FOUND's restaurant issue
AngloThai, best food trolleys, Carousel, Luna Omakase, Don't Tell Dad, Café François, Tofu Vegan, MORE
ABOUT FOUND • Restaurants
Where should you eat right now
At FOUND, we capture the restaurant scene via three primary lenses — short narrative pieces relaying our experiences dining in the field (First Person), distilled lists of recommendations (The Nines), and interviews with the city’s movers, shakers, and industry insiders of taste (Routines).
FOUND is fascinated with what’s new, reporting regularly on just-opened spots before the rush. Just as interesting to us: those places that haven’t received their just acclaim, and old favourites that reward return visits. And while we will spend £350 per person for an extraordinary experience, we are equally at home at an exemplary neighbourhood bistro.
Across the breadth of our coverage, we’re as focused on the room and the vibe — the way the restaurant makes you feel — as we are the food. We’re also obsessed with the movements and trends shaping the dining scene, from the evolving reservations game (and challenges of getting a table) to the shifting parameters of what constitutes a power lunch. And finally, our coverage reaches beyond the city, into the suburbs and weekend getaway markets (i.e., “surrounds”).
Here now, a sampler of FOUND pieces from the year in restaurants for your late-August enjoyment.
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Happily married
The Skinny: Almost a decade after their first AngloThai pop-up in 2015, John and Desiree Chantarasak finally opened their long-delayed, hotly anticipated restaurant at the end of 2024. As the name suggests, the restaurant melds Thai fine dining with British ingredients, all sustainably and responsibly sourced. It feels like the Thai cousin of Kol, Santiago Lastra’s Mexican-British tasting menu hit (both are backed by MJMK, the genius restaurant group also behind Nuno Mendes’ Lisboeta). If you like those establishments, you’ll likely love AngloThai.
The Vibe: Off bustling Seymour Place, sweetly fragrant smells emit from the open kitchen. Thai details dot the elegant wood interiors, which are reminiscent of Thai favourites Nahm and BoLan: the furniture was built in Chiang Mai from indigenous wood, there’s artwork and textiles from all over Thailand, and the brass cast lighting reflects an ancient Thai craft tradition.
The Food: Expect punchy Thai flavours and plenty of spice in elegant presentations. While it launched with an à la carte offer, AngloThai has now settled into a single tasting menu of 11 courses at dinner or eight at lunch. It showcases John Chantarasak’s Thai-British heritage with highlights like beef cheek with Makrut lime curry and brioche, and wok-fired aubergine with holy basil and soy-cured egg yolk.
The Drink: Sommelier Desiree Chantarasak has curated a selection of refreshing cocktails and a wine list emphasising cooler climates, particularly Austria, to match the bold flavours of the food.
The Verdict: Years in the making but well worth the wait, AngloThai feels like a new classic. –Laura Price
→ AngloThai (Marylebone) • 22-24 Seymour Pl • Wed-Sat 12-230p, 530-10p, Tues 12-230p • Book.
–26/03/25
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Food trolleys
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of London’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@foundldn.com.
The Game Bird (Mayfair), 3 variations of H Forman and Son smoked salmon served w/ horseradish and soda bread
Maison François (St. James), French brasserie-style steak tartare prepared à la minute w/ optional truffle or caviar
Dovetale (Mayfair), nostalgic knickerbocker glory (aka fancy ice cream sundae) wheeled tableside, made in a very tall glass
Los Mochis London City (City), Caesar salad dressed and mixed to order w/ unique twist of nopales and red miso
The Goring (Victoria), traditional rum baba doused and set ablaze precariously close to the table
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (Knightsbridge), ice cream whimsically crafted w/ liquid nitrogen, scooped into a cone
45 Jermyn St. (Mayfair), choice of high-end caviar presented w/ scrambled eggs made tableside, served with blinis
Cinnamon Bazaar (Covent Garden & Richmond), selection of chaat on a colourful cart offered as ‘bottomless’ lunch option
Il Pampero (Belgravia), classic Italian tiramisu prepared to order, option to add selection of booze
–28/05/25
WORK • Wednesday Routine
Round and round
ED TEMPLETON • director and co-founder • Carousel
Neighbourhood you work in: Fitzrovia
Neighbourhood you live in: Highbury
It’s Wednesday morning, what’s the scene at your workplace?
There's always so much going on at Carousel, I try to be at the restaurant as often as I can. Every day is different, and I really feed off the energy of the place. Our guest chefs are evenings-only, so we work out of the chef residency kitchen during the day. My clothes often end up smelling of onions, but I love being close to the action and getting to know all the different characters who come and cook with us.
What’s on the agenda for today?
A call with a festival partner for the summer, interviewing a new hire, shortlisting dishes for an upcoming neighbourhood opening, catching up with our PR team at Gemma Bell & Company, Carousel's weekly operations meeting, checking in with the Ashcombe estate team on our upcoming WildKitchen collaboration. And right this second, typing up my notes from yesterday's strategy meeting at Shoreditch Arts Club (with a bánh mì for company).
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
My kids (2 and 4) are obsessed with Tofu Vegan, so we'll probably go there for a family lunch this weekend. I've also got dinner on Thursday at an unassuming place called Raavi Kebab on Drummond Street. We're the UK operator of Goila Butter Chicken (a happy accident born out of the pandemic). Ahead of our launch at Fulham Pier in a couple of months, my friend who's from Delhi (and a big Goila Butter Chicken fan) has vowed to take me to all his favourite Indian spots for menu inspiration.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I recently took my kids to the British Museum. They were really taken with the hieroglyphics, although the main talking point has been the chocolate muffin I bribed them with to survive the hour-long queue. My brother (and Carousel co-founder) Ollie got us tickets for Eliades Ochoa at the Barbican. He's the last remaining member of the Buena Vista Social Club. Our dad was a big fan, so we grew up listening to them.
Any weekend getaways?
I'm deep in the maelstrom of having two young children, and with another one on the way, weekend breaks have been thin on the ground. But we recently had a night at Oakley Court in Berkshire which was exactly what we were hoping for — scrabble by the fire, a long walk along the Thames and a night of unbroken sleep. I loved the contrast of the Victorian Gothic and contemporary interiors. No fries on the bar menu though?!
What was your last great vacation?
My dad lived in Andalusia, and my brothers and I have been going since we were kids. Recently, we were there as a family last summer. The coast is amazing with some properly amazing places to eat if you know where to look — Los Marinos José towards Malaga is a big favourite, and I could spend days eating my way around the freidurías of Cádiz. The real beauty, however, lies inland in less trodden cities like Jerez, where you can tour the tabancos for hours, and the incredible landscape of the Los Alcornocales Natural Park, where there are some very special walks.
–04/06/25
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Tucked away
The Skinny: A 12-seat sushi counter serving an outstanding 12-course set menu (£230 per), Luna Omakase opened mid-March in a hidden side room inside the maze-like, multi-space Los Mochis restaurant, on the ninth floor of the swanky 100 Liverpool St building. Luna is the east London follow-up to Juno Omakase, which opened at the first Los Mochis in Notting Hill in 2024. It’s got room for 12 instead of Juno’s six, maintaining the original’s intimacy while making admission slightly more accessible.
The Vibe: On a weeknight, Los Mochis is already packed with a glamorous set sipping mezcal-based cocktails at the glitzy bar or outdoor terrace, and enjoying tuna tostaditos or robata-grilled seabass from the ‘Tokyo-meets-Tulum’ menu. While Los Mochis is an excellent pick for a weeknight date or corporate catch-up, Luna Omakase is a little bit cooler and several shades more exclusive. As soon as the host slides open those elegant wooden doors to the secret side room, immerse in a luxurious, two-hour-long experience of pure pleasure.
The Food: Executive chef Leonard Tanyag’s 12-course lineup might include buttery Australian amberjack crudo with orange ponzu and fermented wasabi, or nigiri with black bream from northern France, gently seared on Japanese binchotan charcoal in front of you. Throughout the meal, there are nods to Mexico like a soft, rice-paper taco filled with refreshing avocado, tomatillo, and Mexican herbs.
Early on, there’s a caviar tin filled with layers of delicate fresh wasabi, bluefin belly tuna tartare, and creamy caviar and served with crunchy sushi-rice crackers. There’s also a tender wagyu beef sando, and a sweet finale of miso caramel souffle with fresh wasabi ice cream.
The Drink: Choose between a sake pairing (£120 per), classic wine pairing (£160), premium wines (£210) or alcohol-free (£85), or choose à la carte from a selection of rare and fine tequilas, mezcals, whiskies, and sakes.
The Verdict: A welcome addition to the City dining scene, for the quality of the fish and the skill of the cooking. Book now, before it becomes impossible to get a seat. –Laura Price
→ Luna Omakase (City) • 100 Liverpool St • Tue-Sat 630p & 830p seatings • Book.
–02/04/25
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Big secret
The power of a restaurant to transform a neighbourhood? That’s the energy Don’t Tell Dad has brought to Lonsdale Mews in Queen’s Park since its January opening. It’s the kind of place that feels readymade for locals — but it’s already drawing chic diners from every corner of London. And I love everything about it.
By day, a cosy bakery — one that I reckon the French would be proud to call their own — takes up about a quarter of the elongated space, serving baguettes, cookies, and innovative pastries (though lately they’re sold out of almost everything by 11a). They also, blessedly, do the kind of proper coffee that’s hard to find in this neighbourhood, “roasted by casual obsessives.” Each morning when I walk by, there’s a line out the door, mostly full of locals on their way to work. Inside, new mums chat with snoozing babies in tow, all creating a chill, neighborhood feel.
Come Saturday at 8p, when we showed up for dinner, it’s a wholly different vibe: perfectly designed, lit by candlelight, effortlessly chic, and just the right amount of buzzy, Don’t Tell Dad had all the magic of a special dining experience without the fussy, overdone bits. My husband and I chose seats at the bar during their soft opening and found a lively, familial warmth in the air.
The menu mixes playful surprises with dependable classics. I had perfectly cooked wild bass over buttery Jerusalem artichoke and Swiss chard. The beverages, including beer, wine, cocktails, and digestifs, are just as much a draw as the food. The night we visited, they featured a 2021 Blanc de Blancs from Burn Valley Vineyard right up in Norfolk — a rival to any Champagne. Their list has a selection of alternative “fizzes,” plus reds, whites, oranges, and rosés. There are also four signature concoctions and an equal number of non-alcoholic mixes.
The radicchio salad, tangy and sweet with a crunch of nuts, is one you might spend years trying to recreate at home. For starters, both the duck crumpets and the tea smoked trout with soda bread, horseradish, and pickles were extraordinary. And finally, a simple, perfectly executed dessert of baked chocolate, clotted cream, and brandy prunes.
Don’t Tell Dad is the brainchild of Coco di Mama founder Daniel Land. During our visit, he wandered about, smiling like someone who knows he’s created something special and offering samples of the amazing bakery bread. The open kitchen is helmed by Queen’s Park’s own Luke Frankie. And the rest of the staff couldn’t have been sweeter.
As the rest of London begins to catch on and DTD becomes one of those impossible-to-book spots, we’ll be proud to say we loved it first. –Lucy Barzun Donnelly
→ Don't Tell Dad (Queen’s Park) • 10-14 Lonsdale Rd • Bakery: Mon-Sun 8a-3p, Dinner: Tue-Sat 530-930p, Sun 530-8p • Book.
–09/04/25
RESTAURANTS • First Word
All day affair
The Skinny: Is Café François, opened in October in Borough Market, more of a boisterous younger sister, hip cousin, or swanky niece to its (lauded and adored) forebearer Maison
in St James? Debatable. What’s indisputable is its allure as a restaurant for all occasions.
The Vibe: Inside the multi-year, multi-million, from-the-ground-up project, the decor is elevated industrial chic — wooden banquettes, subtle mosaic flooring, iron, glass and exposed brick. It makes perfect sense in the market’s railway arch setting. The servers, too, wear rust orange and forest green French-railway-inspired workwear. Underneath, they’re warm, friendly and knowledgeable, however busy the place is.
The Food: Even in the current, oversaturated era of restaurant flatbreads, all three here (moules marinière, croque monsieur, and lamb merguez) are standouts. Escargots are as decadently drowned in garlic butter as they demand to be. The in-house rotisserie chickens will instantly catch your eye on arrival, and you won’t regret taking a closer look when it comes time for mains. The beef rib easily measures up to any other sharing steak in London, but is superior in two crucial ways: it’s cheaper than most, and you can get it with either bone marrow and escargots or half a lobster. A nominally French cafe offering surf ‘n’ turf is indicative of the wink-nudge cleverness running through the whole menu. Hazelnut Paris-brest is a highlight of pastry chef Jeremy Prakhin’s sumptuously classical dessert menu.
The Drink: The wine list is thoughtful, predominantly (but not exclusively) French, and will break the bank if you desire.
The Verdict: Café François is a place to come to again and again, one of an increasing number of excellent ends to all of your Borough Market wandering. –David Bard
→ Café François (Southwark) • 14-16 Stoney St • Mon-Fri 7a-12a, Sat 9a-12a, Sun 9a-10p • Book.
–01/05/25