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Posts Tagged ‘London’

Temporary Wahaca Restaurant made from Recycled Materials in London

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

Wahaca, the Mexican street food chain will be opening a temporary restaurant on London’s Southbank which is to be made with recycled shipping containers.

It plans to open at the end of June during Southbank Centre’s summer long Festival of the World and is described as “pushing the boundaries of sustainable restaurants”.

The temporary restaurant will be located on the terrace of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and the shipping containers will be arranged in a two-storey overhanging structure, allowing space for a terrace, bar, 130 diners and lots of outdoor seating.

Tristan Manco, one of the world’s biggest influential commentators on street art, will be working with Wahaca to pick a series of graffiti artists to decorate the restaurant.

The initial artwork will be completed by street artist Saner, who is travelling from Mexico City, to complete what’s promised to be the first of a striking series of murals on the site.

Co-founder of Mark Selby, said, “This is a great experiment for us. Placing eight sea containers on Southbank Centre’s terrace without gas and scarcely any electricity and expecting to open up a fully functional restaurant and bar has certainly caused an extensive amount of head scratching, but over the last five years that seems to be what we’ve done best at Wahaca.”

This exciting project will be experimental as staff will continue to play around with the design of the restaurant and food. The seasonal Mexican specials will change frequently and Thomasina Miers, executive chef, will be inviting other chefs to cook alongside her to try out new ingredients and adapt the menu on an on-going basis.

This will allow the chefs to understand which foods the public enjoy most, before bringing the foods and dishes to their main Wahaca restaurants.

Wahaca was lauched by Selby and former BBC MasterChef winner Thomasina Miers and currently has restaurants in both the Westfields in London, Covent Garden, Soho, Canary Wharf and Bluewater.

The Mexican restaurant chain celebrates its 5th birthday this year and will open its 8th restaurant on Charlotte Street which will have the group’s first breakfast bar and market store, once the restaurant insurance, staff, supplies and decor have all been put into place.

It’s always great to hear about restaurants doing well when the news in mainly focused around businesses struggling during this hard economic times.

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New Latin American restaurants opening in London soon

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

There are a number of new Latin American restaurants in the pipeline, due to open in London over the next year, in particular those serving Peruvian cuisine.

In the next 12 months, at least five Latin American restaurants will launch in the capital, including Brazilian concept Cabana, Villa Rose, from Roka and Zuma owner Arjun Waney, Peruvian restaurant Ceviche in Soho and a new venture from Virgilio Martinez, chef patron at Central restaurant in Lima, Peru who is opening a restaurant called Lima.

At the beginning of March 2012, Ceviche, named after the Peruvian dish of raw fish marinated in citrus juice and owned by DJ-turned-restaurateur, Martin Morales will open and feature a pisco bar, serving Peru’s national drink.

Morale’s used social media and initially set up a Twitter account to gauge people’s interest in the idea of bringing Peruvian cuisine to the UK. He said, “We asked people ‘Do you care about Peruvian cuisine?’ and the response was fantastic.

Another chef, Rene Redzepi, urged Morales to open a restaurant via email, saying ceviche was one of the best foods in the world.

Interest across the world

Morales explained that the new found popularity of Peruvian food in the UK, was down to an increasing momentum for the country’s cuisine on an international scale.

“There are Peruvian restaurants in San Francisco, New York and Madrid, which have become some of the best restaurants in these cities. Peru is a powerhouse in gastronomy – it has more chef schools than any other country in the world.”

Astrid Y Gaston, a Peruvian restaurant, owned by Gaston Acurio – also debuted at number 42 on the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list this year.

Healthy food

Morales said, “Dishes such as ceviche are not dependant on fat but the meat and marinade” and he also mentioned that the cuisine will be appealing to the UK market because of the food’s healthy nature.

Meanwhile David Ponte and Jamie Barber’s mid-market Cabana, a Brazilian concept, is opening in the Central St Giles development, this month, with a second restaurant lined up to open in Westfield Stratford City once their restaurant insurance is confirmed, staff are hired and manufacturers have agreed on supplies.

Have you tried Latin American food before? What are your thoughts?

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Restaurant Prices in London Jump by 11%

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

If you eat out in London and are wondering where your money has gone, publishers of a restaurant guide, Harden’s London Restaurants 2012, said that the cost of dinner for two in London had rose by 11% in the last year and now exceeds £90 (around $148 dollars) for the first time, which is the biggest gain in more than 20 years.

Dinner for one is around £45.01, Harden’s London Restaurants 2012 said. The prices are based on the average cost of a three course meal including wine, coffee and service charge at the 1,900 restaurants listed in the guide.

Co-editor of the restaurant guide, Peter Harden, blamed higher food prices and a tax increase. However, other factors may have affected prices, such as commercial restaurant insurance, staff costs, supplies and other running costs.

Harden said “In the 21 years we have followed the restaurant scene, we’ve never seen annual inflation anywhere near 10 percent.”

On the 4th January this year, the standard rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) increased to 20% from 17.5%. Harden said that excluding VAT, costs have gone up by 4.5% in the past two years.

The number of new restaurants opening over the past year fell from 140 to 107, which is the lowest since 2000 when the number was 102.

Peter Harden and his brother Richard, named their Top 10 favourite new restaurants in alphabetical order as, Brawn, Les Deux Salons, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Galoupet, Hedone, Medlar, Pollen Street Social, Riding House Cafe, Roganic and Yashin.

Last week, Pollen Street Social, Chef Jason Atherton’s restaurant was named London’s best new restaurant by “The Good Food Guide 2012”, followed by Dinner by Heston Blumenthal.

If you are interested in reading Harden’s London Restaurants 2012, it will be published on the 1st September 2011.

Have you visited any of the Harden’s top 10 favourite new restaurants yet? Let us know if you have!

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New Jay Z Collaboration with Ashley Cole

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

Jay Z has announced that he is collaborating with Ashley Cole. Not in music, but opening up a restaurant and nightclub together. They plan to employ talented, unemployed young people and donate profits to good causes, similarly to Jamie’s Fifteen restaurant in Cornwall.

However, if you are thinking that it’s going to be a fast food kind of place where you wash down a burger with a Bacardi Breezer on the dancefloor, think again. Jay and Ashley plan to open up a posh, high end, swanky restaurant in central London. Stars are already requesting membership to guarantee ‘money can’t buy’ VIP access.

The pair have started looking at potential plush properties around Pall Mall in London and have already decided to name the restaurant 40/40, which is the same name as Jay’s chain of nightclubs in America.

Jay said “London is one of the most thrilling and lively cities in the world and the perfect location for our new nightclub/restaurant.”

As well as being a hip hop star, Jay has a multi million pound clothing line called Rocawear, is an investor in a line of beauty products, part-owns the New Jersey Nets basketball team and his five nightclubs around America are already successful. With this in mind, Ashley has found himself a good partner to go into business with.

However, while out in LA recently, Chelsea football player Ashley has also been doing his fair share of research and looking into nightclubs and restaurants, possible suppliers, interior design ideas and restaurant insurance providers. Jay and Ashley have already made a shortlist of potential top chefs to work at their new restaurant/nightclub in London, alongside the young apprentices.

Ashley explained “I have grown up listening to Jay Z’s music and am delighted to be working with him. The projects we will do will be delivering much needed money back into music and sports in the local community, as well as encouraging young people to get back to work”.

The pair plans to donate a percentage of their monthly profits to different charities. The charities include youth charities for sports and music projects in deprived communities.

Stars like Rihanna, Beyonce and high profile football players have already been listed on the line up for the 40/40 grand opening night in London, which has been planned for next year.

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