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