Chef Gabriel Waterhouse and his wife, designer Patricia Waikamba, are opening a new restaurant next week near Columbia Flower Market in Bethnal Green – less than two months after closing its predecessor nearby.
The new restaurant, called simply Waterhouse, is described as “a modern Northumbrian restaurant in London”, reflecting Gabriel’s upbringing in the north of England, and is the culmination of an 11-year development process that started out as a supper club.
He says: “Our menus will explore the landscapes, produce and traditions of Northumberland and the wider North, through the lens of contemporary cooking, bringing together ingredients from the coast, hills and forests with techniques we’ve spent years refining.“
In its previous incarnation as the Water House Project, near Regent’s Canal in Hackney, the restaurant was placed at number 45 on last year’s Harden’s 100 list of the UK’s best restaurants, winning acclaim for “amazing, complex and often experimental food.” It closed after five years in June, when its lease expired.
Waterhouse is set in a converted Victorian warehouse on Ezra Street that was previously used as a potter’s studio. It will accommodate only 24 diners at each sitting, with an open kitchen, a garden, and a bar that will be in action in September.
