London restaurant Chez Max has abandoned plans to open a second branch on the site of Maison Novelli and now wants to take over the old City Rhodes dining room instead. Max Renzland, who runs Chez Max in Yeomans's Row in partnership with Marco Pierre White and Jimmy Lahoud, said that the City Rhodes site was on one floor and more suitable.
"We would have needed to do a serious amount of work on Maison Novelli. It was a bit like a warren, and we would have had to have kitchens on several floors," he said.
The deal for taking over City Rhodes has not yet been signed but Renzland said he was in an advanced stage of negotiations, which he expected to be successful.
If all goes as planned, Renzland hopes to open on the City Rhodes site within a couple of months and he will be opening more branches later this year.
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 27 February - 5 March 2003