Called Town, the restaurant, which was first mooted back in late 2023, will open next month on Drury Lane and is billed as ‘blending the best of sustainable British produce with a design-forward interior’.
Parle has brought together a senior kitchen team that includes executive chef Olly Pierrepont, previously of Luca and La Trompette; head chef Andy Bright, who has cooked at Kerridge’s Bar & Grill and Fera; and Zinzan Riess-Hollier, previously of Luca and Padella.
Together they have created an ‘ingredient-first menu’ that aims to pioneer a new kind of relationship with growers and suppliers by investing in and growing alongside farmers using progressive and regenerative approaches.
To that end, Town has partnered with Andy Cato of Wildfarmed and will be the first restaurant to serve Wildfarmed beef from its own herd of 100% grass-fed cows raised in Oxfordshire.
The menu will feature a range of snacks and starters including potato bread with Wildfarmed beef dripping, tempura sage leaves drizzled in chilli and honey from Parle’s own bees; East Kent asparagus with mangalitsa lardo and aged cherry vinegar, and Seasalter clams, sherry and grass-fed butter.
Mains are driven by the Rhys Allen charcoal grill and built around a whole-carcass butchery approach.
Options will include wood-grilled Romney Marsh hogget with Chianti and anchovy butter; Welsh lobster with lardo and Town XO; and a south Indian fish curry to share.
There will also be a range of desserts such as Cru Virunga chocolate with Somerset cider brandy and zabaglione, alongside a selection of fresh fruit, homemade ice creams, and cheeses from the Lost Valley Dairy in Ireland.
As well as the restaurant, Town will also house a bar overseen by Satan’s Whiskers owner Kevin Armstrong who has developed a cocktail list that will include small serve and lower ABV options.
There will also be a wine list of old and new world labels.
The interiors, created by North End Design, will feature warm tones and pops of primary colour with lava stone countertops, a lacquered green kitchen, a solid sapele bar, Jacobsen chairs and an illuminated ceiling ‘coffer’ design.
“Town is the biggest, most ambitious project I’ve ever done,” says Parle.
“We are helping to pioneer a genuinely new approach to restaurant supply chains, built on knowing every farmer who grows what we cook.
“A team of some of London’s most skilled cooks, great drinks, and slick and friendly service in a fun space, all designed to help you forget the day-to-day — and to remember how good things can be when food, music and good people come together in the right room.”
Town will be Parle’s first in several years, his restaurant empire having been hit hard by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prior to the first lockdown in March 2020, the chef owned British restaurant Craft London in Greenwich, Palatino in Clerkenwell, and French restaurant Sardine in Hoxton, all of which have now closed.
The only restaurant he currently operates is fast casual pasta concept Pastaio, which has a single site in Soho.
In early 2023, Parle announced that he was working bringing JOY, his floral restaurant and retail space, back to London’s Portobello Dock where he had first established the concept during the pandemic.
However, he subsequently said that those plans would not go ahead after efforts to secure a new lease fell through.
Town will open on 12 May 2025.