New on Resy: Firebird, Bottle + Rye, Miznon, and More

It can take years to get established in Soho but Firebird on Poland Street, from St Petersburg’s Madina Kazhimova and Anna Dolgushina is sitting pretty on its perch as one of London’s loveliest new rooms after just a few months. Natural wines and open fire cooking are the twin pillars. The signature choux buns with chicken liver pâte have many admirers.

It’s a formula that works: downstairs pub, upstairs dining room. It suits the Kensington locale, minutes from Holland Park. Max de Nahlik, chef, and co-founder of the pop-up Oxalis, likes his produce British and sustainable. Pork collar steak and greengage chutney, hake with piperade, and spiced brown crab on toast are among the early offerings. Roasts (and a vegan option) on Sundays.

Eyal Shani’s high-octane pita chain has branches in Tel Aviv, New York, Paris and beyond. It’s now landed in London where it slings pitas with off-the-wall fillings like spaghetti bolognese, ‘magic mushrooms’, and fish and chips. Totally nuts and immediately at home in Soho.

Make your way to Brixton Market and London’s first dedicated handroll bar. Grab a stool at the sushi counter for à la carte rolls in variations such as lobster, egg yolk and miso or BBQ eel with cucumber and barbecue sauce. Enjoy with sake or a sansho peppercorn gimlet.

New for ‘22, Rotorious in Peckham have put a spicy Caribbean spin on rotisserie chicken. Order a quarter, half, or whole bird (free-to-roam chooks from Kent) and pick a side, perhaps coconut rice or fries and spicy chicken gravy. Bottomless gravy and house hot sauce characterised by a Scotch bonnet kick.

Kilig is the Tagalog word for a feeling of joy and happiness. The feeling engendered by the food, drink, and all-round good vibes at this Colombian-Filipino restaurant beneath the railway arches in Deptford. The menu’s a marriage of the two founders’ roots, opening with empanadas, jackfruit arepas, and Filipino BBQ pork skewers ahead of crispy kare-kare chicken wings and Colombian lentil stew with sides of cola rice and cassava fries.

A cute little corner wine bar in Brixton Village from Robin and Sarah Gill, the husband-and-wife team behind Darby’s, Sorella and Maria G’s, that takes its cues from Paris’s bistro and café scene. Chalked on the blackboard menu are French classics and variations on the theme, such as Morteau sausage with sauerkraut and Dijon, smoked eel brandade with pink fir crisps and gooseberry and mirabelle choux éclairs. The plat du jour, served Thursday and Fridays, is a steal.

Plants of Roselyn in London Bridge, from the three siblings behind Kin + Deum, celebrates the myriad ways in which plants are used in Thai cuisine with unique results. Where else in London would you find rainbow root vegetable vegan prawn crackers, a mushroom larb burger, or hummingbird curry with butterfly blue pea sticky rice? A modest neighbourhood spot whose small size belies its big ideas.

This new Islington pub is a classic-in-the-making. GM Adam Symonds and chef Rob Tecwyn met at Highgate’s Bull & Last and continue to refine their vision of the modern London gastropub. Tecwyn’s style is stripped back and borderless. A signature dish? Quail shish with garlic yoghurt and pul biber and pig’s cheek with smoked eel and daikon could be contenders.

Cellar, the café, counter, and bar within members’ club Kindred for coffee, cocktails, and everything in between. You’ll recognise the hand of chef Andrew Clarke (Acme Fire Cult) in such full-bodied dishes as Korean spiced Dexter beef tartare with straw chips, mutton merguez flatbread and trombetta courgette schnitzel with pistachio gremolata.

This former burger truck has three bricks-and-mortar sites now, including a very handy one on Old Compton Street, Soho. The burgers are great – try the bougie burger with steak sauce – but so too are the ‘& Beyond’ bits of the menu. Think smoked bone marrow gravy fries, pork belly tacos and truffled tater tots with Parmesan and sage. Bottomless burgers, booze and fries on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 3pm.

Irish tacos are now a thing thanks to Shankey’s, the high energy ‘spuds and spice’ pop-up that’s staying put for now at Spandeli on Dalston Lane. Anything is possible at Shankey’s where fish and chip tacos are topped with crushed salt ‘n’ vinegar McCoy’s and the Guinness pie comes in taco form. Wash down with a ‘Spuds ‘n’ Butter’ poitín cocktail.

Bubala’s second London restaurant has bedded in nicely. The Soho site advances founder Marc Summers and executive chef Helen Graham’s mission to be at the forefront of new vegetarian cuisine in London. Viz. myriad Middle Eastern influences transformed into modern classics over the smoke and heat of live fire. Maitake mushrooms with baharat butter and barberry jam and corn ribs and black garlic pipelchuma stand out.

A ‘corner shop with a conscience’ in the Camden/King’s Cross hinterland, selling beer, natural wine, snacks, and supplies. Add to that a tri-weekly appearance from Hot4U, headed by ex-Cub chef Matthew Scott, who cooks such deliciousness as bottarga fried chicken, oysters with koji hot sauce, and fresh pasta with crab and fermented chilli. Scott’s behind the amped up bar menu too.

A neighbourhood kitchen and bar in Crystal Palace, open seven days a week for everything from cups of Dark Arts coffee to cocktails, small plates, and family-style Sunday roasts. Come with friends and family (or with laptop) and treat yourself of a pork sausage Brixton bun, rice krispie chicken Caesar or slow-cooked shoulder of lamb for the table.

Rarebit in Elephant Park is a versatile all-rounder – a kitchen, bar, and grocery store in one. Produce is key, with coffee from Climpson & Sons, pastries from Flor, and cheese (for the eponymous rarebit) from Neal’s Yard Dairy. Liv Lionel’s all-day menu aims to please: who could resist scallop and ‘nduja mac ‘n’ cheese with crab bisque or grilled peaches with thyme and burrata?

Bright, cheery Bellefields in Brixton, with its cobbled courtyard and print-lined walls, draws inspiration from across the Mediterranean. Pasta’s a speciality – try linguine vongole or salt cod tortellini with puttanesca sauce – as well as such European holiday classics as moules frites, pork souvlaki and sea bream with ratatouille.

This outstanding speciality coffee shop in Brockley opens evenings on Thursdays and Friday for cocktails, natural wines, and some nifty cooking. The menu changes weekly but cross fingers for sobrasada croquettes, panko’d pollock with bisque aioli and chocolate sauce-drenched profiteroles.