Ceru, founded by husband and wife team Barry and Patricia Hilton in 2014, has secured the former Bangkok restaurant site on Bute Street in South Kensington for its first permanent restaurant.
The pair, who created the eastern Mediterranean food concept after extensive travels around the Levant region, ran three, three-month pop-ups - in Fitzrovia, Tower Bridge and Cannon Street - last year to test out the business before committing to a permanent restaurant. They have also catered for festival-goers over the last three summers.
Co-founder Barry Hilton said the pop-ups and festivals had provided him and Patricia the chance to hone the Ceru offering.
He said: "In the last two years, we have hosted pop-ups and catered at a variety of music and sporting events. The pop-ups gave us the opportunity to trial a variety of different trading formats across central London, whilst the outside catering required us to devise new ways of serving our food 'on the go'.
"This was an invaluable experience that has helped us create the DNA of the Ceru menu and now having spent two years 'on the road' - and having received enthusiastic feedback from our customers - we feel that the time is right to establish a permanent home."
Levant-inspired
Ceru South Kensington will open in November serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Its menu will offer a selection of classic mezze alongside grilled meats, salads and desserts.
Signature dishes will include lamb shoulder slow-roasted for over five hours in a blend of 12 fragrant spices (£9.50); an apple, pomegranate and mint salad, with pea shoots, pine nuts and green chilli (£5.75); and lamb kebabs, marinated in rosewater and served with rose and mint tzatziki (£9.50). A £9 express lunch offering will also be available.
The 'predominantly Levantine' wine list features bottles from vineyards in Greece, Turkey and Lebanon while a Lebanese Pilsner and Ceru's own three grain pale ale and a selection of cocktails are also on the list.