Hot on the heels of a top Parisian chef taking over at the Connaught, news arrives that a top Lyonnais is to open a fine dining restaurant in South Kensington (on the former Lundum’s site).

The toque concerned is Jean-Christophe Ansanay-Alex – once chef to Christina Onassis – who runs the Auberge de l’Ile restaurant in Lyon, which has two Michelin stars, reports caterersearch.com.

It’s a brave move, as no provincial French chef we can think of has made a go of a London offshoot in recent times. Indeed, rather the contrary. W’sens – offshoot of the Pourcel brothers, of the much Michelin-hyped Jardin des Sens in Montpellier – was greeted in London with much-deserved hoots of derision, and soon closed.