- MasterChef: The Professionals judge Monica Galetti is making a return to London’s dining scene as the executive chef behind the upcoming social enterprise restaurant 130 Primrose. The Regent’s Park Road venue will open early this month, with a mission to recruit, train and employ people with experience of homelessness. 130 Primrose will be open seven days a week from 9am, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner in a relaxed, brasserie-style setting drawing on Mediterranean influences and later incorporating nods to Galetti’s native Samoa. A speakeasy-style cocktail bar is also set to open on the lower ground floor later in May. The restaurant will offer employees paid work, accredited training, and clear progression within hospitality under the guidance of Galetti and head chef Eric Zhang. The launch marks the first time the high-profile chef has been associated with a restaurant since the closure of her debut London restaurant Mere in 2024.
- This week also saw the closure of not one but two high-profile restaurants. Gingerman, Brighton’s longest-standing fine dining restaurant, having launched in 1998, announced it will close this summer after nearly 30 years. Ben and Pamela McKellar, who are among the city’s most prominent and successful restaurateurs, attributed blame to the rising cost of doing business and the ongoing cost of living crisis. The duo say they have reached a tipping point, with rising business rates, continued increases in food and energy costs, and higher taxation combining to create an increasingly difficult environment for independent operators. The restaurant offers an intimate, modern European dining experience built around seasonal, ingredient-led cooking, serving ‘uncomplicated, full-flavoured’ dishes using high-quality produce. Around 200 miles north, Manchester’s rooftop restaurant Climat, from the team behind Chester restaurant Covino, has closed with immediate effect, with owner Christopher Laidler citing a ‘perfect storm’ facing the hospitality sector. The wine-focused restaurant offered a menu of ‘Parisian ex-pat food’ cooked by Luke Richardson, whose CV includes some of the best modern bistros in Paris. Laidler said that since opening in December 2022, wages have increased by 33%, alongside more recent rises in employers’ National Insurance contributions. Business rates have also risen, from £12,000 per annum in 2023/24 to £38,000 per annum today: “All these increases, alongside reduced footfall, are spelling disaster for so many,” he added.
- Nikkita Pathakji, the first chef to have won MasterChef: The Professionals and be crowned Champion of Champions on Great British Menu, has announced she will be making her permanent restaurant debut this month, having acquired the former Brook site on Clapham’s Abbeville Road. MAAI by Nikita will be a family-run project involving her mother and sister, centred on British dining with global influences. The menu will feature some of her signature, competition-winning dishes, including her octopus ‘takoyaki’ doughnut. The concept for MAAI is rooted in Pathakji’s supper club, which she has been running for the past few years from her family home, with her mother welcoming guests and her sister, Isha, creating bespoke cocktails to pair with each course. The restaurant will offer an à la carte menu alongside an £85 tasting menu with dishes including a chaat tartlet; milk bread with lime pickle butter; cured sea bream with calamansi ponzu and green apple; and seared halibut with Malaysian fish head curry, okra and aubergine.
- Super 8, the group behind top London restaurants including Kiln and Brat, is gearing up for further expansion after posting strong financial results. The group, which also operates Mountain, Smoking Goat and the recently opened Impala, reported a 13% increase in turnover to £22.5m for the year ending July 2025, alongside a 15.4% increase in gross profit over the period, with the gross profit margin around 70%. It also saw significant growth in operating profit, from £2.5m to £7.6m; however, pre-tax profit fell slightly from £2.4m to £2.3m. Led by Ben Chapman and Brian Hannon, the group, which has a current estate of six sites across the capital, said it was pleased with its overall performance and intends to expand and open more restaurants under its Super 10 Restaurants vehicle, which was formed in April 2024 and intended to increase its operating sites.
- Family-owned investor Karali Group is in ‘advanced talks’ to acquire a significant portion of The Real Greek’s restaurant estate, which is expected to take place via a pre-pack administration process. The proposed transaction would see Karali take on around 10-15 sites, with the remainder of its 26-strong estate expected to close. The Real Greek is part of Fulham Shore, whose sister brand Franco Manca is also undergoing a restructure that will result in the closure of 16 restaurants. Fulham Shore recently launched a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) for Franco Manca, allowing it to retain ownership of the business. Earlier this year, Fulham Shore’s owner Toridoll Holdings warned that both The Real Greek and Franco Manca could see ‘a substantial number of underperforming sites’ close amid a ‘sluggish restaurant market’. Meanwhile, Karali Group - led by Salim and Karim Janmohamed - has been expanding its portfolio with the acquisition of Côte last year. The group also owns Crosstown Doughnuts, the UK franchise for Marugame Udon, and a 46-strong Taco Bell franchise.