Friday five: the week's top news stories
- Gordon Ramsay is doubling his presence at The Savoy next month with the opening of a second restaurant in the five-star hotel. The River Restaurant will replace seafood restaurant Kasper's and will be located in the heart of the hotel, operating alongside Ramsay's Savoy Grill restaurant with executive chef Matt Worswick overseeing both sites. The restaurant retain the focus on fish and shellfish and will have a raw bar serving oysters, caviar and ceviche with larger dishes to include tandoori monkfish curry; swordfish schnitzel; and whole baked Cornish turbot.
- Marylebone hotel restaurant Roux at The Landau will reopen next year with an ‘exciting concept change' having remained closed since lockdown. Michel Roux Jr.'s restaurant at Langham Hotel has remained ‘temporarily closed’ following coronavirus restrictions easing earlier this year prompting speculation about its future but it will now reopen next year. The high-profile chef's pub-styled restaurant at the Portland Place hotel - The Wigmore - has continued to trade.
- Grind has raised £22m to fund its expansion in the US and beyond. The coffee house and restaurant group already has a presence through its global partnership with Soho House and is looking to build on that with the new investment. It has reported ‘explosive growth’ in its at-home coffee products during the lockdowns and is expecting sales of its coffee for home consumption to exceed £20m for the first time this year, and to ship 30 million coffee pods.
- Canadian restaurant brand Tim Hortons is continuing its expansion across the UK having secured three more sites. The sites, all drive-thru locations in retail and leisure parks and all former Pizza Hut units, are based in Boldon, Bentley Bridge, and Lakeside, West Thurrock. All three will open later this year. The move is part of Tim Hortons’ ambitious plans to open a restaurant in every major English town and city by 2022, with openings also coming in Chichester, Dunfermline, and Bangor.
- Michelin will announce monthly additions to its Guide for Great Britain & Ireland throughout the year ahead of the guide’s full launch. Announcements will be made each Wednesday, with the first restaurants named as The Shed by James Sommerin, Native at Browns, Sumi, Big Jo, Los Moros, The Loch & the Tyne and Eleven Ponteland. The restaurant entries will be highlighted by a ‘New’ symbol, for easy identification, and the restaurants will also be presented in more depth in monthly articles.
