Autumn Restaurant Rush
Where to eat this season, Lagana, Toklas, Tiella, Silo, LIMA, Ricky Gervais, Adare Manor, Basque cheesecake, MORE
WORK • Wednesday Routine
Fisherman’s friend
CHRIS SHAW • head chef • Toklas
Neighbourhood you work in: Temple
Neighbourhood you live in: Stepney
It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Every day is busy at Toklas, but Wednesday and Thursday are particularly hectic, with huge food deliveries arriving in the morning. There tends to be fish from the South Coast, scallops from Scotland and vegetables from all over the country. Our menu is ingredient-driven, so our supply chain is incredibly important to us. It’s a bit chaotic but it’s a professional environment to be a part of, with a kitchen full of very driven individuals, who make even the early morning starts good fun.
What’s on the agenda for today?
As soon as we arrive, we sit for breakfast and discuss the current menu, along with any changes and upcoming events. The events calendar is pretty jam-packed, with private parties, restaurant takeovers and gallery dinners. Catching up with everyone also means I get a chance to understand how busy each section is so I know where to focus my time. Wednesday is also tasting day – one of my favourite days, where we get to present new dishes to the founders, Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp [of Frieze]. We all try the dishes and share ideas and thoughts on what we like or what needs to change.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
Dalla, Polentina and Leo’s are at the top of my list to try soon. I’ve been following Mitchell Damota’s cooking for a long time and Dalla’s interiors (by Spazio Leone) look super slick. As for Polentina, I’m not in that area of London often but Sophia Massarella cooks these amazing-looking regional Italian dishes, lots of them very traditional and ancient, or things I haven’t heard of. She’s preserving the cooking culture of Italian nonnas and also educating Londoners about these almost-forgotten dishes.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I’m a big football fan and of course also enjoy eating and drinking out when I have time. I love discovering new restaurants and seeing what other chefs are up to. We’re spoiled for choice in London, so I’ve always got a big list of things to try. I went to the We Out Here Festival in the summer. It’s curated by Gilles Peterson, four days of music in Dorset, with such great energy. They work closely with Ed Wilson from Brawn to bring together music and food at the part of the festival called Brownswood.
Any weekend getaways?
My wife and I are going to San Sebastián for a weekend – bring on the cheesecake. La Viña is the place to go – you can sit at the bar and have pintxos, but most people are there for the Basque cheesecake. It’s the sort of place that normalises eating cheesecake for breakfast, lunch and dinner, or even popping in to eat it twice a day. I’ll do my best to bring one back for my team.
What was your last great holiday?
Mallorca. My wife has family there, so we spend a lot of time there and I’m continuously impressed by the food. It speaks to me because there’s so much amazing seafood available at our fingertips, and you also get those bold Mediterranean flavours that I love to cook with at Toklas. One of our favourite hidden gems is La Parada de Mar, an amazing-value-for-money seafood restaurant, sort of a cross between a fishmonger and a café. There’s no menu, but you pick all your freshly caught dishes and eat them by weight.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
I love my Blenheim Forge chef’s knife.
RESTAURANTS • First Word
To the Greek
The Skinny: Shoreditch’s Pachamama East has transformed into Lagana, a hip sister restaurant to popular spots Nina and Bottarga, also serving Mediterranean-Greek fare. It debuted in mid-September to immediate and well-earned hype, thanks in part to the legacy of its former iteration and in part due to Nina’s undeniable Instagram effort.
The Vibe: With whimsical décor and childlike accents, Lagana is cool and fun: you can draw on the paper tablecloths, and menus look like school notebooks (complete with doodles). On a recent Wednesday night, it was loud, packed full, with a throng of guests waiting to be seated. Servers are as hip as the crowd itself.
The Food: Everything comes for the whole table, from dips (tzatziki, spicy feta, et al) to a perfectly crafted Greek salad. Lagana is named for the puffed flatbread that comes with multiple topping options, but the grilled pita is actually more flavourful. Bluefin tuna doused in oil and served with wakame is a must, as is the lamb belly accompanied by sumac onions and yoghurt. It’s easy to over-order (do it anyway), but dessert is excellent too. The caramel Basque cheesecake is astounding, and best eaten with the soft serve flavour of the day.
The Drink: The drinks list is minimal, comprising several colour-themed cocktails and a draft beer. There are two non-alcoholic cocktails – the spritz is refreshing, but the other is basically orange juice. The wine list is better, with several Greek varieties on offer.
The Verdict: Lagana is well worth frequenting, dishing out stellar food worthy of the positive word-of-mouth it’s been generating. –Emily Zemler
→ Lagana (Shoreditch) 19 Willow St • Mon-Sat 12-330p, 6-10p, Sun 12-330p, 6-930p • Book.
Lagana is among the hot restaurants on our Autumn Restaurant Rush Nines, below. Who else made the cut?
RESTAURANTS • Intel
SILO-NARA: Zero-waste restaurant Silo is closing after 11 years. Having first opened in Brighton in 2014 and moved to East London in 2019, the restaurant will do its last service on 20 December. The concept lives on through sustainability-focused Silo Systems, which is building its next project in Bali. Chef-owner Doug McMaster is also planning a Silo world tour, with pop-ups and collaborations all over. Book.
POP-UP GOES PERMANENT: Tiella, the hit Italian restaurant residency run by chef Dara Klein at The Compton Arms pub, is finally getting its own space. A collaboration with Ry Jessup (co-founder of Homeslice and The Plimsoll), Tiella Trattoria & Bar will open at 109 Columbia Road in early 2026. Described as ‘deeply personal,’ it will be an homage to Maria Pia’s, the family trattoria in New Zealand where Italian-born Klein was raised. Follow for news.
MORE CEVICHE: There’s a new head chef at LIMA, the Peruvian restaurant in Fitzrovia co-founded in 2012 by Virgilio Martínez. Peruvian Diego Recarte has worked at Astrid y Gastón in Lima and Enigma and Pakta in Barcelona, and is shaking up LIMA’s menu with a few global influences. Expect the usual outstanding ceviches, plus Cornish crab causa, and maitake mushroom with yellow chilli sauce. Book. –Laura Price
LONDON RESTAURANT LINKS: Knightsbridge’s Sale e Pepe taking over restaurant space at The Langham • Battersea’s Four Thieves pub reborn as The Thieves • Chocolate mousse is back in fashion • The moral complexity of suckling pig • Luxe restaurants are going global • A day in the life of a London pastry chef.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Passin’ Me By
The Pharcyde & Souls of Mischief • 30th anniversary tour • O2 Forum (Kentish Town) • Fri @ 7p • balcony unreserved, £50 per
Ricky Gervais • The London Palladium (Soho) • Fri @ 730p • stalls, £87 per
The Happy Fits • Islington Assembly Hall (Islington) • Sat @ 7p • balcony unreserved, £27 per
GETAWAYS • Ireland
Lady of the Manor
A sprawling, historic estate that transformed into an upscale hotel in the late ’80s, the impressive Adare Manor – which, I’m told, isn’t technically a castle because it doesn’t have defences – sits adjacent to a popular 18-hole golf course, which will host the Ryder Cup in 2027.
Will the European team manage a defence of its own and three-peat? Only the golfing gods and maybe Shane Lowry know. On this visit, I’m more interested in the hotel’s spa and recently built padel club, where guests can learn to play the increasingly popular racket sport, use the gym or unwind beside a photogenic indoor pool.
The rooms and suites are comfortably opulent. They span the original manor house, and there are also chic country cottages for families. Although the village has plenty of pubs and a few restaurants, you theoretically never need to leave for meals or a pint of Guinness.
The standout dining experience is The Oak Room, showcasing a tasting menu using local, seasonal ingredients, including a seaweed butter I could have eaten by the spoonful. Breakfast and afternoon tea are served in a room that looks like something out of Hogwarts, and both left me uncomfortably full in the best way possible. On the level lower, discerning guests visit the Tack Room, a cosy bar with more than 100 bottles of rare whiskey.
Guests can take a self-guided mindfulness walk through one of the gardens, and the grounds are covered with towering trees of all varieties, many of which were brought in by the hotel’s owner. Although the amenities are extensive, it’s the quiet moments amid Adare Manor’s trees that feel like a true luxury. –Emily Zemler
→ Adare Manor (Limerick, Ireland) • Adare, Co. Limerick • Oct wknd from £1,050/night • Book.
GETAWAYS LINKS: In Hertfordshire, Thompson St Albans closing this week after 12-year run • Defining Scottish baronial estate Ayton Castle in Berwickshire hits market for £3.25mn • Hiking an unruly but beautiful new coastal path in south-west Scotland • Buy a black timber summer house on the edge of the Baltic.
ASK FOUND
Three FOUND subscriber PROMPTS for which we seek your intel:
What’s your favourite London spa?
Who’s your favourite hairdresser?
Which new restaurant do you most want to book right now?
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@foundldn.com.
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Restaurant Rush, autumn 2025
Our list of the 9 hottest openings this season. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@foundldn.com.
