Summer is in full swing – and even if you haven’t booked your hot-weather holidays yet, there’s still plenty happening outside London that’s still bookable. Supper clubs, new seaside hotels and more are luring us beyond zone six this month. Plus, there’s a new direct Eurostar route, and a London airport is set for an expansion.
Canteen changes scenery
Notting Hill Italian restaurant Canteen has spawned a summer twin: a pop-up in the Old Coal Yard in Oxfordshire, where guests can feast on executive chef Jess Filbey’s sharp Italian cooking while surrounded by the rambling countryside. And unlike the walk-in-only London original, guests can book tables. Get into summer-friendly dishes like a pork ragu tagliatelle; pizza topped with taleggio, courgette and basil; and chocolate mousse with olive oil and sea salt. There’s also a fire pit, an outdoor bar and live music on Friday nights.
canteen310.com
A new wine bar and restaurant for Whitstable
A former Whitstable deli has been transformed into a handsome, colour-soaked wine bar and restaurant by a duo with fine-dining cred. Dan Smith (who’s the chef behind Kent’s Michelin-starred Fordwich Arms) and sommelier Elliott Ashton-Konig (ex-Da Terra, Bethnal Green) have opened Keller, where local produce is cooked in a Bertha oven. Naturally seafood plays a role in dishes like roasted vadouvan-spiced scallops, but you also might find rarebit croquettes and beef tartare with gherkin ketchup. The approachable wine list is perfect holiday-to-the-seaside fodder: old and new world drops, plus bottles from Kent producers and two wines on tap.
@kellerwinebar
A Cornish classic revisited
Prolific restaurateurs Paul and Emma Ainsworth continue their takeover of Cornwall with the relaunch of St Enodoc, a century-old coastal escape in Cornish hotspot Rock. The Ainsworths have retained and restored the estate’s heritage spirit, while making a few bigger changes – including opening two new restaurants led by Gordon Ramsay alumnus Paul. There’s the Estuary Grill, with local seafood and meat cooked over an asado grill, and all-day al fresco spot The Flour Garden serving pizzas, salads and soft serves. In summer a vintage French truck pours drinks outside with Cornish coastal views. Soon, the property’s 21 rooms will get a revamp, and a gym and wellness centre will be added to the mix.
st-endoc-hotel.co.uk
Antwerp bound
Eurostar has announced a new direct route launching in December: London to Antwerp. It’ll be a new addition to the London to Amsterdam journey, which also includes stops at Lille, Brussels and Rotterdam. The trip will take two hours and 45 minutes and depart four times a day – but due to border control issues, there will be no direct return journey; passengers will need to catch a local train to Brussels and depart back to St Pancras from there.
eurostar.com
A sparkling takeover
Kent winemaker Chapel Down recently hosted a competition to find the chefs defining modern British cuisine right now. This summer, its winners have hosted a series of dinners at Chapel Down’s restaurant The Swan – and the next is on September 15, with Simon Hulstone of The Elephant, a Michelin-starred brasserie in Torquay, on the pans. His menu will include hand-dived Brixham scallops and Exmoor lamb rump with crispy sweetbread and elderflower vinegar jus. Naturally, each dish will be paired with Chapel Down wine.
chapeldown.com
An antidote to the city
Osip and The Pharmacy chef-patron Merlin Labron-Johnson has recently launched Pharmacy Field Kitchen, a catering concept bringing together food and art to locations around the Somerset countryside. And though it’ll be mostly available for private catering, Labron and his team will are also hosting one-off special events every now and again. The next is a celebration of the Italian holiday Ferragosto on August 15 and 16, when the team will collaborate with London institution Bocca di Lupo on a long-table feast served in the fields surrounding Wyke House. It’ll lean into local at-its-peak produce for regional Italian dishes like fried courgette flowers; a risotto of porcini, butter and parmesan; and cannoli with Westcombe ricotta. Tickets for August 15 have sold out, but there’s still some to be snapped up for August 16.
sevenrooms.com
Sally Abé gets out of town
Cotswolds estate Lakes by Yoo is hosting a series of supper clubs with top chefs. Next up? Sally Abé, the chef behind smash-hit Wilton Way restaurant Teal by Sally Abé, on September 12. She’ll take to the property’s lakeside dining room to cook up a multi-course meal of dishes that celebrate late-summer produce and reflect British culinary heritage. Make a weekend of it by booking one of its waterfront suites.
thelakesbyyoo.com
More Tom Sellers at Mor
Tom Sellers (Story) has just opened his first restaurant outside of London with Mor at the Carbis Bay Estate in St Ives. It’s bringing together Cornish produce and Japanese techniques in a dining room with wide-screen views of the sea. Visit for a counter overflowing with the catch of the day and dishes like oven-baked rice studded with seafood, barbecued quail skewers with salted chilli and lime, and a sashimi plate with English wasabi. The space has been built by British craftspeople, with natural stone finishes and floor-to-ceiling windows.
carbisbayhotel.co.uk
More airspace
London Luton Airport has been given the all-clear by the Supreme Court to more than double in size. It will increase the airport’s annual passenger capacity from 19 to 32 million by the mid-2040s, with an expansion of its existing terminal, the construction of a new terminal and added taxiways.
london-luton.co.uk
