Hot Dinners covers Indian from two‑Michelin chef

Aktar Islam, the chef behind Birmingham’s two-Michelin-starred Opheem, is opening his first London restaurant, Oudh 1722, in Borough on May 1. (hot-dinners.com) Hot Dinners said Oudh 1722 will take over the former Lupins site at 66 Union Street in a three-storey listed Victorian building near Borough Market. (hot-dinners.com) The menu is built around Awadhi cooking from Lucknow, with shorba broth, naashta snacks, kebabs, sharing curries and dum pukht slow-cooking. (hot-dinners.com) Hot Dinners listed dishes including venison nargisi kofta, kakori kebab, lamb raan-e-dum pukht and whole turbot cooked in spiced ghee. (hot-dinners.com) Islam’s arrival in London follows Opheem’s 2024 Michelin milestone, when the Birmingham restaurant became the first Indian restaurant in the UK to win two stars. (hot-dinners.com) (timeout.com) In a separate expansion, the team behind Lupa in Highbury is opening Ornella, a Milanese restaurant at 51 Wilton Way in Hackney. (hot-dinners.com) That group includes actor Theo James, restaurateur Ed Templeton and chef Naz Hassan, who grew up in Milan and is steering Ornella away from Lupa’s Roman format. (hot-dinners.com) (standard.co.uk) Hot Dinners said Ornella will be almost double the size of Lupa and plans dishes such as risotto alla Milanese, vitello tonnato and tagliatelle al burro e Parmigiano. (hot-dinners.com) Lupa itself was added to the Michelin Guide in March 2026, just before the second opening moved ahead. (hot-dinners.com) Taken together, the two announcements show London’s spring 2026 restaurant pipeline pulling in both Michelin-level imports and fast follow-on sites from young local operators. (hot-dinners.com) (guide.michelin.com)