‘Great dining experience' transported from Hoxton to Harrogate
The owners of the Hoxton Grille in east London are planning to open their second Grille closer to their roots in Harrogate in the North-East.
Restaurateurs Simon Wright and John Pallagi, who hail from Yorkshire, are close to signing on a new site in the newly refurbished Balmoral Hotel in the North Yorkshire spa town.
The hotel was recently bought by Mr Barker, who owns the Malt Shovel pub in Boroughbridge, York, and the Black Bull pub near Richmond, and is being reopened in mid-April.
The Grille is due to open on April 25 and will be in the space of the former Villu Toots restaurant.
The Harrogate Grille will be open from 7am until midnight and will serve a similar menu to the Hoxton Grille, so expect Coq Au Vin, Rump Steak and Chips and Classic Caesar Chicken Salad. The main restaurant will seat up to 80 with a 35 seater private dining room.
Executive Chef of the Hoxton Grille, Sydney Aldridge, will oversee the second opening while architect and designers Gabrielle Murray will create a similar style to the first site.
Pallagi said, "Harrogate is a wealthy place with well travelled customers, so it ticks all the boxes for us."
He added that he hopes to reproduce the "great dining atmosphere which we achieved in the Grille in London".
Pallagi also revealed that the partners may well be opening a third Grille in late summer, but would not give away details of the location beyond saying an "historic city".
Pallagi and Wright also own the Room brand, with sites in Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.