospect of salad, salad, salad makes you want to eat another cupcake.
Go Japanese. Specifically, go to the new Sushi Cafelicious — the Golders Green cafe from the owners of Cafe Japan. The food is so tasty (and beautiful), you’ll barely notice it’s healthy.
Order at the counter and takeaway, or perch on a stool overlooking the chefs and nibble on delicate temari — sushi balls topped with shiitake mushroom, prawn, salmon or tuna. Our favourite: ikura (salmon roe) and rice served in half a lime. Also on the menu: sushi cups filled with organic brown rice and served with a shot of collagen jelly (it’s big in Japan).
There’s no soya sauce (too much sodium), so dress your rolls with teriyaki, spicy sesame or basil sauce. Take home a sushi cake — a mix of rice, vegetables, egg and green seaweed flakes. It won’t replace dessert, but you will be able to zip your jeans.
2 North End Road, London NW11 7PH +44 20 8381 4704 or sushicafelicious.co.uk
Map powered by MapPress
Towering accomplishments aside, there were two things Napoleon did not not achieve: invading England, and five foot seven. Now a Corsican’s storming our shores with the ultimate weapon: pizza, at Sandy’s.
Just opened in Marble Arch, Sandy’s proudly touts itself as the UK’s first and only emissary of Corsican ‘zza, which it serves in a nook made cozy with low-hung lights, red leather banquettes, multitudinous Mediterranean window shutters, and old b/w pictures depicting traditional family life in the founder’s hometown — from a time when people still had traditional families, and window shutters. Generously bequeathed by the island’s ancient stalwart Pizza Chez Nadine, the basic recipe uses gruyere instead of mozz, plus a secret flour blend that results in a bubbly, “neither thin nor thick” crust; further piling on produces the likes of the chorizo, green chilli & red pepper Piccante, the lamb & beef sausage Habibi, and the deli-meat frenzy (coppa, figatellu, lonzu) that is the Pascal Paoli — perhaps an inappropriate tribute for the first president of Corsica’s “Executive Council of the General Diet”. Less meat-mad are the smoked salmon/persillade (parsley sauce) St Erasme, the gruyere/ mozz/ goat/ roquefort 4 Fromages, and the cheese-free anchovy, caper, & olive “Sicilliene” — order it on this, the day of its daughter’s wedding , and ask it the favor of not making your breath smell.
Sweetness is provided by pistachio macaroons w/ cherry sorbet, as well as Fiadone (Corsican crustless cheesecake) w/ honey & rosemary ice cream. There’re also rare Corsican beers like the chestnut flour-brewed Pietra, and the herb-brewed wheat beer Colomba — you’ll like it so much, you’ll try to sneak it out with your hand stuffed deep in your jacket.
14 Seymour Place, London W1H 7NF +44 207 723 8833 Sandys.uk.com
