Our favourite new London openings

London is an ever-changing city. The sheer number of venues opening every day can feel like a bewildering experience. Whether it's a sando shop, restaurant, listening bar or wine bar, we update our favourite London openings monthly. While this list is not exhaustive (there are simply too many openings compared to our number of writers), we focus on the latest London openings that have caught our attention and feel worthy of your patronage.

Lai Rai

Peckham has a new school Vietnamese restaurant on the block. Meaning 'little by little', Lai Rai is inspired by bia hơi culture – meeting friends over drinks and delicious eats. The two-storey interiors are an homage to retro Vietnamese canteens, within which you can dine on bánh mi and sip Viet coffee by day, and sip cocktails and share little plates by night. Menu favourites include the Pho Please signature cocktail, slow-braised pork belly pieces, five-spice beef shin croquettes, and the herby papaya jellyfish salad, and for the large plates: betel leaf beef with a smokey BBQ Viet coffee sauce, and mussels with a creamy coconut broth, lemongrass and Viet hot mint.

Now open

Peckham, SE15 | lairai.london

Canal at Mason & Fifth

Canal at Mason & Fifth's Westbourne Park location takes its name from its canalside location. The kitchen is headed up by chef Adrian Hernandez Farina (Humo (London), Coal Rooms (Peckham), and ASKA in NYC), whose modern seasonal menus offer the best ingredients sourced from their contacts amongst farmers, day boat fishermen, and producers. Of what's been revealed about the menu, we're most looking forward to the Cornish John Dory with lemon dill butter and monksbeard, trombetta courgette with stracciatella and pangrattato, Portland crab doughnuts, and the sea bream crudo with burnt blood orange and chilli. Please and thank you.

Opening 30th June

Westbourne Park, W9 | mason-fifth.com

The Kerfield Arms

This lovely Camberwell gastropub just off the High Street won us over with its thoughtful restoration – both in design and in name, with The Kerfield Arms being the name of the original Victorian pub, which was most recently known as The Crooked Well – it's an inviting space that marries traditional features with trademark 2020s understated Scandi furnishings. Head Chef Jay Styler's menu features sustainable seasonal produce of British and European origin. Standouts are the Cornish squid and lardo shish with pul biber chilli; wild nettle malfatti, with green asparagus, hazelnuts and buttermilk; Yorkshire hogget with violet artichokes, bagna cauda and pine nuts, followed by a digestif, but go for a dessert if that's your jam, the 70% Cru Virunga chocolate and olive oil mousse is a temptress.

Now open

Camberwell, SE5 | thekerfieldarms.co.uk

Singburi

Popular Leytonstone joint Singburi has opened doors on Shoreditch High Street. The kitchen is run in collaboration between Sirichai Kularbwong (son of the owners of the former Leytonstone Singburi) and Nick Molyviatis (of Kiln and Oma). The 50-seat restaurant features 19 seats around a central grill, and the menu offers aromatic and fire-touched Thai dishes. Don't hold back in ordering, there are no favourite children here – the wild ginger chicken thigh, dill pork sausage, beef mince kaprau, tiger prawn and cucumber curry, and the smoked pork nam tok all shine.

Now open

Shoreditch, E1 | Singburi’s Instagram

Sino

You can find Sino on a sunny little street corner in Notting Hill, dishing up Ukrainian-inspired dishes and cool breezes through open windows – much needed in this summer heat. A self-described menu as 'a contemporary interpretation of Ukrainian culinary traditions,' call it what you want, what matters is taste and experience, and chef Eugene Korolev's menu at Sino can join the ranks of Tatar Bunar in offering Londoners much-needed Ukrainian flavours. There are black pudding croquettes with smoky adjika sauce with apple jam, Chicken Kyiv, with bison grass mash and wild barlic butter, and sauerkraut dumplings with baked cabbage sauce and smoked dry pear. More of all of this, please.

Now open

Notting Hill, W11 | sinorestaurant.co.uk

Noren Sake and Sushi

The former omakase bar, Roji, is reopening its doors as Noren Sake and Sushi bar, specialising in a more grounded menu of makazu sushi (like temaki but open, not rolled) and sake, of course. The 10-seat restaurant is only open on Fridays and Saturdays at the moment, but we honestly couldn't think of a better way to leisurely spend a Friday evening than dining on sushi and sipping chilled sake. Noren also offers an à la carte menu of sakizuke and sashimi, and the sake menu is small but mighty, offering the highest grades – junmai, daiginjo, and jumai daigingo. If you're unfamiliar, they offer three different sake flights – beginner, advanced, and pro, which is a nice touch.

Now open

Mayfair, W1K | Noren Sake and Sushi Instagram

Norbert’s

East Dulwich's Norbert's specialises in rotisserie chicken, dreamt up by John Ogier (The Marksman and Lasdun) in partnership with Jack Coghlan (Planque and Lyle's). It's a locals spot, in a cosy small space, decently priced, what's not to like? Their British chickens are treated to a super secret rub and served with rotisserie potatoes, chips, and salad. When you do something so simple, you have to do it perfectly. It's no fuss, down-to-earth, and they offer chicken to take away. We're so here for grounded, well-priced, and tasty eats.

Now open

East Dulwich, SE22 | norbetslondon.com

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