The experimental European restaurant, founded in a converted Victorian Wharf building, is one of London’s best-loved restaurants and marked the start of Parle’s successful career as a restaurateur. Its final service will be lunch on Saturday 23 December.
Dock Kitchen’s closure is a result of the lease coming to an end and Parle having to move out. The chef and restaurateur had been holding off telling people because he wanted to announced a new location for the restaurant, but he says he is not yet in a position to do so.
Parle is working on finding a new home for Dock Kitchen “or a version of it” in the spring of next year. In the meantime, all of the team will be working at one of the group’s other four London restaurants - Palatino in Barbican, Craft London in Docklands, Pastaio in Soho and Rotorino in Dalston. He is also a partner in Sardine in Islington.
In an email message to his regular customers seen by BigHospitality, Parle writes: “We’ve had an amazing eight years here in Ladbroke Grove and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who has helped to make it happen, from all our brilliant staff to you, our amazing, loyal customers.”
Dock Kitchen opened in 2009 originally as a one-week long pop-up using the old Virgin Canteen kitchen and furniture from the Tom Dixon showroom it shared the building with. The restaurant, which is in partnership with Tom Dixon, has won critical acclaim for its menu that draws influence from the far flung places Parle and his chefs have visited, or what new ingredient they have come across abroad or at home, as well as its modern design.
Tom Dixon is relocating its headquarters to Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross in March next year. The design studio will be located within The Coal Office, a 17,500 sq ft complex, that will also house a cafe and restaurant. It had been expected that Parle would relocate Dock Kitchen to this new address, but this is yet to be confirmed and may not happen.
The design studio has also partnered with Parle at Craft London, the British restaurant, café, cocktail bar and shop, located in one of the Peninsula’s Gateway Pavilions, which opened in spring 2015.
“The collaboration with Tom Dixon is one I’m incredibly proud of, and I hope to continue for years into the future,” Parle says about Dock Kitchen’s closure. “Getting to run such a wonderful restaurant for the past eight years has been an incredible privilege.”
Parle’s latest restaurant, Pastaio, launched in Soho in August.