Carousel to open new Mexican seafood restaurant Cometa in Fitzrovia
London’s creative culinary collective Carousel is set to open a brand-new restaurant this February as it transforms its Charlotte Street Wine Bar into Cometa.
Cometa is a contemporary Mexican seafood concept shaped by British day-boat produce and years of deep collaboration with Mexico’s most influential chefs.
Cometa, translating to the Spanish word for 'comet', marks a significant new chapter for Carousel co-founders Ed and Ollie Templeton, who said the team wanted to place their own cooking 'front and centre' after a decade of hosting guest chefs from around the world.
A Mexican lens on British waters
The menu at Cometa will bring together bold Mexican flavours with sustainably sourced UK seafood, working closely with long-standing suppliers including Fin and Flounder, Flying Fish, Keltic Seafare and The Sea The Sea.
The kitchen will be led by Carousel trio Ollie Templeton, José Lizarralde Serralde – whose background spans Relæ, Nicos and Meroma – and Alejandra Juarez, formerly of Estela, Máximo and Makan.
The trio’s approach has been shaped by years of collaborative work with leading Mexican chefs such as Tomás Bermúdez, Thalía Barrios Garcia, Santiago Muñoz and Gerardo Vázquez Lugo, who have all appeared in Carousel’s guest chef programme.
A brasserie-style structure with a distinctly Mexican heart
Cometa’s menu takes cues from Contramar, The Four Horsemen and the streetside carretas of Ensenada, adopting a loose French brasserie format but led by Mexican techniques and coastal flavours. Diners can expect a strong 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.
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