Penzance’s Michelin-starred restaurant, the Abbey, has been sold by its chef-proprietor Ben Tunnicliffe, to Bill Treloar the owner of Mousehole's Old Coastguard hotel, Cornwall.
The sale went through last month, with Treloar setting up the restaurant’s new chef-patron Michael Riemenschneider in the restaurant's kitchen at the beginning of January.
Swiss-born Riemenschneider has been based in Cornwall since last year, after joining the Old Coastguard as head chef for the 2007 summer season.
He has recruited a team of seven chefs for the Abbey kitchen and is offering three menus, including two tasting menus, one at £59 and one at £89 with flights of wine.
Tunnicliffe, 37, told Caterersearch that the stresses of operating a fine-dining restaurant in the very seasonal market at the western tip of Cornwall contributed to his decision to call it a day.
He said: “I’ve had six and a half good years at the Abbey but have been looking to move on for a while. The further west you go, the harder it gets to maintain a full-time staff all year – and you need that to keep a quality product.”
Tunnicliffe is in talks to head up the kitchen of a new hotel in Cornwall, currently in the development stage.
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By Joanna Wood
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