Former US embassy now a dining must

I’m at New York this week so what better timing to intertwine a US-London newsletter that with the new Chancery Rosewood…

🎪 A new mixed‑use project in Holborn will include a 300‑seat cultural “dome” framed above the buried remains of a medieval Knights Templar church. Set beside Chancery Lane, its layered, domed auditorium nods to heritage while offering a discreet new venue for exhibitions and events.

🧑‍🍳 It seems like critic William Sitwell, who recently left an unjustly scathing review of The Chalk, is putting his money where his mouth is. He’s taking over The White Hart in Somerset, relaunching it as “Casa Wivey,” a chic hotel and Italian restaurant.

🍕 Crisp Pizza, long a Hammersmith fixture, is adding a second home in Mayfair with The Marlborough in October. Backed by The Devonshire team, it pairs a speakeasy-style basement for crisp New York pies with a pub pouring standout Guinness upstairs.

👀 It seems like Sault garnered attention for all the wrong reasons with a preachy, GCSE drama-esque, biblical performance at All Points East.

The transformed former US Embassy, now The Chancery Rosewood, has shed its fortress aura, becoming a seamlessly open, design-minded cultural landmark in Mayfair. At its heart lies a curated food and drink narrative, one both rooted in place and reaching outward into global conversation.

🍝 Carbone takes the northeast corner, bringing its swaggering Italian-American style and reputation to London. Downstairs, a vast dining room with booths, bars and private rooms sets the stage for lobster ravioli, veal marsala and grilled fish. Upstairs, a terrace softens the spectacle with a more open, street-level mood. This one will open a little later on 16 September.

🍣 Hot on its heels comes Tobi Masa, the first London outpost from three‑Michelin-starred Masa (New York), labelled the world’s best sushi restaurant by many. The omakase counter promises dishes like torotartar, shiso‑ink pasta and Peking duck tacos - an ambitious negotiation of Japanese precision and theatrical luxury.

🦀 Serra opens with casual Mediterranean warmth. Expect generous shared plates, grilled seafood, mezze and handmade pasta. It’s under the direction of Alex Povall, whose background spans Berenjak and Murano.

🌸 Jacqueline is a tearoom turned dessert salon. Pastry chef Marius Dufay presents the “Flower Collection” - pastries as delicate as they are scented, inspired by singular blooms, and served beneath a tendril of refined, golden lighting.

☕️ GSQ, a café-deli by day, feels like a gracious nod to Mayfair’s gentle rhythms. Think morning coffee and pastries, moving into seasonal salads and sandwiches by noon - all delivered with a quiet sense of belonging to the neighbourhood.

🍸 Atop it all sits the Eagle Bar, a rooftop retreat crowned by a gilded eagle - a dramatic reference to the building’s diplomatic past. Liana Oster, formerly of NoMad London, oversees an evocative cocktail list, paired with a vinyl-first soundtrack courtesy of an East London curator.

Seven years on from her Michelin-starred debut Sabor, Nieves Barragán returns with Legado. The menu ranges across Spain - from crystal prawns with smoked paprika to lobster over rose potatoes crowned with fried egg. A 60-cover dining room is joined by Taberna, a bar and terrace for tapas and pintxos. It feels like a confident expansion of Barragán’s culinary legacy.

I caught William Sitwell’s one-star takedown of The Chalk Freehouse in The Telegraph and couldn’t help but pause. I’d just spent a Friday evening there, and the experience couldn’t have been more different. Some critics seem to hunt for grievances; this review is written in defence of a pub that deserves better.