Bjorn van der Horst, former chef-patron of the Michelin-starred La Noisette, is to launch his own venture after the closure of the London restaurant.
Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH) shut La Noisette earlier this month, just 18 months after its launch.
The restaurant is the group's second failed enterprise on the Knightsbridge site after Ian Pengelley's eponymous restaurant, which closed in 2005 less than a year after opening.
The company will now use the restaurant as a space for private dining and events. Van der Horst, who has left GRH, now plans to set up his own restaurant together with his wife, Justine.
He told Caterersearch that the couple were in talks about a possible venue in central London, and that they hoped to launch the new restaurant in September.
"It's been a dream of mine to launch my own restaurant for many years," he said, "and I am now in a position where I have enough experience to be able to turn the dream into reality."
Van der Horst added that he plans to "redefine fine dining" in London and to create a new restaurant concept with a "less stiff" attitude to front-of-house service.
The menu will offer French cuisine with a mix of traditional dishes next to a selection of more “evolutionary” food.
“Londoners are extremely savvy when it comes to dining out and I want to create a restaurant that offers a different fine dining experience that is appropriate to London,” he said.
Van der Horst joined Gordon Ramsay Holdings in 2006 after three years at Marlon Abela's Michelin-starred the Greenhouse in Mayfair. Previously he was head chef at Picholine in Manhattan, New York, before moving to open first Abela's US restaurant, Gaia.
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By Kerstin Kühn
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