Will Smith and Anthony Demetre set to launch another London restaurant
Michelin-starred restaurateurs Will Smith and Anthony Demetre are set to launch another restaurant in London.
The move, which was first revealed by Caterer‘s restaurant blog Guide Girl, will see the co-owners of the critically acclaimed Arbutus and Wild Honey restaurants open a third West End site later this year. The duo has just exchanged on a property on William IV Street in Covent Garden, which previously housed a Pitcher & Piano bar.
Smith told Caterer the new restaurant, which is set to open in the late summer, will be a modern brasserie.
"It's a big site, spread over two floors with 100 covers on the ground floor," he said. "It will include a main dining room and a bar area as well as a private room."
Smith added that the duo had been on the look out for a new site for some time: "We turned a few sites down and some fell through. This site was right because of both the location and the space and it has a really good feel about it."
High-end restaurant specialist Restaurant Properties brokered the deal for the site.
Demetre and Smith, who won the Independent Restaurateur of the Year Catey in 2008, launched their first solo venture, Arbutus, in Soho in May 2006 and it became an instant hit with the critics.
With Smith in charge of front of house and Demetre behind the stove, Arbutus gained universal praise for its competitive pricing policy, excellent food and its casual, non-tablecloth approach to fine dining. It scooped up a string of awards for best new restaurant and received a Michelin star in January 2007.
In July 2007, Demetre and Smith opened their second restaurant, Wild Honey, in Mayfair, which quickly repeated the success of its predecessor garnering critical acclaim and a Michelin star just six months after opening.
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