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 […]
Texture and 28°-50° restaurant group co-founder Xavier Rousset has unveiled plans for his next venture – a ‘small wine restaurant’ called Blandford Comptoir. It will open at the end of May on Blandford Street in Marylebone. Rousset left the group he helped co-found with Agnar Sverrisson in 2007 in May last year. The restaurateur and wine expert, […]
Foodies’ darling Ollie Dabbous will reunite with his mentor (and professional Frenchman) Raymond Blanc this summer for a one-off event. On Tuesday 28 June Fitzrovia’s “inventive and refreshing” Dabbous restaurant will host a unique lunch and dinner – two courses of which will be prepared by Ollie and two by Raymond. Many of the vegetables used […]
Wine, dine and then recline. It’s a perfect combination. After all, how often have each of us wished we weren’t facing a car ride or train journey home after a great meal? But ‘restaurants-with-rooms’ are more than just convenient, they are destinations. A way to get out of the city or to celebrate an occasion […]
