Steve Drake has stepped back from the kitchen at his highly regarded Surrey restaurant Sorrel, with Alex Payne taking over as chef-patron this week. Sorrell has been a regular top-20 presence on the Harden’s 100 list of the UK’s best restaurants in recent years, while Alex came to prominence running The Tudor Pass restaurant at […]
Former Kerridge’s head chef Nick Beardshaw is to open his first restaurant as patron next month – Starling, in Esher on London’s southwestern fringe. He will be joined in the venture by manager James Shaw, a former assistant head sommelier at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. The 40-cover venue on Esher High Street will have a straightforward menu […]
Celebrated chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, the long-time right-hand man to Heston Blumenthal who launched Dinner by Heston at the Mandarin Oriental, is to make his comeback to restaurants with a launch in Surrey next year. His new project is the transformation of what was The Garden in Cobham, a village on the southwestern edge of London […]
Former Birley Clubs operations director Simon King and Heston Blumenthal chef Matt Larcombe have teamed up to launch The Victoria in Oxshott, Surrey – reflecting a post-pandemic trend towards bringing Central London-quality cuisine to the commuter-belt suburbs. The pair met while working together on the launch of the Crown, the Fat Duck’s gastropub offshoot in […]
Michael Wignall has left Devon’s Gidleigh Park after two years at the helm to set up his own venture. He has been replaced by former Restaurant Nathan Outlaw head chef Chris Simpson. Simpson delivers his first service when Gidleigh Park re-opens after its annual closure on 12 January. Wignall joined Chagford’s famous Tudorbethan manor house in […]
Drakes Restaurant in the Surrey village of Ripley has been renamed The Clock House following the divorce of chef Steve Drake and his former wife Serina. Serina now owns the restaurant, with the kitchen run by head chef Fred Clapperton. She said the distinctive Georgian building on Ripley high street has always had the Clock House […]
Fred Clapperton has been appointed head chef at Drake’s in Ripley, Surrey, in succession to founder Steve Drake, who has left following his divorce from Serina. The couple founded the restaurant in 2004, winning praise from the Harden’s Survey for “adventurous” and “memorable” modern British cuisine. Clapperton, 28, joined Drake’s four years ago and has taken charge […]
As the start of the first university term rolls around parents across the country will be packing their genius offspring off to the hallowed halls of some of the country’s best academic institutions. So parents if you’re planning to take your future graduates out for a ‘last supper’ before you drop them at the varsity, or […]
Matthew Worswick has been announced as the new head chef of The Latymer – Pennyhill Park’s luxurious and highly fêted country house hotel dining room in Bagshot. He takes the reins from Michael Wignall who left for Dartmoor’s lauded Tudorbethan manor Gidleigh Park in January. Matthew, who previously led the kitchen team at The Lawn, Thornton Hall […]
A taste of Provençal will arrive in the home counties later this month will the launch of La Rive in Cobham, Surrey. It takes over the former site of La Capanna (RIP), an Italian restaurant better known for its charming medieval setting – which vaunts a delightful terrace and beautiful riverside location – than its […]
