Harris was named as the chef behind the relaunch of Maida Vale’s The Truscott Arms earlier this year but will also work with Holborn Leisure director James McCulloch to open The Three Cranes in the City of London and the Coach & Horses in Clerkenwell.
Each pub will have a seasonal menu cooked in Harris’ distinctive French/British style, but the fare will differ at each location to give each site its own personality.
On Lower Thames Street, the Three Cranes will open next month offering a short, grill-focused menu. The wine list will be Bordeaux-heavy, in homage to the nearby Vintry wharf where Bordeaux wine casks were first brought onto British shores.
The Coach & Horses will open on Ray Street in January with a menu that includes choucroute, duck confit, and the more English option of sausage rolls.
The Truscott Arms - which was best known for serving London’s best Sunday roast until it was forced to close last year due to rent hikes - is expected to open in February.
Its first-floor dining room will serve Harris’ signature hearty French cuisine with British influences, with Sunday lunch options including seven-hour slow-roasted lamb shoulder with rosemary, or traditional British roast beef with all the trimmings.
McCulloch established Holborn Leisure and purchased the three pubs with the intention of stopping them becoming “real estate or nondescript chains.”
Harris will be overseeing the kitchens at all three sites as well as being a partner in the business.
“I’m excited to be back in the kitchen,” says Harris. “I see myself more as admiral of the fleet than chef-director, but it’s a great feeling to be planning great menus for each of these dining rooms with these excellent new teams.”
A full interview with Henry Harris can be found in the October issue of Restaurant magazine, the leading title for the UK’s restaurant industry. For more features, comments, interviews and in-depth analysis of the restaurant sector subscribe to Restaurant magazine here.