Restaurant radar: 8 new openings for a delicious summer

There’s a definite trend for micro-restaurants currently – 12 covers and under with minimal staffing – with reduced overheads tempting chefs and restaurant teams to downsize. Gwen, in Machynlleth, Wales, is one such restaurant, serving just eight guests at a time. From the team behind nearby two-Michelin-star destination restaurant Ynyshir, it’s actually been open since 2023, but this summer sees the arrival of chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesias (pictured), once of acclaimed Bristol restaurants like Casamia and Paco Tapas, and Decimo at The Standard, London. Expect around 20, fire-led courses in a none more intimate space. 

_{Photo credit: Luke Boyden}

Chef Tom Sellers, of London’s two-Michelin-starred Restaurant Story, is making a return to Cornwall and to the Carbis Bay Estate in St Ives, where he ran a successful pop-up in 2019. Mor, opening 20 July, will lean heavily on local ingredients like dayboat fish and local organic vegetables, with a raw bar and charcoal grill the foundation for much of the à la carte menu, and the white sands of Carbis Bay below helping to frame the experience. Sellers brings with him a stellar team, including longtime collaborator chef Tom Anglesea and chef Corrin Harrison, formerly of Ynyshir and Gwen. 

The team behind Michelin-starred, tasting-menu spot Pine in Northumberland will be bringing a taste of their cuisine to a new development in Newcastle from 6 August. Pyr will be a live-fire concept at Freight Island Newcastle, a 60,000-square-foot rooftop dining and entertainment destination in the city. Chefs Cal Byerley and Ian Waller will look to celebrate the best of the Northeast’s produce with their menu, which will start with snacks and smaller plates before continuing with big hunks of meat cooked over flame and even fire-inspired desserts. Think grilled peas with North Sea quid and lemon verbena, pork chop with Darling Blue cheese and fermented apricot, and brown butter madeleine with fermented elderflower honey.

_{Linda Hermans Photography}

One of London’s best bakeries will open its second site, in Deptford, in July. Camberwell’s Toad, famous for playful takes on classic confectionery, like its yuzu ‘Jaffa Cake’, and stellar breads and viennoiserie, will use the second, larger site as a bakehouse for both locations. Expect signature bakes like the Everything Bagel Croissant and the Saffron and Vanilla Teacake at the new Deptford High Street location and quite possibly similarly lengthy, totally worth it, queues.

_{Photo credit: Caitlin Isola}