Clove Club trio to launch second London restaurant

Luca will serve Italian food with a twist when it launches in Clerkenwell in November.

It comes three years after Johnny Smith, Isaac McHale and Daniel Willis first opened The Clove Club in Shoreditch in 2013.

The restaurant holds a Michelin star and was ranked 26 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants​ this year.

But now the team are launching a new venture, using British ingredients to recreate classic Italian cooking.

Dishes at Luca will include spaghettini with morecambe bay shrimps and mace butter; and ravioli of grouse with potato and whisky sauce.

McHale said: “The term ‘Britalian’ is a good short-hand for what we are doing. We won’t be using this phrase anywhere in the restaurant itself, but it sums up the approach: we will be using seasonal British ingredients in contemporary cooking inspired by Italy.”

The 60-cover restaurant will open seven days a week and feature floor to ceiling glass walls overlooking an outdoor courtyard.

A separate bar will open from 8am until midnight, serving espresso and pastries for breakfast, sandwiches and cured meats for lunch, and sharing plates in the evenings.

Smith will be moving from The Clove Club to run Luca full-time, while former The Square and RAC Club chef Robert chambers will be heading up the kitchen.

Jennifer Brown will be general manager, joining the restaurant fresh from management training with Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group in New York.

There will be two private dining spaces, the Garden Room - which will be open-air in summer - and a pasta making room which will transform in to a special events space at night.

Smith said: “The ambience and service at Luca will capture the genuinely welcoming spirit of Italian hospitality and the warmth of the family table.”