A phone call from a mobile on a yacht somewhere in the Aegean Sea late this afternoon brought the exciting news that a deal has just been struck to bring an outpost of the exceptional L'Atelier du Robuchon to London.
The call came from Ted Margellos, Joel Robuchon's business partner in L'Ateliers outside Tokyo (there will be other L'Ateliers in Las Vegas and the Four Seasons New York by mar 06) to say that a deal had been struck with Hani Nakkash, the Lebanese businessman who like Margellos lived in Paris for some years, and who opened Aubaine, an authentic French boulangerie, patisserie and brasserie in London’s Brompton Cross earlier this year.
The site of London's L'Atelier will be West Street just off Cambridge Circus, converted originally by Image Restaurants into West Street and then after uninspiring trading into East@West where Australian chef Christine Manfield cooked remarkably well but the numbers failed to add up. When I last saw Chris Bodker, MD of Image Restaurants, he was under the impression that Nakkash was looking to open a Buddah Bar here.
It will be fascinating to see whether Robuchon's food will finally bring a happy outcome to a site that has seemed to be jinxed for the past four years despite, or because of perhaps, its close proximity to The Ivy. But my hunch is that it will be a great success with enough media and business customers at lunch, a potentially big pre-theatre trade and the draw of an increasingly rare 2am licence. And if the food as is good as it is in Paris then it will be worth queuing for.......