The 14 best new London restaurant openings in September 2025

September is busy. In a pique of giddy back-to-school energy, it seems like everyone and their dog is opening a restaurant over the next few weeks. We’ve sifted through the menus to bring you the best of the bunch, including a fair few fancy hotel launches, some Basque brilliance, spenny sushi and posh pasta. And it wouldn’t be a restaurant openings piece without yet another pizza parlour.  

The best new London restaurants in September 2025

1. Angela Hartnett hits the West End

Cicoria, Covent Garden 

Bona fide national treasure Angela Harnett is bringing her classy cookery to nothing less than the Royal Opera House. Cicoria will be on the fifth floor of the Royal Opera House and the accompanying Bar Cicoria will spill out onto the venue’s terrace bar. The Michelin-starred founder of Mayfair’s Murano will offer ‘sophisticated yet simple, Italian-inspired cooking’ at this exciting new launch. 

Opens: September 25

Address: Bow Street, WC2E 9DD.

2. The celeb-tastic American import

Carbone, Mayfair

This one’s been in the pipeline for a while. Finally London will get a taste of Carbone’s iconic spicy rigatoni alla vodka and swish celebrity clientele. Mario Carbone’s eponymous upmarket Italian-American spot quickly established itself as one of NYC’s most famous restaurants when it first opened its doors in 2013, and is a favourite of everyone from Rihanna and Taylor Swift, to the Obamas and Kardashians. This is Carbone’s first European outpost, and you’ll find it inside Mayfair’s new Chancery Rosewood hotel (fittingly, the former American Embassy building). Come for ‘red sauce’ restaurant classics like veal parm, baked clams and branzino.

Opens: Mid-September

Address: 30 Grosvenor Square, W1K.

3. The Michelin-star chef’s burger joint

Heard, Soho

After quietly bringing his Michelin-star cheffery to smashburgers in Borough, Jordan Bailey of now-shuttered two-star Irish restaurant Aimsir, is opening a new outpost of Heard in Soho. Double-patty smash burgers are made with super-high quality British beef, English cheese and home-made pickles in a butter-toasted, roast potato bun. There’ll also be a non-smash burger on the menu (how vintage!). 

Opens: September 12.

Address: 39 Foubert’s Place, W1F 7QQ.

4. The south London/south African import

Kudu, Marylebone

After eight years, the Kudu team have consolidated (and closed) their South African/Euro braai restaurants in Peckham to make one mega Kudu in Marylebone. Some dishes have made the jump with them (burrata with pineapple, tomato, ginger and shiso), but there’ll also be a whole new offering (harissa chopped beef with crispy shallots, and cured sea trout with daikon and tiger’s milk), as well as the intriguing sounding monkey gland sauce for barbecue dishes (*no monkeys were harmed in the making). Sunday roasts will also be available. 

Opens: September 16

Address: 7 Moxon Street, W1U 4EP.

5. Honestly, more pizza?!

Slayer, Westbourne Grove

Want another NYC-style slice shop? Well it doesn’t really matter, because you’re getting one anyway. Unique in the sense that it’s the only new pizza parlour in London to be named after the gods of thrash metal, Slayer comes from the same team as nearby brunch cafe Eggbreak. ‘No flop, just crunch,’ is their slogan. The classics are all present and correct, margs, pepperoni, and a neat-sounding vodka & pesto, as well as the house special, the ‘226’ with fennel sausage and crispy guanciale.  

Opens: September 1

Address: 226 Westbourne Grove, W11 2RH.

6. A big burger party

Burger Fest, Walthamstow

Fans of sweaty buns will enjoy Burger Fest, a two-day coming together of some of the UK’s best burger traders, from Black Cactus to Bun & Sum. Every trader will serve a classic cheeseburger for £10 or less and World Famous Gordos will also be present, serving a very special, rather intense-sounding cheeseburger pizza slice. 

Runs: September 13-14

Address: Signature Brew, Unit 15, Blackhorse Lane, E17 5QJ.

7. The massive Somerset House food overhaul

Aram and Poons, Temple

To celebrate 25 years of being a cultural institution, Somerset House are launching a host of new food ventures - and they all sound great. Joining the long-standing Spring, vegan-ish newbie Cafe and rooftop bar Setlist comes Aram, and Eastern Med cafe from Imad Alarnab of Imad’s Syrian Kitchen in Soho, and Poon’s, the debut restaurant by Amy Poon, whose father opened the legendary Poon’s Restaurant in Chinatown back in 1973. 

Opens: Mid-September

Address: Somerset House, New Wing, Lancaster Place, WC2R 1LA.

8. The very pricey sushi spot

Tobi Masa, Mayfair 

Like Carbone, this is another high-end food destination helping to launch the new Chancery Rosewood hotel. TobI Masa will be the first London restaurant for chef Masayoshi Takayama – the man behind one of New York’s most influential sushi restaurants, Masa. It’ll be serving up some of Masa’s signature dishes such as toro tartare and peking duck tacos, as well as a host of dishes unique to the London opening.

Opens: Mid-September

Address: 30 Grosvenor Square, W1K.

9. Southern Vietnamese bangers

Cô Thành, Covent Garden

Taking over the space vacated by Frenchie in Covent Garden is Cô Thành. Like the Hong Kong original, it’s a tribute to the Lunch Lady of Saigon aka Nguyễn Thị Thanh, a street food trader who found fame on an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. Although she passed away earlier this year, her recipes will live on here thanks to her protegee Brian Woo.  

Opens: End of September

Address: 16 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8QH.

10. Sri Lankan street food

Adoh!, Covent Garden

From the same team as Soho and Shoreditch’s Kolamba, comes this Sri Lankan street food inspired diner. Expect various kinds of kothu – chopped roti, with veg, eggs and curry sauce and a variety of meats - as well as mutton rolls, devilled sausages, baked lenti vadai and chilli prawn toast. 

Opens: September 8

Address: 36 Maiden Lane, WC2E 7LJ. 

11. Northern Spanish fish and fire

Alta, Soho

Kingly Court’s newest resident is Alta, who are the latest restaurant to celebrate the beauty of Basque cuisine. In the kitchen is Rob Roy Cameron (formerly of El Bulli). Expect a fish-forward menu brimming with the likes of razor clams with white saffron escabeche, red gooseberry seabass crudo, and sardine empanadas. 

Opens: September 22

Address: Unit G9, Kingly Court, Kingly Street, W1B 5PW.

12. A skewer-friendly taverna 

Lagana, Shoreditch 

With Bottarga, zēphyr, and Nina under their belts, the Pachamama restaurant group is now adding a Greek string to their bow. Lagana - named after the traditional flatbread – are doing something that sounds a little bit like Agora over in Borough Market. Skewers, small plates, big salads and lots of lovely dips. 

Opens: September 15

Address: 73 Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, EC2A 3HU.

13. The big posh one

Michael Caines at The Stafford, St James’s

Strangely, this is the first ever London restaurant for Michael Caines MBE (no, not that one). The chef-owner of the Michelin-starred Lympstone Manor hotel in Devon, is finally giving London a bash at The Stafford’s in-house restaurant. His terroir-tastic menu will include beef wellington and dover sole, and a tasting menu that features warm lobster salad with cardamon vinaigrette. Fancy stuff.  

Opens: September 17

Address: 16-18 St James's Place, SW1A 1NJ.

14. Italian/French all-day dining

Il Bambini Club, Shoreditch 

Direct from Bambini in France, this offshoot of the Paris-based Italian restaurant has found a London home for itself on the ground floor of The Hoxton in Shoreditch. Signature dishes include tagliatelle al tartufo, Milanese cutlet, and wood-fired pizza. Excitingly, it’ll be open until midnight. 

Opens: Mid-September

Address: 81 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HU. 

The best restaurants in London, according to Time Out.

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