The Sunday Times Magazine - UK (2021-12-19)

48 • The Sunday Times Magazine

The new restaurants

that took 2021 by storm

Ta b l e Ta l k

Marina O’Loughlin

Above: Florentine

cuisine with a splash

of New York at Brutto

Against all the odds, the past year saw a host of inspiring openings.

Our critic reveals a selection of places that cheered her heart

W

ho in their right minds

would open a restaurant at

a time like this? The past two years

have seen even the most sanguine

restaurateurs gnawing fingers to

bones. And to launch now, when

each day cheerfully promises a new

variant, a new set of rules, a new

bunch of restrictions, would seem

to be motivated not so much by a

sense of gung ho but of hara-kiri.

Dramatic staff shortages, with

reports of poaching running rife;

unyielding landlords; illness and

self-isolating pings; nervous diners

and vaccine refuseniks: a new

restaurant seems less like business

and more like torching money.

But launching they are. Over

the past 12 months we have seen

some beauties land and thrive. I’ve

outlined a handful below but there

are countless others I won’t be

able to get round to, even furnished

with the best will and appetite.

Giving me the gladdest eye are:

Porte Noire (Idris Elba’s new wine

bar — yes, really); Linden Stores

in Cheshire; Water Lane in Kent;

“Indo-Persian” fine dining at Qavali

in Birmingham; Tallow, from the

brilliant Rob Taylor, moved from

his country pub the Compasses to

the (comparative) bright lights of

the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells.

There’s One Star Döner, chef

Brad Carter’s new gourmet kebab

shop in Manchester; Upstairs by

Tom Shepherd in Lichfield; Kudu

in Peckham; Big Counter in

Glasgow; “sustainable” outdoor

Kindle in Cardiff. Over in Brixton,

the former Miss Jamaica Universe

and Apprentice contestant April

Jackson opened Wood & Water.

After the gutsy move of

exporting a British steakhouse

to New York City, Hawksmoor

is back with a new restaurant in

Canary Wharf, floating on water;

and lovely José Pizarro has opened

a brace of excellent joints within

the grand, art-soaked walls of the

Royal Academy. Plus hundreds

more the length of the country.

Right about now I expected

to be writing an elegy to the

recently deceased. Instead I’m

celebrating the newly hatched.

That the people of hospitality

are still creating, innovating

and trucking on is testament to

an industry with balls of steel.

I salute the lot of you.