- Soho’s Humble Chicken has closed for a three-month £1m refit that its chef patron Angelo Sato hopes will help it secure a third Michelin star following its promotion from one to two stars last month. Known for its distinctive Japanese-European cuisine and chef’s table setup, the Frith Street restaurant is expected to reopen its doors in early May. Sato told Restaurant that attracting a second star has given him the confidence to double down at Humble Chicken, which opened as a relatively affordable yakitori restaurant in 2021 but relaunched a year or so later as a tasting menu-only restaurant.
- Giorgio and Plaxy Locatelli are teaming up with contract caterer Searcys to launch a restaurant at London’s The National Gallery. Locatelli and Bar Giorgio will both be located within the Sainsbury Wing of the world famous art gallery, which is just north of Trafalgar Square. The announcement follows the closure of the pair’s Michelin-starred Locanda Locatelli restaurant in Marylebone late last year after 23 years.
- London-based group Caravan has completed a management buyout following a minority investment from private equity firm Active Partners. The management team, led by CEO Laura Harper-Hinton, alongside fellow co-founders Chris Ammermann and Miles Kirby, now fully own and control the business again.
- Nieves Barragán Mohacho is to launch a second London restaurant this summer in Shoreditch that’s being billed as the chef’s ‘largest project to date’. Legado – meaning ‘legacy’ – is described as ‘a nod to Barragán’s personal journey and a celebration of Spain’s diverse regional food cultures’. As with her first restaurant Sabor, which launched on Heddon Street in Mayfair in 2018 and won a Michelin star the same year, Legado will operate in partnership with JKS Restaurants.
- Sandwich Sandwich has revealed it is plotting a possible overseas move. Nick Kleiner, founder and CEO of the Bristol-based group told Restaurant’s R200 conference this week that advanced talks about a franchise agreement that would see Sandwich Sandwich open three sites in Dubai are ongoing.