Harrods launches Michelin-starred pop-up concept

10-Aug-2014 - Last updated on 27-Apr-2021 at 12:45 GMT

Harrods' five-month pop-up will present five Italian Michelin-starred restaurants to the UK public

Luxury department store Harrods is launching a five-month pop-up event, hosting a different Italian Michelin-starred restaurant each month from September, and is looking at renewing the concept with British chefs in the future.

Aiming to present ‘a collection of Italy’s most celebrated destination dining rooms’, Harrods’ Stelle di Stelle pop-up event will play host to five different headlining chefs coming especially from Italy to provide a special edit of their signature dishes.

The line-up, which includes Carlo Cracco’s Ristorante Cracco; Giorgio Pinchiorri and Annie Féolde’s Enoteca Pinchiorri; Gennaro Esposito’s Torre del Saracino; Enrico Crippa’s Piazza Duomo; and Enrico and Roberto Cerea’s Da Vittorio, forms a total or 13 Michelin stars.

Each chef has created a four-course menu priced at £110 for lunch and £160 for dinner, which can be paired with Italian wines and beers for £130 and £180 respectively. There will be one lunch and two dinner sittings every day.

Rotation

Bruce Langlands, director of food and restaurants at Harrods, told BigHospitality: “For the chef and restaurant it provides a great platform to bring their food to a new market via an institution like Harrods. The Harrods food and restaurants customer is a true foodie and almost certainly the customer that would visit their restaurants in Italy too. The other benefit is that it is temporary. It allows the chef flexibility to try something new without taking up too much of their time.

“[Repeating the event] isn't out of the question at all. We may well look to partner with UK-based Michelin-starred chefs and rotate the concept every six months.”

The Stelle di Stelle event is presented in association with Identità Golose, a culinary organisation promoting modern Italian cuisine worldwide.

Italian focus

“The idea was developed when we looked at the strategy for our restaurants business in 2013 and discussed what our 'hero' project could be for the latter part of 2014. Pop-ups is something I wanted to explore further with a luxury twist and the idea developed from there.

“We have an amazing restaurant space within the Wine Rooms on the lower ground floor and we wanted to extend the former Italian cuisine offer provided by Frescobaldi in some guise. We have a great relationship with the Identità Golose team and it seemed fitting to partner with them to deliver an Italian fine dining pop-up for a short-term period,” Langlands added.

Calendar

September: Carlo Cracco, Ristorante Cracco (two Michelin stars)

October: Enrico and Roberto Cerea, Da Vittorio (three Michelin stars)

November: Gennaro Esposito, Torre del Saracino (two Michelin stars)

December: Giorgio Pinchiorri and Annie Féolde, Enoteca Pinchiorri (three Michelin stars)

January: Enrico Crippa, Piazza Duomo (three Michelin stars)