Friday five: the week's top restaurant stories
- Monica and David Galetti's Mere in Fitzrovia will close later this month after seven years. Posting on social media, the restaurant said that its last service would be 16 April and that the time was right to close. "It is with heavy hearts that we announce the closure of Mere restaurant - but we feel this is the right time after seven years," it wrote. "We want to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly thank Alastair Storey and everyone who has supported us and our loyal patrons and dedicated staff throughout this journey. To our customers we thank you for your loyal and joyous visits. We hope to raise one last glass together before we close."
- Chef Michel Roux Jr is opening a new restaurant at The Langham in London. Chez Roux will be located in the hotel's Palm Court and will be inspired by the chef's childhood memories, of growing up in rural Kent in the 1960s, being raised at the Fairlawne estate where his father Albert Roux worked as a private chef for the Cazalet family, and the first menus from Le Gavroche in 1967. The menu will showcase historical British classics and traditional French cooking methods 'presented in contemporary, refined dishes'.
- Jesse Dunford Wood has announced the closure of his third London restaurant, Harvest, after just one year of trading. In a post on social media the Parlour and Six Portland Road chef described the Kensal Rise restaurant as a “career defining project” but said that it had now closed due to a lack of custom. Writing on Instagram he said it had been “a complex week” and compared the closure to a break up, describing it as heartbreaking. “Over the last week, as we closed the business, tears were shed, building emptied, staff relocated, people informed,” he said. “Walking away from something you have invested yourself into [is] pretty painful.”
- Wonderland Restaurants has closed its Batman-themed London restaurant Park Row, but says it intends to relocate its immersive dining experience The Monarch Theatre. The Soho-based 18,000sq ft venue was home to The Iceberg Lounge and its 20-cover tasting menu-only immersive counterpart The Monarch Theatre. Bookings platform Opentable has suspended bookings, listing both dining experiences as closed. In a statement, Wonderland Restaurants said: "After two and a half incredible years in Soho, Park Row served its last Gotham ‘39 cocktail at 77 Brewer Street on 8 April, as the DC-inspired experience closes its doors." The company said that it was preparing to open The Monarch Theatre at a new location in London later this year.
- Restaurateurs the Gladwin Brothers will open their first pub venture in London's Chelsea later this year. The duo's Local and Wild Restaurant Group will launch The Pig’s Ear in one of the oldest pubs in Chelsea. Described as 'celebrating all that is great about British seasonal produce and creative cooking' the new venture will 'maintain the traditions of a fine London pub', according to the company. It will be led by chef-patron Oliver Gladwin and his restaurateur brother and co-founder Richard Gladwin.
For more of this week's headlines, click here.
