18 � squaremeal.co.uk
RESTAURANT NEWS CROSS COUNTRY
Dream team Tom Adams (head chef at Pitt Cue) and
April Bloom�eld (the Brit behind NYC's Michelin-starred
e Spotted Pig) have collaborated on the refurbishment and conversion of
Coombeshead Farm, the Cornwall country pile where Pitt Cue's Mangalitza
pork comes from. e farm's guest rooms and restaurant both open in July.
Meanwhile, Manchester's restaurant scene swells again with Grafene opening
on King Street in July. It's being masterminded by Paul and Kathryn Roden,
who own Peak District hotel and restaurant Losehill House. Grafene will have a
modern British menu and an open pastry kitchen to gaze longingly into. Changes
are afoot in the kitchens at Coworth Park too, with Roux Scholar 2012 Adam
Smith taking over the restaurant this summer. Smith already has a groaning
awards shelf, so this should be the start of a delicious arrangement. Looking
further ahead, former L'Enclume executive chef Mark Birchall is planning
his late October opening of Moor Hall, a restaurant-with-rooms in Aughton,
Lancashire. With �ve acres and a Grade II-listed Tudor setting, it sounds regal.
COMING SOON
NOW
Soho's Bao may have found a solution
to those queues: opening another in
Fitzrovia twice the size. The Strand
Dining Rooms may not have gone
the distance, but Mark Sargeant's bad
fortune was good news for Tom Dixon,
who designed its replacement, Bronte.
SOON
Blandford Comptoir's Xavier Rousset
isn't sitting back: expect another in the
City. In Covent Garden, there'll be
Eneko Atxa food fireworks any day now
when Eneko at One Aldwych opens.
LATER
Where to begin? Two huge restaurant
developments go head-to-head in
autumn, with Victoria's Nova including
Jason Atherton and Will Ricker
projects, while St James's Market
counts an Aquavit sibling and a new
Venetian restaurant from Salt Yard
Group among its tenants.
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COWORTH PARK
BRONTE
AQUAVIT
THE KURT LOCKER
is September, Australia-born Kurt
Zdesar (left) is set to open an organic
Italian restaurant and bakery, Fucina,
on Marylebone's Chiltern Street. As the
man behind Ping Pong, Chotto Matte
and Black Roe Poke Bar & Grill, he's
no stranger to the scene and he's pulled
in some strong talent: heading up the
kitchen is Stefano Stecca, originally from
Rimini in Northern Italy and former
head chef at Toto's in Chelsea. Fucina
excites us because a) Toto's spins out
delicious pasta and tiramisu and b) we'll
never say no to more Italian bakeries.
BLOOMFIELD AND ADAMS