City institution Simpson’s Tavern reborn as British restaurant Life&Style Simpson’s Tavern, the City’s oldest chophouse which closed in 2022, is to reopen later this year as a modern British restaurant. Cloth Cornhill will open on 1 October on the site of the former pub, which first opened in 1757 and was a favourite drinking haunt of Charles Dickens and William Thackeray. A new era [...]
Gino D’Acampo restaurants face HMRC winding-up order Hospitality The company behind TV chef Gino D’Acampo’s restaurant empire has been hit with a winding-up petition by the UK tax authority. Upmarket Hotels & Leisure, which runs five British restaurants named after the former This Morning star, was served the petition by HMRC after a filing made to the High Court, as seen by City [...]
Hélène Darroze à la carte is the ultimate lunchtime luxury Food When it comes to fine dining, who says we shouldn’t have a choice, writes Carys Sharkey There is a continual grumble in fine dining, a tedious debate that flares up every now and again when a critic complains about a sore arse from sitting through a tasting menu. I love tasting menus. I should get [...]
Will Ibai take home a Toast the City Award? July 21, 2026 The Finalists have been announced for our second annual Toast the City Awards and we’re thrilled to highlight some of the runners and riders over the coming weeks. Today we’re celebrating the amazing steak restaurant Ibai, which is one of 12 Finalists in the Best Restaurant category. Here’s what our food critic – and Toast [...]
Coya Ibiza is bringing grown-up hedonism to Playa d’en Bossa July 20, 2026 You may know Coya for its London restaurants, but the group is exploring new shores in Ibiza with its first ever rooms. Anna Moloney checks in.
Jamie’s Italian is awful but don’t worry, there are some great new Mediterranean restaurants too July 15, 2026 This week I talk about two Italians, one Greek, a talented Cypriot and an irritating Englishman. Prepare to read about two restaurants you should visit (Bancone and Zylia) and one you should reserve for your worst enemies (Jamie’s Italian)… ZYLIA Covent Garden is a part of London that you only go to for a specific [...]
Humble Grape is up for two Toast the City Awards: Here’s why July 14, 2026 We have launched the Toast the City awards 2026 and throughout the year we’ll be speaking to some of our amazing Finalists – today it’s Enya Buchenau, marketing manager at Humble Grape and Vivat Bacchus. To vote for your favourite Square Mile spots for the 2026 awards, from bars and restaurants to galleries and green [...]
Why Horizon 22 Events by Searcys is a City icon July 13, 2026 We have launched the Toast the City awards 2026 and throughout the year we’ll be speaking to some of our nominees – this week, Amber Holdforth, sales and marketing manager at Horizon 22 Events by Searcys tells us all the things she loves about the Square Mile. What makes Horizon 22 Events by Searcys stand [...]
‘It’s military precision’: meet the chefs crafting summer’s £6k corporate hospitality dishes July 2, 2026 Inside the race to create summer’s poshest corporate hospitality dishes Later this month, the thrice-Michelin-starred chef Simon Rogan will be serving Cornish lobster with pickled gooseberries, oysters with chicken glaze and Miso-roasted cod with smoked roe. In many ways, it will be the same as any other day for the 57-year-old from Southampton. At his [...]
House of the Dragon’s Abubakar Salim dreams of Kenyan kebabs for his last supper June 26, 2026 House of the Dragon star Abubakar Salim tells us what he’d eat for his last meal on earth, from Kenyan kebabs to a warm bowl of ramen My mum has always been the cook in our family. My memories of being young are just my mum being in the kitchen cooking all the time – [...]