Ex-Fifth Floor Restaurant head chef Jonas Karlsson to open Kew restaurant

The Swedish-born chef, who left the Fifth Floor Restaurant earlier this year, has taken over the former Wine and Mousaka site on Kew Green to open Linnea, a modern European restaurant with Swedish influences. 

It will be the first time the chef, who worked at the Coq d'Argent and the Orrery before joining Helena Puolakka at the Fifth Floor Restaurant in 2004, has opened his own venture and he told BigHospitality he was excited to be finally putting his plan into action. 

"I've worked for a chef for many years and always wanted to have my own business. I'd been looking for sites in and around West London, like Ealing, Kew and Notting Hill for some time when this came up. I know the landlord and he wants the business to succeed, so it felt like the right place."

Simple concept​

Karlsson and his wife Elia, who has been in charge of design, have spent the last six months renovating the site and turning it a 'modern, elegant' 38-cover restaurant which officially opens its doors on 5 November.

Karlsson will head up a small kitchen team who will turn out a simple, monthly-changing menu of five starters, five main courses and five desserts. The restaurant will also offer 70 different wines and a small range of beers and ciders. 

"It's a fairly simple concept," he said. "I like to do very simple, but good-looking food, so my dishes won't be very complicated, it's more the ingredients and flavours that will be coming through."

The chef hopes that Linnea, named after the national flower of Sweden and of Jonas's grandmother who inspired him to start cooking, will become a popular neighbourhood restaurant 

"We will make sure the pricing is right and try and build the business up to be a success," he said. "This is something I've done by myself so it is