- French chef Arnaud Donckele has been appointed as the culinary director at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, marking his UK debut. According to owner Belmond, Donckele will oversee the Oxfordshire hotel’s ‘transformative next chapter’, introducing new culinary concepts across the estate. Donckele currently leads two three-star restaurants La Vague d’Or in Saint-Tropez, and Plénitude at Cheval Blanc Paris. Le Manoir, which closed at the end of last year, will reopen in summer 2027 following an extensive redevelopment.
- Chef Tony Parkins’ latest restaurant is set to be located in the Wirral. Expected to launch early this year, DAISE will be run in partnership with his former employer, Open Restaurant Group (ORG), which is led by chef Andrew Sheridan and his business partners Sam and Emma Morgan. Billed as the chef’s debut solo restaurant, it will take over the premises formerly occupied by ORG-owned OXA in Oxton, Merseyside. At DAISE, Parkin will work alongside his wife Laura, who will run the front-of-house operation.
- Asma Khan’s high-profile Indian restaurant Darjeeling Express is moving for the fourth time. Within the next few months, the restaurant will swap its current location in Soho’s Kingly Court development for the former Hovarda site on the Chinatown section of Rupert Street. The new location will be larger, with a 5,600sq ft space seating 130 covers. Celebrated for its all-female kitchen team, Darjeeling Express launched in Kingly Court in 2017. After closing in 2020, it relocated to Covent Garden, where it operated for two years before shutting its doors. In 2023, the restaurant returned to Kingly Court.
- Inception Group, the London-based hospitality operator, has signed for a new flagship Mr Fogg’s Tavern in Covent Garden’s Market Building. The site, set to open in the summer, will mark Mr Fogg’s fourth Covent Garden location, joining the brand’s existing Tavern on St Martin’s Lane in Covent Garden, with the Gin Parlour located above, and the Society of Exploration on Bedford Street. The flagship will join other Inception Group venues across the Shaftesbury Capital portfolio, including Cahoots in Kingly Court, Soho, as well as the Mr Fogg’s Tavern on St Martin’s Lane.
- Endo Kazutoshi will begin a five-month residency at Annabel’s in Mayfair following the devastating fire that closed his restaurant at The Rotunda in White City last year. From 20 February, the chef and his team will run two sittings per evening from Tuesday to Friday at the private members club at the pop-up, called Endo, Upstairs at Annabel’s. There will be just 10 seats per sitting, in keeping with the chef’s intimate style of service for which he has become known. Writing on Instagram, Kazutoshi described the residency as “a special moment for us to gather with you once more”.