Berenjak to take over former Flor site in Borough Market

Iranian restaurant Berenjak is to open its second London location in the former Flor site in Borough Market this spring.

The opening comes four years after chef Kian Samyani and JKS Restaurants launched Berenjak’s first venue in Soho in 2018.

Flor permanently closed the Borough site last month after two and a half years of trading, and its backer JKS kept the site.

Berenjak is inspired by Tehran’s hole-in-the-wall kebab houses and will offer an expanded menu of homestyle Iranian dishes alongside charcoal-grilled kebabs.

New dishes exclusive to Borough will be inspired by the large family gatherings and Iranian picnics of Samyani’s childhood, such as a rotisserie saffron chicken and zereshk pollow, or Persian barberry rice. Several new starters will be added to the mazeh section and the restaurant will offer a full menu of classic Iranian desserts for the first time.

A grab-and-go lunchbox special will also be on offer between Tuesday and Thursday.

The two-storey site will be redesigned as a 'Persian townhouse', with vintage Persian rugs, books, candles and dried flowers from the region. Downstairs, high stools will sit around an open kitchen counter, while upstairs banquettes will be piled high with cushions.

The first floor will cater for large groups, private dining and events such as Sunday cinema screenings and one-off ticketed dinners. It will also be used as a space for championing the work of British-Iranian artists and designers.

Flor continues to trade from a bakery arch in Spa Terminus in Bermondsey.