Where To Eat in December: Bruno’s, Studio Frantzén, Dorian, Taku, and More

Known for running the restaurant Fawda on the West Bank, Palestinian chef Fadi Kattan is an authority and ambassador for traditional Palestinian food culture, lauded for reinterpreting classics dishes while preserving their essence and flavour. Named for the symbolic native plant that’s forbidden to forage on the West Bank, Akub originally ran as a well-received pop-up at Carousel before arriving fully formed in Notting Hill, offering a modern Palestinian menu that reinterprets dishes like a celebratory chicken Mousakhan humming with sumac and onions, baby eggplants stuffed with fermented herbs (a riff on Sheikh el Mahsi), and skate kufta in vine leaves. The kitchen mixes imported Palestinian herbs and spices with British produce, fish and meat, while reminders of Kattan’s motherland are also present in ceramics from Palestinian artist Nur Minawi, or vintage keys that hang in the dining room and serve as symbols of houses lost under the current occupation.

To make a reservation, call 07788 446859.

This cosy neighbourhood restaurant has only been open a matter of weeks but is already one of the city’s toughest tables. Chef Thomas Straker is, of course, a social media phenom, but has worked in some of the city’s finest kitchens and brings finesse to the table in relaxed dishes like a puffy flatbread layered with scallops that demands an immediate re-order, silken taglioni with girolles and parmesan, an autumnal plate of roasted turbot with grilled cabbage, borlotti beans, and pumpkin, and superb desserts. There’s a pronounced local feel to the proceedings, flowing cocktails, and a killer soundtrack to boot – get in while you still can.

If the recipe for success in 2022 was to give the people what they wanted, then the feelgood summer hit that was Caravel executed it to a tee. A sequel, Bruno’s, is plusher than a cocktail bar on a boat has any right to be, and once ensconced in a crushed velvet sofa with a drink in hand, it’s easy to forget you’re on the Regents Canal. Co-founder Fin Spiteri is a talented bartender, whose CV includes 69 Colebrooke Row and Quo Vadis, and his affection for the classics is showcased in a list that offers twists on time-honoured combinations, like a ‘Pomelo’ negroni laced with grapefruit syrup; meanwhile, brother Lorcan provides playful snacks, like ‘lunchables’ – here, with fine charcuterie and cheese.

Genuine omakase counters in London are few and far between, and it’s even rarer that one comes along from an Edomae sushi master as well regarded as Takuya Watanabe, whose omakase counter in Paris was the first to be bestowed a Michelin star. At Taku, his hushed 16-seat counter on Albemarle Street, three menus are offered that run an ‘express lunch’ of 17 courses for £170, to a £380 prestige loaded with luxury ingredients. The signature is in between and features the chef’s flawless rice, aged fish and seamless techniques in a succession on bites, each more stunning than the last, like a simple plate of toro caviar, or an abalone risotto with Alba white truffle. Fine and rare wines are available for those with deep pockets, as well as speciality sakes imported from Japan.

To make a reservation, email info@takumayfair.com. 

Singaporean chef Lynus Lim (Laughing Heart) and Chase Lovecky (Two Lights, Clove Club) have teamed up on this sleek edit of contemporary Japanese dishes at Evernight, a stunning new restaurant at the Nine Elms development in Battersea. A dramatic minimalist interior courtesy of Italian architect Ettore Tricarico sets the scene for a menu of London ‘izakaya’ dishes paired to cloudy sakes, shochus, and low intervention wine. There are, of course, grilled dishes (for example, an understatedly luxurious skewer of grilled herring and horseradish) but the kitchen’s finesse and creativity shine in plates like a chawanmushi of smoked eel and ceps, or a warming sukiyaki of Holstein beef.

To make a reservation, call 020 4547 6390.

This new bar and gallery space in Shoreditch comes from the eponymous wine subscription service, known for its guest wine curators that read like a who’s who of London’s natural wine world. Billed as a ‘pub for wine drinkers’, the bar is a converted warehouse behind Brick Lane, with a decidedly minimal, industrial feel – as well as zippy Catalonian whites, low ABV reds from Jura and orange wines from across the globe, there’s a guest chef series that kicks off in December with Tom Zahir of Decatur. Zahir’s planning a menu of classics plus a few specials, kicking off with dishes like New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp, boudin stuffed with confit pork belly, shrimp and grits with roast chicken gravy, and chargrilled oysters.

Is there a restaurant renaissance in Notting Hill, or is West London’s most chic neighbourhood just catching up to the rest of the city? Either way, there’s little dispute that the beautiful new Dorian – which follows buzzy spots like Caia, The Pelican, and Straker’s – is about as impressive as it gets in terms of upscale neighbourhood dining. Led by an ex-Ikoyi and Frantzen chef (and with a cast cherrypicked from the city’s elite restaurants), the kitchen turns out immaculate dishes that riff on classic bistro fare – think veal sweetbread with gribiche, wood roasted mallard, and lobster with pumpkin and greens – prepared over wood fire. Produce is on point – the owner owns Notting Hill Fish Shop, supplying many of the city’s high-end dining rooms – while tightly packed tables, a glitzy bar, and plenty of natural light make it an attractive proposition, day or night.

To make a reservation, call  020 3089 9556.

In the world of high-end gastronomy, Stockholm chef Björn Frantzén has few peers, and his new restaurant on the fifth floor of Harrods is arguably the jewel in the crown of a program that also includes the likes of Tom Kerridge and Jason Atherton. Frantzén’s Nordic cuisine with Asian influences is on display at this serene Scandi dining room that boasts 150 covers, two bars for late night drinks, floor to ceiling windows and views across the city. Many dishes on an a la carte menu are cooked over open fire – a Frantzén signature – that juxtaposes wild game and cured seafood with luxurious dishes like grilled porterhouse steak with pine-scented bone marrow, or lobster with curry hollandaise.

To make a reservation, call 020 7225 6800.

At Saltie Girl in Mayfair, caviar is inescapable. The trio of PR execs at the bar are doing bumps of it; it’s in the bar’s signature Martini; and it’s heaped over pillowy gnocchi, or on top of a smoked salmon cheese toastie, yours for £70. This glamorous seafood restaurant in Mayfair outwardly presents as Scott’s for zoomers, but the Boston original is a serious affair, with some of the best seafood in that city, and the London edition is no slouch; alongside New England staples like lobster rolls, fried scampi, and a raw bar proffering immaculate bivalves, there’s excellent premium tinned and smoked fish, as well as whole fish from some of London’s best suppliers. A brace of bars and a young, stylish crowd befit the North Audley Street location, while marble tabletops, wood panelling and accent lighting make it excellent for a casual date or celebration with friends.

To make a reservation, call 020 3893 3000. 

One of the city’s best kept secrets, the original Belvedere was a David Collins-designed hotspot, with a kitchen run by Marco Pierre White at the turn of the millennium. Its subsequent fall into a stultified comfort zone made it an anachronism that spoke of an older time, a Havishamesque estate hidden away in Holland Park. The newly refurbished restaurant, however, takes the romantic, hidden charm of the original, and translates it for a 2022 audience, with a glamorous interior refurb that maximises the former 17th century ballroom’s soaring ceilings, multiple bar areas, elegant arched doorways and hidden corners. There’s a lighter, Italian-leaning menu with a diverse wine list on offer, with handrolled pasta, wood-fired vegetable and fish dishes, and Friuli aged ribeye for two. Want to escape the city without leaving? Come here.

To make a reservation, call 020 8191 1407.