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Amuse-bouches: The latest restaurant news bites

In restaurant news this week: Dining out in the UK is predicted to fall by over a third in September, London wine bar Top Cuvée gets ready to open a shop, and a MasterChef: The Professionals finalist prepares to open a West African restaurant in October. 

WLC Eats: Skylon

wlc heads to Skylon on London’s Southbank to test-drive its new menu, devised by Finnish-born chef Helena Puolakka, gorging on cured salmon on rye, fresh pappardelle in a smoked tomato sauce with creamy goat’s cheese and a heavenly chocolate tart.

New on Wine List Confidential: Caractère

At Emily Roux and Diego Ferrari’s debut venture in London’s Notting Hill, sommelier Romeo Bisacchi sums up the wine list: “We’ve got no Pétrus or Romanée-Conti, but we do have stuff you couldn’t find elsewhere”.

Unfiltered: Giovanni Ferlito, The Ritz

Giovanni Ferlito, head of wine and beverages at The Ritz, reveals the perils of maintaining an 800-bin wine list, what it was like to serve Madonna, and why London is simply the best city in the world to be a sommelier.

WLC Eats: Kym’s

WLC’s resident foodie, Lucy Shaw, heads to A. Wong’s second act, Kym’s, in the Bloomberg Arcade, for giant rice crackers, heavenly Ibérico pork char sui, and Sichuan Sours.

Hot new London bars: October

Our latest round up of drinking dens in the capital includes a canned cocktail bar in Fitzrovia, a vermouth café in King’s Cross, and a bistro championing women winemakers.

Top 8 extreme restaurants

While a bricks and mortar Michelin-starred venue might be enough to sate most appetites for culinary exploration, these restaurants are in another league, offering the adventurous foodie an extreme dining experience.

Unfiltered: Katie Exton, Lorne

Katie Exton began her career in wine with English producer Breaky Bottom, and went on to become head sommelier at Chez Bruce and The River Café, before opening her own restaurant, Lorne, in 2017.

Wine List Confidential: Stem and Stem

Douglas Blyde stops and smells the roses at restaurant and florist Stem and Stem in the City of London. Fittingly, he finds dishes “accented in chlorophyll hues”, and a “bouquet menu” that “borrows the language of a wine list”.