Iconic chef Pierre Koffmann is set to make his return to the London restaurant scene this summer, with the opening of an informal eaterie at London’s Berkeley hotel.
The former chef-patron of the three-Michelin-starred La Tante Claire will take over the site currently occupied by Gordon Ramsay’s Boxwood Café, which will close later this month.
Koffmann's, which will open in June, marks a return to the Berkeley for the French chef, who operated La Tante Claire at the hotel from 1998 until its closure in 2002.
Koffmann, who made his comeback last autumn with a hugely popular pop up restaurant atop London department store Selfridges, told Caterersearch he had been looking for a new site for some time. “There were a few offers on the table but the Berkelely was the best proposition,” he said.
Koffmann's will mark a move away from the haute cuisine the chef is so well known for and will see him create a more relaxed, informal menu ispired by the country cooking of his home region of Gascony in the south west of France.
“It will be a much more informal restaurant and will have nothing to do with the old Tante Claire,” Koffmann told Caterersearch.
“The atmosphere will be relaxed and the food will be very approachable, brasserie type food – it will be the kind of food I like to cook and eat.”
The menu will offer hearty, robust, seasonal dishes including a menu du jour which will change daily and there will be a focus on highlighting the theatre of carving and confident performance à la table. Many of Koffmann’s signature favourites, such as scallops with squid ink, braised pig’s trotter with morels, and pistachio soufflé will also be featured.
The Berkeley’s general manager Klaus Kabelitz added: “Bringing Pierre Koffmann back to the Berkeley is a culinary dream come true.
“We are delighted that he is returning to us, and that we will now have two outstanding chefs – Pierre Koffmann and Marcus Wareing – under the same roof at the Berkeley.”
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By Kerstin Kühn
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