The competition amongst London hotels to have the hottest chefs working in their restaurants ramped up this month when Heston Blumenthal opened at the Mandarin Oriental. But other establishments aren't rolling over and playing dead just yet.
The Westbury in Mayfair - a hotel not known for its food to date - has scored something of a coup in enticing Marcus Wareing's head chef Alyn Williams to move from The Berkeley and open a restaurant with them called, funnily enough, Alyn Williams at the Westbury.
'To have your name over the door comes with big responsibility,' said Alyn, 'but it's a challenge that I am now eager to embrace.' Williams who worked with Wareing for the last six years said he'd 'learned so much in his kitchens' but added 'the time is right for me to strike out on my own.' He's not completely on his own though, having persuaded Wareing's former Restaurant Manager Giancarlo Princigalli to come with him to run front of house at the Westbury.
We hear that Williams' food will be Modern British inspired by classic French cooking techniques, but you'll have to wait until September to try it for yourself.
