In Marylebone last night for the launch of Simon Hoggart's new book (more of which later), Hot Dinners took a detour by way of posh kitchen store Divertimenti. There we bumped into another book promoter, Atul Kochhar, who was there with copies of his latest title, Fish Indian Style.
Things are looking up for Kochhar, who's been on enforced leave since a fire closed down his restaurant Benares, back in September. We asked how the repair work's been going. 'The refurbishment’s going well,' he told us. 'I’m going to get handover of the restaurant on the 20th December.'
So when will he be opening Benares again? 'I'm thinking around the 10th January – I’ve got a brand-new kitchen and the restaurant's also brand-new. We have changed some configurations within the room, so I want to test-run it for the first week or so and then open it up on the 10th.'
