Loubet cuts link with l'odeon
By Angela Jameson
Chef Bruno Loubet has broken off all relations with L'Odéon and Bruno Soho, the London restaurants which he launched with Pierre and Kathleen Condou on leaving the Four Seasons restaurant.
After four years spent developing Bistrot Bruno (which became Bruno Soho) and the flagship Regent Street restaurant L'Odéon, Mr Loubet has now abandoned even a consultancy role with the restaurants he helped found.
As a mark of the fall-out, Bruno Soho last week ditched the north African and Middle-Eastern cuisine it adopted just six months ago under Mr Loubet's guidance.
The eaterie has reverted to the classic French bistro menu with which it made its name. At the same time it has removed any trace of its former chef-patron by changing its name to Bistrot Soho.
Mr Loubet took a less active role in the business when he left L'Odéon earlier this year to set up a food and beverage consultancy business for hotels.
Prior to that, problems in the relationship between the Condous and Mr Loubet had been suggested by rumours that his name was to be removed from the Soho restaurant.
A number of indifferent reviews had also indicated that the menu's Moroccan cuisine was not working. A spokeswoman for Bistrot Soho said: "People who work in the area didn't feel they could eat the Moroccan food every day. They wanted something familiar."
James Kirby, formerly head chef at Fables, in London's Fulham Road, has taken over from Pierre Kodja in the kitchen of the 90-seat restaurant.
The new menu retains a handful of Moroccan dishes besides predominantly classic French bistro dishes such as moules marinières, filet au poivre and tarte tatin.
Mr Condou said he felt there was again a place for a more traditional approach to eating. "Simplicity is a virtue that seems to have become lost in the search for an ever more unusual approach," he said.