Top London eateries including Chez Bruce and the River Cafe have signed up to appear at a one-day pop-up restaurant in Putney, as part of a drive to raise money for Action Against Hunger’s work in Haiti.
The project, the brainchild of restaurateur Rebecca Mascarenhas, already has nine individual dates planned throughout the month of March, all on the site of her Phoenix restaurant, which is currently closed.
Other chefs to sign up include Helena Puolakka from Skylon, Michelin-starred chef Philip Howard, and Rowley Leigh of Le Cafe Anglais, with a well-known TV chef also all but confirmed.
Mascarenhas told Caterer she expected a maximum of 15 dates over the course of the month. Each chef and their staff will work for free and do one service each. The pop-up restaurant will charge a flat price of £60 a head, and Mascarenhas is also planning to negotiate a deal to buy good wines at cost, and add a £10 mark-up.
Mascarenhas said: “One of the reasons we wanted to work with Action Against Hunger is that they are very committed not just to the immediate crisis in Haiti but the aftermath in supporting the country. I didn’t realise, for instance, that all the food aid that goes there now and is free, is actually destroying the farming economy there because the farmers can’t sell their crops. The charity offers support for long term sustainability as opposed to just aid.”
She added that she was “in the middle of plans” for Phoenix’s future, which could see it refurbished and reopened, or turned into residential property.
Further details of the dates chefs appear at the pop-up restaurant will appear on the www.putneypopuk.co.uk website, set to go live later this week.
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By Neil Gerrard
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