Recently in Mark Sargeant Category

The most memorable thing about Massimo Restaurant & Oyster Bar is not the food but the prices, according to AA Gill.

The Sunday Times food critic experiences a forgettable meal the restaurant at the Corinthia Hotel, which he describes as one of the most staggeringly expensive restaurants in London. The bill for two was £189, which is utterly undeserved," he complains.

Meanwhile Lisa Markwell, writing in the Independent on Sunday, is impressed by the perfectly judged menu at Roganic, Simon Rogan's two-year pop up restaurant in London's Marylebone, where a tasting menu is served only.

"One stand-out dish is Kentish seawater-cured mackerel with Regent's Park elderflower honey, broccoli - dehydrated and puréed - and shallots, which is a triumph of textures and flavours that plays on the tongue," she enthuses.

Scarborough may be down on its luck, but at least you can enjoy a life-affirming meal at Italian restaurant Lanterna, says the Observer's Jay Rayner, while the Sunday Telegraph's Zoe Williams finds the views more impressive than the food at Mark Sargeant's Rocksalt in Folkestone, Kent.

In London, the Metro's Marina O'Loughlin says Nuno Mendes's Corner Room at the Town Hall hotel in Bethnal Green offers the chance to experience what would otherwise be known as haute cuisine in pleasingly offbeat, informal surroundings.

The London Evening Standard's Fay Maschler says Galoupet, the first London restaurant by the owners of the Château du Galoupet vineyard in the South of France, brings a touch of Provence to Knightsbridge.

James Durrant, executive chef at the Michelin-starred Maze restaurant in London, is leaving Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH) after nine years with the company.

The chef's departure comes just weeks after Jason Atherton, former chef patron of the international Maze group of restaurants, announced his resignation from GRH.

A former Acorn winner, Durrant first joined GRH as a junior chef at the group's flagship three-Michelin-starred restaurant on Royal Hospital Road, before heading north to become junior sous chef at Paul Kitching's Michelin-starred Juniper in Altricham, Cheshire.

He then returned to London and GRH to work at the then Michelin-starred restaurant at Claridge's, before becoming executive chef at Maze in 2005. In this role, he helped launch the first international branch of Maze in New York, as well as Maze Grill in London.

Durrant said he was now looking forward to the next step of his career. "After an amazing five years at Maze and nine years at GRH I have decided to take some time out and I am really looking forward to the next step in my career," he said.

A spokeswoman for GRH added: "We're very sad to be saying goodbye to James, he is a fantastic young talent and we wish him all the best for the future."

Durrant's leaving marks the fourth senior chef departure from GRH in two years, with Marcus Wareing and Mark Sargeant also having left the group.

Meanwhile, Atherton, who opened Table No1 by Jason Atherton in Shanghai in May, will be launching a restaurant in London's Mayfair in the autumn rumoured to be called Pollen Street Social Jason Atherton.  

Mark Sargeant, Gordon Ramsay's right hand man and former head chef at his Michelin-starred restaurant at Claridge's, has resigned from the celebrity chef's restaurant group.

Sargeant, who has worked alongside Ramsay for 13 years, will leave Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH) at the end this month to join pub group the Swan Collection as creative director.

His resignation follows months of speculation after his departure from Claridge's earlier in the year and a rumoured fall out with Ramsay.

It also comes just months after GRH head of operations, Gillian Thomson, left the group to join contract caterer Company of Cooks. And let's not forget the high profile fall out with Marcus Wareing.

Sargeant first joined Ramsay at Aubergine in the 1990s. He went on to work as sous chef at Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant on Chelsea's Royal Hospital Road before becoming head chef at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, where he won a Michelin-star in 2002.

He will join the Swan Collection next month. The company currently runs the Swan at the Globe Theatre, London, and the Swan, West Malling, Kent.

It seems Ramsay's original stable of faithful protégés is getting smaller and smaller, with only Mark Askew, Jason Atherton and Angela Hartnett left. Let's hope for Ramsay's sake there won't be any more high profile departures...

Mark Sargeant, known by many as Gordon Ramsay's right-hand-man, has left his position of chef de cuisine at Claridge's.

Sargeant, who is competing on the BBC's Great British Menu against former Gordon Ramsay stable mate Tristan Welch this week, apparently left the Michelin-starred restaurant some time ago.

He has been replaced by chef de cuisine Steve Allen, who has been head chef at the restaurant since 2007.

Ramsay and his team of PRs have been keeping the move under tight wraps, which is unsurprising as "Sarge" is very much represented as the head chef of Claridge's on the Great British Menu.

The official line from Ramsay is that Sargeant left Claridge's to allow him "more time to concentrate on the demands made by Gordon's publishing and television commitments".

He remains involved in the group's London pubs, the Narrow in Limehouse, the Warrington in Maida Vale, and the Devonshire in Chiswick, which he has overseen since the start. Sargeant also co-wrote many of Ramsay's cookery books including the most recent one, Gordon Ramsay's Great British Pub Food.

But with the pubs having been rumoured to be on the market for months, could this be the beginning of the end of yet another beautiful relationship?