Arrivals MELTING POTS RESTAURANTS Soho’s new Sri Lankan restaurant Kolamba has everything you need for a laid-back family style feast. Inspired by the sun- soaked produce of the OUT OF AFRICA island state, the Kingly Court joint serves up Hopping from street stalls and cardamom-strewn kitchen tables to the latest pineapple, sizzling Michelin Guide, West Africa’s pepper prawns and taste-bud-tingling cuisine is on the creamy turmeric up. MasterChef: The Professionals lentils. kolamba.co.uk NO BOUNDARIES finalist William JM Chilila’s debut, Our favourite supper club has taken a permanent roost Akoko, in Fitzrovia, celebrates its in Shoreditch’s Boundary hotel. The new Wilder rich colours and spices with regional Restaurant sees chef Richard McLellan refine his dishes of jollof rice, smoked goat rigorous approach to local-first fare. Here, homemade consommé and peanut pumpkin vinegar replaces citrus juice and vegetables are plucked velouté. A dining room evoking the from a Clapton allotment to drive a menu served within landscapes of Nigeria and Ghana Conran-approved interiors. Our order? Delicately sliced provides the backdrop. akoko.co.uk scallops, kelp and green plums. wilderlondon.co.uk Restaurantnews PULLING RANKIN Yorkshire’s prodigal son has returned to the heartlands after 30 years away from the Dales. Following an acclaimed career in Jersey and London, northern-born Shaun Rankin is breaking ground Simon says... at Ripon’s new Grantley Hall hotel ‘Pillars of n an industry that often panders to pigeonholing, it takes – and is not shy to claim Yorkshire guts to shrug off sure-fire success and take the road less as his own. A 12-course tasting Rogan’s legacy travelled. Enter Simon Rogan. After forging a Cumbrian menu, sweetly named the ‘Taste remain, with I culinary empire – led by Michelin-starred L’Enclume and of Home’, signals serious intent to an emphasis Rogan & Co – despite defeatist forecasts and, for many play with the best produce in the on foraged county. It sees him plating up guests, lengthy travel times, a legacy as the Lakelands’ simple dishes of freshly scrubbed produce, but wonder boy would seem solid ground to stay on for most. vegetables from the hall’s kitchen tangled within Not so for Rogan. Named after the jagged outcrop that garden, locally reared blushing are new global disrupts Lake Windermere’s glassy surface, Henrock perches above the water at Linthwaite House hotel. Pillars of Rogan’s venison and east coast seafood. flavours Hearty northern fare like Yorkshire legacy remain, with an emphasis on foraged produce, but parkin and bread and dripping inspired by tangled within is a new global flavour palette inspired by the gets a refined Rankin makeover, his faraway chef’s travels. Roasted Dover sole comes cloaked in shiso while the Dales’ most iconic crop travels’ salsa verde, while a mustard seed-sprinkled galette conceals – rhubarb – is served in the form silken sea urchin. End with the heady cardamom-threaded fig of a soufflé with iced clotted leaf and chocolate ganache fondant – a deliriously deluxe dish Words by Lucy Kehoe Words Atkins and Ola O Smit Photos by Tim cream. grantleyhall.co.uk that proves Rogan’s risk-taking has paid off. henrock.co.uk FOOD & TRAVEL 19 HIGH DINING Arrivals The Square Mile’s RESTAURANTS cloud-skimming new dining spot towers 14 floors above the capital. Chef Thomas Piat (ex-Bar Boulud) heads up the 14 Hills menu, with standout RIVER OF DREAMS dishes including artful plates of sea bream Balancing fine French cuisine crudo and soft crab with slow Italian fare and a with Oscietra caviar. smattering of English staples, 14hills.co.uk Sam Harrison’s latest opening RUNNING WILD in Hammersmith knits together Chefs-cum-food writers and the wholesome duo behind Europe’s culinary geography with bespoke catering company Tart, Jemima Jones and a delicacy we’d expect from the Lucy Carr-Ellison have stepped into the restaurant realm seasoned restaurateur. Served with a temple to seasonal produce in London’s Victoria. up in a clean-cut dining room on Housed in a rambling old powerhouse, 70-cover Wild by the Thames, the Sam’s Riverside Tart is a friendly pick for small plates of picture-perfect, menu sees Gallic favourites vegetable-led dishes such as coal-roasted beetroot and including beef tartare and roast feta, splashed with an agitation of dill oil. wildbytart.com brill tronçhon beside gamey dishes such as rabbit ragù and peppered venison chops. Crab toasts and scallop ceviche hark back to Harrison’s Cornwall days Restaurant with Rick Stein, while chef Harvey news Trollope’s past at The Ritz inspires a sumptuous Queen of Puddings dessert. samsriverside.co.uk ETERNAL FLAME Fans of the late, great French chef Joël Robuchon will be making a beeline for new Mayfair restaurant Le Comptoir Robuchon. Tomatoes with creamy burrata and silky potato purée and a romesco sauce-dashed Escape to the country lobster feature on classics menu ‘Bathed in here Merlin Labron-Johnson is concerned, one ‘Les Eternels’, while head chef, and hay-coloured can always expect the unexpected. Softly spoken Robuchon’s former right-hand man, W and socially conscious, the chef delighted critics Jeremy Page flexes his creativity light, the tiny and diners alike with his first restaurant, Portland, in London’s with a second menu, ‘La Saison’, restaurant West End, and then, after earning Michelin acclaim, left to showcasing masterful technique serves up focus on charitable projects. His latest venture, Osip, in the Words by Lucy Kehoe. Photos Andrew Burton; Words Emil Bendixen Wild by Tart and flair. robuchonlondon.co.uk hyperlocal rural Somerset town of Bruton, is a self-funded restaurant that lets West Country native Labron-Johnson’s holistic approach produce and to cooking shine. Bathed in hay-coloured light, the tiny dining meats sourced room serves up hyperlocal produce and meats sourced from from a handful a handful of trusted suppliers, with plans to grow veg on site of trusted later in the year. Velvety pumpkin soup with fire-roasted chestnuts joins a roast chicken juice-anointed Jerusalem suppliers’ artichoke on the fixed five-course evening menu, while delicate wreaths of roasted and smoked beetroot tartare and treacle and ale bread thickly spread with smoked butter and potted pheasant can be found on the à la carte lunch offering. It’s a flavoursome escape to the country. osiprestaurant.com FOOD & TRAVEL 17 Arrivals RESTAURANTS DOURO DESIGN London’s Portuguese empire continues to expand with a second City address for the SPRING FLORALS azulejo-tiled Bar With a couple of creative cookbooks Douro. Southwark to his name, baby-faced Irish chef mainstays like garlicky Adrian Martin has caused quite prawns are joined THE HILLS ARE ALIVE by suckling pig and a stir on the Emerald Isle. Now, he’s jumped the Irish Sea to open Something ground-breaking has hit the sleepy Lakes’ sizzling fried eel. bardouro.co.uk town of Bowness-on-Windermere. Bursting onto Wildflower, in Buck Street Market, Cumbria’s sedate restaurant scene, BAHA offers a top Camden. Housed in an old shipping street-food menu of taste bud-singeing plates from Japan, container, it promotes zealous Korea and Latin America. Dishes cherry-picked from the sustainability, boasting a composting Pacific Rim nations include a palate-blistering chilli ramen, initiative and a menu littered with jalapeño-spiked tacos and robata-grilled wings. The area’s foraged foods. Fresh veg from the green and pleasant hills are on fire. bahabowness.com market’s communal garden features in plates that live up to the floral moniker, such as wild turbot in a sweet broth with courgette Restaurantnews blooms. wildflowerrestaurant.co.uk OUT OF AFRICA Cavorting across Nigeria’s eclectic national cuisine, small plates of tongue-tingling dishes arrive on salmon-pink tabletops at Chuku’s in Tottenham. Wiggly peanut Soho’s catch of the day kuli kuli bites launch a menu that rollicks from smoked mackerel ‘Claro will serve oral-red claws draped in linguine, delicate slivers of croquettes dipped in a fiery Scotch Portuguese citrus-rinsed sea bass and oysters bathed in vinegar bonnet jam to jollof quinoa steamed Cmignonette – London kitchens are showcasing in a gingery West African red taberna classics Britain’s bountiful waters to a rapturous audience. From pepper and plum tomato stew. with a very shucked molluscs at Darcy’s to Flor’s scarlet prawns, by way Moi moi, a black-eyed bean tart, du jour twist of Orasay’s tuna tartare and rooftop Seabird’s John Dory, the comes dressed up with spinach, – a dominance fruits of the sea are certainly catch of the day. Its no surprise, cabbage and honey, while desserts include yam-based chocolate then, that Chelsea’s The Sea, The Sea duo, Alex Hunter and of earthy, brownies and cheesecake made chef Leo Carreira, are hitting up the fishing boats once more fermented from chin chin, a traditional nutmeg for their new Soho project. Replacing Hunter’s Bonnie Gull flavours’ biscuit. chukuslondon.co.uk by Lucy Kehoe. Photos Adam Scott; Words Salt Mill Media; Helen Cathcart; Lateef Photography Seafood Shack, the 26-cover Claro will serve Portuguese taberna classics with a very du jour twist – a dominance of earthy, fermented flavours. Dishes such as mackerel fillet with a seaweed butter and succulent prawns atop translucent lardo and egg cake come as standard. No seats available? Take the bait and grab a takeaway cinnamon bun sando, filled with crab and tempura crumb. restaurantclaro.co.uk FOOD & TRAVEL 18 Arrivals RESTAURANTS Handling it well Longing for Adam Handling’s devilishly cheesy doughnuts? Our Chef of the Year has sated POSTBOX JOY cravings for his much-coveted bites by posting Here’s a chance to send a handful of free, at-home recipes online, many a little supper inspiration to of which riff on his best-selling menus – complete loved ones – and support with step-by-step videos from the chef himself.