News

The GFG Briefing | 8 June 2018
Published 08 June 2018

Rob Roy Cameron and Tony Conigliaro to launch Gazelle in Mayfair next month

Ex-El Bulli chef to open in Mayfair, St John closes Maltby Street restaurant and Michael O'Hare departs The Rabbit in The Moon

Major new London opening for former El Bulli chef

A chef who worked at the internationally acclaimed Spanish restaurants El Bulli and 41 Degrees is opening his first London restaurant next month. Botswana-born Rob Roy Cameron is teaming up with respected drinks expert Tony Conigliaro to launch Gazelle in Mayfair. The restaurant and cocktail bar will serve modern European cuisine and dishes will include halibut and elderflower and monkfish and burnt seeds. A carefully curated cocktail list will include six of Conigliaro’s signature drinks such as the Red Amber and the Coral Fizz, six bespoke Gazelle variations on classics and six champagne cocktails. Gazelle opens on Albemarle Street on July 9.

St John closes restaurant to focus on bakery expansion

St John is closing its restaurant in Bermondsey’s Maltby Street after three years to concentrate on its expanding bakery side. The company recently ran pop-up bakery stalls in Old Street Station and Bermondsey Street and they proved so successful that there are now plans to open two new bakeries in central London over the coming months. Maltby Street head chef Alex Szrok will move to St John’s flagship Smithfield site. The Maltby Street site will close on June 24 but St John’s nearby Druid Street bakery will continue to open on weekend market days.

Michael O'Hare leaves Manchester restaurant four months after relaunch

Michael O’Hare has left Manchester restaurant The Rabbit in The Moon just four months after it relaunched. His departure is thought to signify the end of O’Hare’s collaboration with his backers, the former Manchester United footballers Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville. O’Hare had also planned to open two more Manchester restaurants later this year, but these have been put on hold. The chef will now focus on his long-established Leeds restaurant, The Man Behind The Curtain.

Ex-Fat Duck team announces plans to open new London restaurant in 2019

The former group executive chef and master sommelier of Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck are planning to open a new restaurant together. Chef Jonny Lake and sommelier Isa Bal, who worked together for 12 years, have yet to reveal the exact details or location but it is thought that their new joint venture will open in London in 2019.

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