Hoppers to launch second London site… and you’ll be able to reserve a table

You can tell how popular Soho’s Sri Lankan restaurant Hoppers is by the length of the queue. It has barely subsided since it first launched a year and a half ago.

Now its owners, siblings Karam, Sunaina, and Jyotin Sethi, who are also behind Gymkhana, Bao and Xu among others, are addressing that demand by launching a second site — and this one will take reservations.

Hoppers the second will launch on Marylebone’s Wigmore Street, very close to Oxford Street, at the end of August. It will have total space for just over 100 diners, well over double the 40 which can squeeze into the original.

This will include four vault areas, each with room for 6 to 8 people, likely to prove popular places to enjoy the restaurant’s set feasting menus, which will be a new addition for this site only.

These large dishes will include claypot baby chicken kukul maas, string hopper seafood kothu, and kalupol black pork ribs with fennel and turmeric sambol.

Around 40% of the main menu will also be new, with a bigger selection of kothu roti alongside short eats such as jaffna beef rib fry and tuna and tapioca cutlets with avocado sambol.

The signature dishes for which Hoppers became known, including its bone marrow varuval, will also be available.

A new bar menu will focus on gin along with the rum-like Sri Lankan spirit arrack, and will become standalone destinations for drinks and snacks.

Co-owner Karam Sethi explained: “The key for us is to differentiate the two sites rather than create a replica, so the menus will not be identical. The new site will have two bars and more of a party vibe compared to the original.”

He added: “Allowing people to make reservations will give people the opportunity to have a more relaxed, more luxe experience without waiting in a queue.”

The design of the new site has been inspired by famous Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa, known for his style which breaks down the barrier between inside and out. This will include a terrace allowing for alfresco eating at the restaurant for the first time.

There could be more Hoppers on the horizon, too. While plans will depend on the success of this new site, Karam revealed “the ambition is to open more”. Something tells us, there might just be demand.