Neo Bistro is inspired by modern Parisian restaurants and will offer a more relaxed take on fine dining when it opens in Mayfair next month.
Harper will head up the kitchen, working with Jarvis to create a menu of simple and ‘modestly’ priced dishes, with daily specials chalked up on the dining room’s blackboard.
Dishes will include cured Tamworth pork, venison chorizo and fresh cheese with smoked potato, grilled leeks and walnut pesto; roast sea bass with mousserons, English asparagus and thyme; and a chocolate tart with malt ice cream, salted caramel and Gariguette strawberries with lemon verbena.
Front-of-house will be overseen by Anglo’s Nick Gilkinson, who has curated a wine list starting from £5 a glass and £19 a bottle, alongside cocktails and local craft beers.
Neo Bistro will open for dinner Tuesday to Saturday and lunch from Wednesday to Saturday with counter seating for walk-ins and banquette seating to reserve.
"The Neo Bistro movement has totally transformed the cooking scene in Paris, bringing chefs, like Alex, who have trained in some of the country’s best kitchens, to a space where they can be freely creative with their skills, and aren’t restricted by anything that they do,” says Jarvis.
“It results in a restaurant more attuned to the way people actually want to eat, and the environment they want to be in. Alex and I have worked in some great kitchens together over the years, but to be doing things on our own terms is really rewarding.”
Both Jarvis and Harper cooked at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and London’s Michelin-starred Texture.
Jarvis launched his first restaurant Anglo in Farringdon last year, while Harper was most recently head chef at The Harwood Arms, London’s only Michelin-starred pub.