raw section – ceviches, aguachiles and shellfish – followed by sharing plates such as crab chilpachole rice with brown butter and chive.
Larger dishes designed for the table will include whole lobster with chintextle and smoked butter sauce, supported by seasonal sides that reference both British produce and Mexican pantry traditions.
The drinks programme follows the same line of thinking, ranging from tepache and homemade aguas frescas to agave-based cocktails such as a Cometa spicy margarita and mezcal old fashioned.
A new identity for the Charlotte Street Wine Bar
The Templeton brothers have redesigned the site themselves. Softer textiles, oak-topped tables and an earthy, intimate palette aim to shift the former wine bar towards a warm, neighbourhood feel while retaining Carousel’s creative identity.
Ed Templeton said: "There’s been a Mexican heartbeat to our kitchen for several years now. These are the flavours that we keep going back to, so opening Cometa felt like the natural next step for us.
"Our guest chef programme isn’t going anywhere, but with this new restaurant we wanted to put our own style of cooking and our own personality, front and centre, where it deserves to be. Cometa marked an exciting new chapter for us, and we hoped it would become a much-loved destination for diners in search of some of the best seafood in London.”
Opening plans
The Charlotte Street Wine Bar will continue trading until the new year. Cometa is scheduled to open in February 2026, adding a new seafood-focused perspective to Fitzrovia’s increasingly diverse dining landscape.
