Arnold Ivey appointed Avenue head chef
It follows the closure of D&D’s Kensington Place seafood restaurant in March, where Ivey had been acting head chef.
Ivey will be bringing several of his Kensington Place dishes with him including a sharing plate of Dover sole served with brown butter, lemon and capers; yellowfin tuna tartare with cucumber, apple and seeded crackers; and Severn & Wye smoked salmon served with soda bread, capers, shallots and dill cream.
He will be tasked with repositioning Avenue’s current menu as more seasonal and more British.
Ivey cut his teeth at D&D’s Bluebird Chelsea restaurant on King’s Road for two years, before moving onto Orrery in Marylebone where he worked under Chris Galvin and André Garrett.
In 2004 he moved to the group’s Paternoster Chop House, where he spent nine years working as a sous chef, building his skillset and assisting with menu development.
Last month D&D also announced that Thomas Piat, former executive chef at Bar Boulud at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in London, will oversee the group’s upcoming City restaurant when it opens in November.
The company currently operates 41 restaurants worldwide, including 36 in the UK.
Last year CEO Des Gunewardena told BigHospitality the company would focus on expansion in the US and mainland Europe if Brexit made it more difficult to open restaurants in the UK.
