Raymond Blanc is to be honoured next month at a dinner to mark the 40th anniversary of Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, cooked by prominent chefs who have passed through its kitchen. The six-course dinner, on 16 April, will be hosted by Robin Gill at Darby’s, his restaurant near the new American Embassy in Vauxhall, with […]
Luke Selby (pictured with his brothers Nathaniel, left, and Theo, right) of Evelyn’s Table in Soho has been appointed to succeed Gary Jones, who has stepped down after more than two decades as executive chef at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons near Oxford. For Luke, it marks a return to a kitchen where he […]
Gary Jones has left Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons after 23 years as executive head chef, to “pursue new opportunities”. Earlier this year, he was presented with the prestigious Special Award by the Craft Guild of Chefs (pictured) for making a ‘significant impact on the industry’. Previous winners have included his boss at Le Manor, Raymond […]
Raymond Blanc’s pub-brasserie group is to be spun out into a national chain under new owners who plan to open as many as 50 new branches in the next few years. The French-born chef is understood to have sold his minority stake, but will remain involved in the business. Alchemy Partners, a London-based private equity […]
High-flying young chef Danny Gill has returned to his home town of Lincoln to buy the pie shop where he first worked as a 15-year-old kitchen porter. Brown’s Pie Shop, around the corner from the city’s cathedral, is a Steep Hill institution that celebrates its 50th anniversary next year. Described in the latest Harden’s Survey as “a taste of […]
Former Danesford House head chef Adam Simmonds has opened a 12-month pop-up in Soho to test the market ahead of a permanent opening in the capital. Test Kitchen, near Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in Frith Street, will be just that – a counter where diners are expected to feed back to chefs on the dishes […]
Sommelier-turned-restaurateur Xavier Rousset is launching his third solo venture, Comptoir Café & Wine, in Mayfair next month. It follows the success of Blandford Comptoir in Marylebone – praised in the latest Harden’s Survey for its “superb wine list” – and Burgundy specialist Cabotte in the City, both of which opened last year. Tucked away behind Bond Street station […]
Dabbous, the Fitzrovia restaurant that opened to rapturous acclaim five years ago, is to close this summer as chef Ollie Dabbous (right in picture) and his business partner Oskar Kinberg, who runs the basement bar, prepare their next venture. No details have yet been released for what Dabbous says will be a “major undertaking” with […]
Former MasterChef: The Professionals winner Steven Edwards is to open his first restaurant, Etch, in Hove next month, with a focus on local Sussex produce. Edwards, 30, trained under Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons near Oxford and spent six years at The Pass restaurant in South Lodge Hotel near Horsham, winning MasterChef in […]
Chefs must use their influence to guide consumers towards more sustainable ways of eating, Andrew Stephen, CEO of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, said this week. He was speaking at a sold-out dinner hosted by Peter Harden and Raymond Blanc, president of the SRA, at the Belmond Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, and attended by a food-loving crowd including […]
