Duchy will serve a menu that combines Shand’s classical French training at the likes of Arbutus, Wild Honey and Frenchie with his passion for the game meats, pasta, and antipasti of northern Italy.
The pair met while working at Leroy - which closed late last year - in 2021.
As executive chef Shand played a key role in the restaurant holding a Michelin star for three consecutive years.
The Phipp Street restaurant is loosely inspired by the Duchy of Savoy, which occupied a huge area of south-east France and north-west Italy for over 800 years up until 1867.
Shand will offer his own takes on the historical region’s dishes with a launch menu that includes pork shoulder and smoked eel croquettes; brown crab arancini; roasted pork neck with bagna cauda and courgette; and fresh spaghetti with bottarga and olive oil.
Desserts will include cherry and walnut tart; and cannoli with sweetened ricotta cheese.
The wine list will be focused on the wine regions that fall within the Duchy of Savoy, which include Savoie, Jura, Rhône, Provence, Valais, Vaud, Valle d’Aosta, Piedmont and Liguria.
The site is currently undergoing a light refurbishment, led by Sasha Filskow of Inside Design, but will be familiar to fans of Leroy with its open kitchen and wall of 200 records.
“We’re so excited to be able to get the doors open this Spring, we’re so in love with the food and wine of this region and can’t wait to share it with everyone who visits,” Shand says.
“Leroy was that rarest of things and yet, even knowing it as well as I do, I often struggle to put into words why. It was serious. And small. It was wildly busy. It was loud at times, but wonderfully so. It was fast and loose and for a bistro of that size it had an extraordinary cellar,” adds Grant.
“It was a place where a solo diner or a rowdy group of six could equally have an excellent night out, or someone from a nearby office could escape for a quick and delicious ever-changing set lunch or indulge a client long into the afternoon. It’s where I met Simon.I guess, for me, the timing and the team were some kind of perfect storm. And I hope, with chance on our side, we can do the ghosts justice.”
