10 of the best UK restaurant spin-offs for 2022

Inspired by famous Mexico City cafés of the 1940s, this all-day venue (sister to Edson Diaz-Fuentes and Natalie Feary’s London Bridge HQ) is whatever you want it to be. Drop in for coffee, have brunch then bounce, grab a take-out lunch or stay late for rounds of mezcal and new dishes such as braised ox tongue tacos.

Dishes £8.50-14.50; santoremedio.co.uk

Lilac, Lyme Regis

Robin Wylde’s laid-back cousin

Chef Harriet Mansell’s main restaurant, Robin Wylde, is a serious commitment (tasting menu £80). But at her bar-restaurant Lilac, you can dip in and out of its seasonal plates and low-intervention wines, casually. Dishes such as Fowey mussels or heritage beetroot and Driftwood goat’s cheese reflect Harriet’s love of West Country produce.

Plates £8-14; lilacwine.co.uk

Barnacle, Liverpool

Liverpool on a plate from Art School alumni

Co-owned by Bone and Block’s Harry Marquart and Art School chef-owner Paul Askew (with two Art School alumni, Kieran Gill and Jake Lewis, manning the pass), Barnacle – a new restaurant at handsome Duke Street Market – will attempt to weave a specifically Liverpudlian narrative into plates of soda bread and raw Wirral butter or Cheshire-raised pork with celeriac and Ormskirk cavolo nero. “The idea,” says Paul, a local legend who has been cooking for four decades, “is to tell Liverpool’s food cultural journey through its maritime history. My dad was a merchant navy captain, nicknamed ‘Barnacle’ Bill Askew, so he’d be off to bring back New Zealand lamb or Argentinian beef and, now, I’m the guy saying ‘buy local’. I’m trying to tell that story from globalised influences in cuisine to, now, local ingredients. Liverpool has become a hospitality hub. We want to show what it can produce. I want to make local artisan producers and good chefs Barnacle’s stars.”

Menus from £28; barnacleliverpool.co.uk

Koya Ko, London

Koya but quicker

This Broadway Market outpost of Shuko Oda’s Koya serves fresh udon bowls and donburi in a fast-paced, diner-slash-takeaway space. Inspired by Japanese train station food, there’s even a tachigui counter where you can stand to eat.

Mains from £7.20; koya.co.uk

Flawd, Manchester

Higher Ground’s wine bar debut

Hot pop-up Higher Ground has yet to announce a permanent restaurant location. But already it has spawned two spin-offs: Cinderwood Market Garden, a one-acre ‘regenerative farming’ project, and the low-intervention wine bar, Flawd. This bottle shop and bar has a tiny prep kitchen where chef Joseph Otway is working in dishes of whipped mackerel on toast, yellow pea dip with rhubarb hot sauce or raw squash with habanero and sea buckthorn, to encapsulate Higher Ground’s ultra-seasonal, sustainable ethos.

Plates £3.50-12; follow on Instagram @flawdwine

Sarap Filipino Bistro, London

Budgie Montoya moves up a gear in Mayfair

Spin-off restaurants tend to be more casual, a change of pace for high-end chefs. But Ferdinand ‘Budgie’ Montoya has gone the other way. First came Brixton’s Sarap BAon, restyled mid-pandemic as a fast-casual takeaway and counter-dining spot. Then, late in 2021, he headed to Mayfair to open Sarap Filipino Bistro. Continuing his mission to champion the sour, salty and sweet interplay of Filipino cuisine “in a modern progressive light”, Budgie’s menu will showcase, alongside plates of smoked aubergine salad with tomatoes and salted duck egg or grilled escabeche monkfish, the famous Filipino lechon: whole suckling pig stuffed with lemongrass, aromatics and truffled adobo pork rice (four to six people, £48pp).

Large plates from £20; saraplondon.com

The Plough, Shiplake, Henley-on-Thames

Orwells’ owners about to unveil their pub

At Orwells, chefs Ryan and Liam Simpson-Trotman create ambitious, modern food. Ryan leads the kitchen while green-fingered Liam grows much of the seasonal produce. The Plough, in contrast, will be very much a pub: family- and dog-friendly, and open all day. It’s due to launch in May.

theploughshiplake.co.uk

Yellowhammer, Stockport

Bakery banker from Where The Light Gets In

Chef Sam Buckley’s restaurant Where the Light Gets In revolves around historic techniques of artisan craft and very modern ideas about pushing flavour boundaries. This month, baker Rosie Wilkes will extend that outlook to Yellowhammer, WTLGI’s sister retail bakery (sourdough bread, sweet treats, etc). The space will also incorporate communal tables for weekend dining. Expect to find guest chefs exploring new ideas over extended residencies or Rosie, Yellowhammer’s co-owner, serving sharing platters of al taglio pizza and natural wines. “We don’t want to compromise on ingredients in any way,” she pledges, “that’s mine and Sam’s ethos.”

Pizza evenings from £10pp; Follow on Instagram @yellowhammer_stockport

Littleshop & Pantry, Bristol

The Little French’s little sister

Chef Freddy Bird’s deli-bakery, a pandemic spin-off from his Little French restaurant, recently expanded into next door. It now includes dining space for breakfast (Turkish eggs, latke and hot-smoked salmon), lunch and, at weekends, an evening menu of globally inspired sharing plates.

Plates £5-20; Follow on Instagram @littleshop.and.pantry; littleshopandpantry.co.uk

One Star Döner Bar, Manchester

Carters of Moseley star now creating kebabs

You know him as the one-Michelin-star force behind Birmingham’s Carters of Moseley, a restaurant where dishes such as “red deer, kabocha squash, medieval sauce” are portals into hyper-creative cooking locked into the ancient rhythms of seasonality, preservation and wild British food. But, as with all of us, there’s another side to Brad Carter. As he puts it: “At the end of the day, if I weren’t a chef, I’d be eating kebabs every day where I’m from.” Inspired by trips to Berlin, a city that treats shawarma seriously, Brad has launched One Star Döner Bar at Escape To Freight Island. It is, naturally, a uniquely cheffy kebab house, one where pide from a local Turkish bakery are stuffed with Cornish lamb or Tamworth pork mortadella and where the accompaniments include, variously, cavolo nero, roast garlic mayo and smoked chilli sauce.

Kebabs, £10; Follow on Instagram @onestardonerbar

More delicious diversions

Chefs, restaurants and food lovers innovating new channels for creativity

Bundobust Brewery Tap, Manchester

Marko Husak and Mayur Patel’s love of beer peaks at this brewery and restaurant. Drink the Dhania coriander pils or Chaitro nitro stout alongside amazing Gujarati snacks.

Plates £3.50-6.75; bundobust.com

Spring To-Go, London

Notting Hill deli-bakery offshoot of Skye Gyngell’s Spring restaurant, where you can take home anything from upscale ready meals to sandwiches and coffee.

Sandwiches, £6-8; Follow on Instagram @spring_to_go

Lunar, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent

New restaurant at the World of Wedgwood visitor experience, with menus created (think poached lemon sole with nashi pear and yuzu kosho) by Niall Keating, chef at Wiltshire’s two-Michelin-star Whatley Manor.

Large plates from £22; lunarwedgwood.com

Where’s Fred’s, London

Chelsea Finch adds low-intervention wines and evening sharing plates into the mix at this new ‘evolution’ of her District coffee shops. A fine flat white and great brunch dishes guaranteed.

Brunches around £7-9. wheresfreds.com

Ethicurean Provisions, near Bristol

Ever wanted to take home the Ethicurean’s ferments, vermouth or sticky toffee apple cake? Then rejoice, as it’s just launched a retail range (first for collection, soon mail order). This will include its welsh rarebit as a jarred spread. Get in!

theethicurean.com