Rowley Leigh joins Sam's Riverside as culinary director

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Chef Rowley Leigh has been appointed culinary director at Sam Harrison’s upcoming Sam’s Riverside restaurant in west London.

Leigh is collaborating with Harrison on everything from kitchen design to menus, sourcing produce and recruiting a brigade of chefs for the site, which will open in Hammersmith in late summer 2019.

Sam’s Riverside will be a 90-cover all-day brasserie and bar, with a private dining room and outdoor seating.

Head chef will be Harvey Trollope, who has previously worked at The Ritz, and the menu is described as “modern European, with a focus on Anglo-French dishes, many close to Rowley’s well-loved repertoire”.

Leigh was head chef at Kensington Place in Notting Hill for 19 years, and ran Parisian-inspired Café Anglais in London from 2008-2014. He has since worked as a chef consultant for Soho House Group and at Prescott and Conran’s Parabola restaurant.

Sam's Riverside marks a return to the restaurant fold for Harrison, who owned Sam’s Brasserie in Chiswick and Harrison’s in Balham until both sites were sold to the Hawksmoor Group in 2015.