Belfast celebrity chef Paul Rankin is to launch a new restaurant next month that resurrects his Roscoff brand after a five-year absence.

	The original Roscoff restaurant in Belfast's Shaftesbury Square

Roscoff, which opened in Belfast in 1989, was the first restaurant in Northern Ireland to win a Michelin star. Rankin replaced it with his more informal Cayenne flagship restaurant in 1999.

The new incarnation - an upmarket French-inspired brasserie - will open on 17 September on the site of the former Christies restaurant in Linenhall Street in Belfast city centre.

The 3,500sq ft premises, which will seat 100 diners, will cost more than £500,000 to renovate and will create 40 new jobs. It is expected to appeal to both the lunch and dinner crowds.

"We decided to call it Roscoff Brasserie, because the original Roscoff was inspired by upmarket French dining, although it had global influences," said Rankin. "We aim to make the restaurant very comfortable and sophisticated yet approachable."

Rankin will spend as much time as possible cooking at Roscoff Brasserie alongside head chef Andy Rea, who is executive chef for the Paul Rankin Group.

The group has been searching Dublin for suitable sites to open its Rain City Caf‚ Grill and Caf‚ Paul Rankin venues next year. It will also be viewing potential new sites in London next month (Caterer, 24 June, page 9).

Marketing executive Chris Love added that the group was looking to introduce a new caf‚ concept in Belfast, which could also carry a new brand name.


Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 19 August 2004