Fresh intel
Lupa, Labombe, Mayfair properties, Notting Hill Fish + Meat, Kol, Ria's, Meatopia, Saltmoore, best Copenhagen restaurants, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Hungry like the wolf
The Skinny: As restaurateur duos go, it doesn’t get much hotter than actor Theo James (The White Lotus, The Gentlemen) and Carousel co-founder Ed Templeton. Both grew up in Highbury, so this leafy, affluent part of North London was the natural choice for their first joint venture, Lupa, which opened last month. Completing the trio and commanding the Roman comfort food menu is chef Naz Hassan, whose impressive resumé includes BiBi and Pidgin.
The Vibe: Very much a neighbourhood restaurant, Lupa is the sort of place you’d walk into on a Wednesday evening for a quick bowl of pasta and a glass of wine. Sadly, the celebrity angle means you’re unlikely to get a table until September (but do try SevenRooms’ ‘Alert Me’ option). It’s a tiny, acoustically challenged room, so go for buzzy evenings with mates, rather than quiet catch-ups.
The Food: The carbonara gets the most airtime on social media, but the secondi are the real stars of the menu. Porchetta is a perfectly moist spiral, stuffed with apricot and subtle herbs and finished with a crispy skin. It goes down well with a bowl of vignarola, a hot Roman vegetable stew of broad beans, peas and asparagus in a buttery, lemony, dill-spiked sauce. Pan-fried fish of the day (turbot, on our visit) is similarly buttery and flakes apart on the fork — add a scarpetta to mop up all that sauce.
As for dessert, homemade tiramisu is delightfully boozy and rich. The team opted for non-whipped mascarpone, sourced from a family-run dairy and containing a higher-than-usual ratio of cream to milk, and thus denser than your average tiramisu.
The Drink: Cocktails and wine are dispatched from a teeny-tiny bar along the back of the dining room, with a small, carefully curated list of Italian wines and a handful of mixed drinks, including a crowd-pleasing Negroni.
The Verdict: Diners hoping to glimpse the White Lotus star will likely be disappointed, but this light-filled neighbourhood spot is already packed to the rafters. On hot summer days, it’s a joy to saunter through Highbury Fields and pitch up for pasta and wine, but the colder months will make it a cosy place to enjoy the heartier comfort dishes.–Laura Price
→ Lupa (Finsbury Park) • 73 Highbury Park • Wed-Fri 530-11p, Sat 12-11p, Sun 12-10p • Book.
RESTAURANTS • Intel
RETURN OF THE MET: Jonny Lake, Isa Bal and the team behind Trivet are opening Labombe, a new restaurant on the site of ‘90s hotspot The Met Bar. Alongside ‘extra special’ wines (Bal’s forté), Fat Duck alumnus Lake will serve grill-focused plates such as bottarga toast, king oyster gildas and grilled duck heart and cherry skewers. Opening in September; sign up for updates.
CARNIVORES’ PARADISE: Meatopia is back, and the full lineup includes Elliot Hashtroudi from Camille, Anna Higham from Quince Bakery, and George Brown and George Husband, the duo from restaurant residency project Gorka. Tobacco Dock, 28-31 Aug, tickets.
SALT-MORE: North Yorkshire luxury wellness resort Saltmoore has opened its long-awaited Pizzeria at the Beach House, bringing slow-fermented sourdough with regeneratively farmed flour and locally sourced toppings. Book. –Laura Price
LONDON RESTAURANT LINKS: Chef Kenny Atkinson planning 25th-floor restaurant Solaya at Hoxton’s art’otel • Leytonstone welcomes Forno’s second London bakery • London’s top 5 restaurant wine lists.
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three for-sale properties in Mayfair that recently came to market:
→ Green St (Mayfair) • 4BR/3BA/2R, 174 m2 flat • Asking price: £4.5mn • occupied for 34 years, potential for expansion to 234 m2 • Ownership type: leasehold • Agent: Keiron McGill, Harding Green.
→ Shepherd St (Mayfair) • 4BR/3BA/1R, 206 m2 house • Asking price: £4.75mn • over 4 floors on cul de sac • Ownership type: freehold • Agent: Foxtons.
→ Chesterfield Hill (Mayfair, above) • 4BR/3BA/2R, 408 m2 terraced house • Asking price: £15.0mn • central staircase connecting the 6 floors • Ownership type: freehold • Agent: Jasper Jevons, Savills.
WORK & PLAY LINKS: Why London homes don’t have air con • Plans revealed for 85 Gracechurch, blending offices and Roman basilica • 29-storey ‘vertical village’ 100 Kensington nears completion • How sporty sunglasses became super smart.
WORK • Wednesday Routine
Chef’s dream
SANTIAGO LASTRA • chef • KOL
Neighbourhood you live in: West London
Neighbourhood you work in: Marylebone
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I start most mornings commuting to Marylebone and KOL, where I work on new dish ideas with our Head of Research and Development in our test kitchen. We’re always tasting and trying new developments, according to what produce we have and what our suppliers have in stock.
What’s on the agenda for today?
We’ll start with R&D for the new menu, then a PR and marketing meeting to go through the strategy and documents for different events and partnerships. Next, I’ll try a few dishes with our head chef, Rey, before lunch service. Over lunch, I’m busy finishing dishes, serving guests and talking to people, then it’s over to our other restaurant, Fonda, for short rib tacos at staff meal. In the afternoon, I’ll have a catch-up with Fonda’s managers and a briefing with the team. I’ll speak to Fonda’s head chef, Lewis, to check the mise en place and taste a few dishes, then finally I’m on the dinner service at Fonda, overseeing the pass, running the food and chatting with the guests.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
In Soho, I’ll visit Kiln or Mountain. For a more casual meal, Trullo in Islington, which has amazing pasta, and Sushi Show in Camden or Shoreditch, which is always reliable.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I love cold water swimming, followed by the sauna, and I also love football and basketball in the warmer months. Earlier in the year, I saw Lily Collins’ play, Barcelona. It was fantastic.
Any weekend getaways?
Somerset is beautiful and has great local restaurants and pubs to explore, and you can see the fields where most of the produce comes from. I’d love to head up to Scotland sometime to visit Pam Brunton’s restaurant, Inver. In Kent, The Sportsman is another great place outside of London.
What was your last great vacation?
The Yucatan Peninsula. While visiting family in Mexico, my girlfriend and I took a few days to enjoy the beaches in the Caribbean and see the cenotes – huge underground water caves that are super cool. We also took a day trip to explore the jungle and had some incredible cochinita pibil.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
A Moleskine Smartpen and notebook. You write or draw with the pen and paper like normal, and it transfers the note instantly to your phone. It’s great to have an easy backup of notes online, especially as my notes get dirty in the kitchen. I write in a creativity journal now, and it’s the best way to keep track of those ideas without losing inspiration or getting distracted by my phone.
What store or service do you always recommend?
Notting Hill Fish + Meat, a chef’s dream for its wide variety of international, local and seasonal products. They have everything there, from fresh tuna to carrots. It’s not a typical grocery shop, so it’s not cheap, but the quality is fantastic and worth it.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Prom Night
First Night of the Proms 2025 • Mendelssohn, Sibelius et al • Royal Albert Hall (South Kensington) • Fri @ 645p • grand tier, £90 per
Maid of Stone Festival • Black Stone Cherry et al • Mote Park (Maidstone, Kent) • Fri-Sun • adult weekend, first release, £168 per
Kaiser Chiefs • Alexandra Palace Park (Haringey) • Sat @ 5p • outdoor terrace VIP, £120 per
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Elegant slice
When my Midwestern father first moved to London to be closer to his grandchildren, his biggest complaint was that the city had no Good Pizza. Which means, for him, Detroit-style pizza – a deep, soft base with tomato sauce, symmetrical lines of thin pepperoni, and burnt cheese edges.
For his birthday, I decided to find it for him. But while London has plenty of pizza, this regionally specific style was elusive until Ria’s opened. Far enough away from the nightmare of Portobello Market, it’s in the best part of Notting Hill – stylish, but not overcrowded.
When we first walked in, my father eyed the interiors suspiciously. There were no red neon lights or vinyl chequerboard floors, only minimalist seaside-themed decor, with sky-blue painted beadboard, buttercream walls and light oak hooks.
It only got worse for my father when we sat down and looked at the menu. Spicy merguez? King prawns (shrimp, I reminded him) on a pizza? Natural wine? I sheepishly consider that I ruined his birthday by taking him to a restaurant for 30-somethings who still call themselves ‘cool girls’. The menu listed all the trappings of an overly hip London spot: homemade pickles, whipped feta, burnt onion jam.
I ordered two ‘pies’: pepperoni & soppressata, and garlic wild mushroom, with all the sides. Since it was lunch, we skipped Ria’s beer and had craft soft drinks.
My father shifted uncomfortably on the narrow wooden bench as Dave, one of the owners, brought the pizza to our table. I asked if he had family in Detroit. He said his wife Ria, from Scotland, never liked Neapolitan pizza, and once she tried Detroit-style, she loved it so much she decided to open a restaurant. In the thinness of his answer, I wondered if Ria’s was a stab at creating a ‘food trend’ like a cronut or smashburger, but decided I wouldn’t mind if my favourite style of pizza became so ubiquitous in London I could order it as easily as a fish and chips.
I looked down at our plates and wondered if my father noticed. The pizza’s signature features — a grease pool on the centre pepperoni, slightly overcooked tomato sauce, and chewy cheese cubes – were missing. The pizzas were completely different from the franchises in Detroit; the ingredients were fresh, the preparation elegant.
We dug in. After the silence that comes when food is better than any conversation, I asked my father how it tastes. ‘Not bad. Not bad at all.’ –AC Kienbaum
→ Ria’s (Notting Hill) • 29 All Saints Road • Mon-Sat 12-11p, Sun 12-10p • Book.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Palladian pile in deepest Gloucestershire hits market for £6mn • In Aughton, Ormskirk, Sō–lō’ restaurant closing for revamp • 64 Degrees restaurant in Brighton to close.
GETAWAYS • The Nines
Restaurants, Copenhagen
This Nines originally appeared in FOUND Paris. Looking for more Paris in your life? Subscribe at paris.itsfound.com, with new issues dropping each Friday.
Alchemist (Refshaleøen), for an explosion of art and science