Adam Simmonds (pictured), Nuno Mendes and Dom Taylor are among the high-profile chefs to lose out as a batch of London restaurants reshuffled their options this week.
The Megaro Hotel near King’s Cross announced the immediate closure of Voyage with Adam Simmonds, the Scandinavian-inspired restaurant that opened in January to mixed reviews from the critics (The Guardian’s Grace Dent pro, Giles Coren of The Times con). The hotel said the “challenging economic climate and disappointing trading performance… have made the operation unsustainable“.
Lisboeta, which chef Nuno Mendes opened in Fitzrovia four years ago, is set to close tomorrow, 23 August, with the owners MJMK saying Nuno was concentrating on projects in his native Portugal. The venue will relaunch as Luso, under chef Leo Carreira (formerly of The Sea, The Sea), retaining its Portuguese identity.
Marvee’s Food Shop in Ladbroke Grove, chef Dom Taylor’s take on Caribbean cuisine named after his mother, is to close after the Notting Hill Carnival just four months after it opened, due to “unforeseen circumstances”. The venue will apparently resume trading as a Caribbean restaurant under a different name following the departure of Dom, who came to prominence on TV’s Five Star Kitchen and was championed by Michel Roux.
Meanwhile, South American-inspired Zuaya on Kensington High Street has closed after seven years, and will be replaced on September 1 by Bottega 35, billed as ‘a love letter to Tuscany’, by the same owners, twins Alberto and Arian Zandi of Emerald Hospitality. This follows the lead of the Pachamama group, which has switched away from South American towards Mediterranean cuisine, with Pachamama East in Shoreditch reopening as Greek-inspired Lagana next month.
Finally, the Tasca residency at Bethnal Green wine bar Cav is ending three months ahead of schedule on September 7, with its founders Josh Dallaway and Sinead Murdoch on the hunt for a permanent site.
