Restaurant review - Sweet Thursday, London

Tasting Diary

A look at the key tastings taking place over the next month

Restaurant openings

Largest rosé list launches at Franco's

The largest rosé wine list of any restaurant in London was launched this week at Franco's in Jermyn Street, which also claims to the be the first Italian restaurant in the capital.

Restaurant review: Sweet Thursday

Biochemist-turned-pastry-chef Bethany Chellingworth realised her love for cooking when her IVF doctor mother, Kay, gifted her a place on an Acton cookery class. "The tutor, Angela Malik, a former accountant, was the first change-of-lifer chef I'd met," she recalls. Inspired by the experience, Chellingworth swapped science - "a brutal and competitive business " - for a year at Leith's School of Food and Wine. There, she gained the WSET Intermediate and award for best theory mark.

Openings: Pearson Room

A new opening in Canada Square is the 120-cover Pearson Room, which is due to open next week (April 24 ). Serving eclectic all-day fare, the dining room will showcase a menu of sharing plates, while the bar will be open for drinks until late.

Openings: Voltaire

A new restaurant that offers private dining, an outdoor terrace and a Champagne bar has opened in London's Square Mile. Housed in a building that was once both a palace and a prison, Voltaire boasts the capital's largest collection of Pommery Champagne, as well as an al fresco cigar terrace, and a series of spacious vault rooms where guests can dine in private with their own dedicated waiter.

The List: The Providores

Anne Krebiehl navigates the 99% Kiwi wine list at London's Providores and Tapa Room

Openings: The Truscott Arms

A newly reopened London pub is bringing a taste of culture to its customers. The Truscott Arms in Maida Vale not only serves up food and drink, but also offers punters the opportunity to browse its third-floor gallery, where exhibitions by some of the country's most talented young artists will be held.

Sommelier's view: Cedric Beaumond, Bo

The newest addition to Bo London's team is Cedric Beaumond, previously head sommelier and wine manager at what he describes as the "relatively comfortable" Savoy Grill.

Alvin Cheung: searching for perfection at Bo London

The self-dubbed 'Demon Chef', Alvin Leung does not do anything by halves, as Douglas Blyde discovers while delving...

The List: Enoteca Turi

Owner Guiseppe Turi tells Bernadette John why Italian wines triumph over all on the list at Puglia specialist Enoteca Turi

Openings: The Port House

The Port House, a Dublin-based-chain of restaurants inspired by Spanish and Portuguese cuisine, matched with a selection of speciality gins and Spanish and Portuguese wines, has opened in London's Covent Garden.

Openings: Salvador & Amanda Bloomsbury

Spanish tapas bar and restaurant Salvador & Amanda has now opened a second venue in Bloomsbury, offering a combination of traditional Spanish eats, as well as quirky takes on some old favourites.

It's all meat and drink to Hawksmoor

There has never been a better time to go out for a steak in London and you would struggle to find a place superior to Hawksmoor. Dominic Midgley discovers the chain is as proud of its drinks offer as it is its rib eyes and sirloins

Paul Ainsworth is new chef on the block

Rick Stein is no longer the only culinary attraction in Cornwall's Padstow - Paul Ainsworth is drawing his own crowd, as Ed Robertson discovers

The List: Chrysan

Nina Caplan on the drinks offer at Hakkasan's City of London Japenese venture

Restaurant review: The Lamb Inn

My room is named after The Glenlivet, and part of a spent cask from the Speyside distillery protrudes. This is The Lamb Inn, 15th-century outpost of the Boisdale group. Ranald Macdonald founded his first whisky and cigar focused bar in Belgravia in 1988. The business expanded to Bishopsgate in 2002, with the opulent, purpose-built Canary Wharf site opening in 2011.

Restaurant review: Guillaume Glipa Coya Restaurant & Bar

In the aftermath of International Pisco Sour Day, Douglas Blyde talks to Guillaume Glipa, general manager of Coya, London's latest Peruvian restaurant.

Introducing the new breed at MASH

Douglas Blyde learns how the founders of the Modern American Steak House are training up a new wave of sommeliers