September’s best new spots to wine and dine in London

Harvest season is here, and with it comes a whole crop of new restaurants and bars to enjoy

Decked out in 1920s glamour, the Ormer Mayfair is the perfect place for a traditional British meal (Ormer Mayfair)

Ormer, Mayfair

Bringing a slice of Jersey to the heart of Mayfair, is the Michelin-starred chef Shaun Rankin’s new restaurant in the family-owned hotel Flemings Mayfair. It focuses on Rankin’s Jersey heritage and takes inspiration from the St Helier shores. The 80-cover restaurant offers a modern British menu, along with a chef’s table and two private dining rooms, following a full £15m refurbishment at the hotel.

Interior designers Tully Filmer have created a beautifully intimate dining space. The dark wood panelling and British racing green leather and velvet banquette seating compliment the delicate bronze highlights, creating an Art Deco-inspired space awash with 1930’s glamour and artistry.

The new restaurant is already open for business in the Mayfair and St James area (Ormer Mayfair)

Yosma

Yosma is an independent 150-cover, casual Turkish Meyhane and Mangal, serving Istanbul-inspired street food with a Raki bar from The Good Food Society, which is renowned for opening Ristorante Frescobaldi London in Mayfair with Italy’s oldest wine dynasty: the Frescobaldis. For this, their second project, Yosma, they partnered up with rising Head Chef of the London restaurant scene Hus Vedat, previously of Barbecoa and Caxton Grill.

Yosma redefines the typical dining culture of Turkish restaurants in the capital. Expect a contemporary take on a traditional “meyhane” (Turkish tavern) that puts a modern spin on serving raki (an unsweetened anise-flavoured alcoholic beverage) and “meze”. Designed by Afroditi Krassa, the restaurant features a mangal grill and counter dining, as well as a raki lounge bar.

This modern Turkish resto in Marylebone will transport you out of the city (Yosma)

Anzu

Tonkotsu – the ramen restaurant group – is set to open a new restaurant in St James’s Market, where it will offer contemporary Japanese cuisine. The restaurant on Norris Street aims to channel contemporary Tokyo-style dining with designs by Blenheim Design. Expect a teishoku set lunch (a current trend in Japan) which is steamed rice, pickles and miso soup plus a few more familiar Japanese specialties including miso cured salmon, wagyu, katsu, and tempura.

Norris Street is soon to be pedestrianised as part of the creation of a distinctive new half-acre of public space between Haymarket and Regent Street and Anzu is the fourth restaurant confirmed for this exciting new culinary destination, after the internationally-acclaimed Nordic ‘Aquavit London’ and the leading London restaurant group, Salt Yard.

The contemporary Japanese spot is set to open at the end of the month in the Mayfair and St James neighbourhood (Anzu)

Samarkand

Offering an array of traditional Uzbeki dishes – all served with a shot of vodka – Samarkand is an outlet for all of the modern Central Asian fusions of the founder Sanjer Nabiev’s childhood. Taking its name from the Uzbeki word for the infamous Silk Road (which connects the West to the East), and defining is self as the “gastronomy of the silk road”; the venue ties in with Nabiev’s work in aligning tradition and modernity from Central Asian and Western influence.

The menu gives light to some of the most exotic dishes in West London, from traditional favourites jizbiz (lamb chops with sautéed potatoes), fatinon (a flaky, buttery bread), somsa (pastry parcel filled with lamb or sweet potato), and the signature plov (a classic Uzbekistan dish of fried rice served with lamb and vegetables). There will also be a selection of bar snacks such as pickled vegetables and baclajan (aubergine caviar) on offer. The bar features a breadth of boutique vodka brands (including Siberian White Birch and Beluga) alongside aubergine caviar for snacking. A perfect spot for anyone in need of a culinary getaway.

The perfect place for a culinary adventure in the heart of Fitzrovia (Samarkand)

Rail House Café

Restaurateur Adam White, co-founder of Village London Central is set to open his next restaurant and bar in the Nova development in Victoria. As can be expected from the company behind The Riding House Café in Fitzrovia and Village East in Bermondsey, Rail House Café will be a modern café with all-day dining and plenty of individual character, with a relaxed environment where guests can get comfortable.

The 330-cover restaurant features an extensive ground floor eating and drinking area, as well as an upstairs bar and a private dining room. It also boasts an outdoor area with seating for 90, complete with an alfresco bar. White is at the front and centre of the design project, working with manufacturing partners to create bespoke furniture and interior touches to soften the contemporary glass and concrete space.

Nova Victoria is a bustling hub of delicious cuisine, packed with more than 18 restaurants, including Bone Daddies, Jamie Oliver’s Barbecoa, D&D London, Shake Shack, Jason Atherton and Franco Manca.

The all-day dining café is set to be a staple in the Victoria and Westminister area (Rail House Café)

Cha Chaan Teng

Explore the culinary playground of Hong Kong with Cha Chaan Teng, a Chinese diner new to the Holborn area.

The eatery is inspired by the hugely popular 1950’s cha chaan teng cafés that offer an eclectic range of Chinese comfort foods infused with western influences. Renowned TV chef and creator of School of Wok, Jeremy Pang is behind the eccentric dining concept.

The menu is a light-hearted take on the café subculture, which sprung up after the war and ventured away from traditional Chinese recipes, seeing the integration of Western ingredients to create a hybrid of flavours and a unique selection of family-style sharing plates.

The interior, by Shed Design, is inspired by the original no frills cha chaan teng cafés, but it takes its own contemporary amd elegantly art deco twist by mixing materials such as polished marble with utilitarian and functional formica. The 4,000 square foot basement site comprises 170 covers between the bar, dining room and the 16 seater ‘bao table,’ where you can feast on the delicious steamed buns.

The restaurant’s design team commissioned two artworks by prominent Brooklyn street artist DAIN (Cha Chaan Teng)