The biggest recent restaurant news is that Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray of the River Cafe, one of the places most often cited by critics as their favourite place to eat in London, are seriously considering opening a second restaurant. In an interview with the Evening Standard, Rogers said: ‘We would like to open another now, in London. We've been asked to go to New York but it'll be here. We haven't looked at any sites seriously yet but it is something that we want to happen...We wanted to get through this year here, after the fire, but we know we can make another one work.’
There’s also been more news on the London Restaurant Festival with a few more special Festival Menus revealed, which include a special afternoon tea at the Wolseley and the not unwelcome news that all restaurants at Fortnums over the course of October will be corkage free – so go wild in the wine department there and enjoy! Another fun event will be A Night at the Races at Frankie’s restaurant at Chelsea Football Club. For the princely sum of £50 you can dine whilst betting on races with the help of race tipster John McCririck and the restaurant’s co-owner, jockey Frankie Dettori. We have more stories on the London Restaurant Festival here.
Other meaty morsels we picked up this week:
- Marco Pierre White will be opening a new restaurant in St James in October, reports Bloomberg. A branch of the Wheelers of St James – with former L’Escargot chef Garry Hollihead as chef.
- Waiters don’t like us: According to a poll carried out by industry title Caterer Search – British are the rudest diners and the meanest tippers. 38% of waiters thought Brits had a lot to learn when it came to manners – the next rudest diners were Americans, with 19% of the vote. We particularly liked the bizarre requests waiters have had made of them, including the waiter who was asked to predict what everyone on the table would order (he apparently did it perfectly!)
- The Galvin brothers have poached the Sommelier of the Year from Richard Corrigan. Andrea Briccarello, who previously worked across Corrigan’s group of restaurants, will now be head wine buyer for all of the Galvin restaurants including the upcoming Galvin La Chapelle.
