Friday Five: the week's top news
- The private equity owner of Patisserie Valerie is to close a further 14 of the brand's cafes. Causeway Capital Partners, which bought 96 of the chain's stores out of administration in February, says the move will allow it to focus investment on improving the quality of its products.
- Sonny's Kitchen, Rebecca Mascarenhas' first restaurant, is to shut its doors having operated in Barnes for 33 years. No reason has yet been given for the closure, but news regarding the next stage of the site will be announced in the coming months.
- Temper chef Neil Rankin is to launch a vegan burger restaurant that he says will provide an alternative to "heavily processed" meat substitutes. Simplicity Burger is a collaboration with former Truscott Arms owner Andrew Fishwick, and is expected to open in an as-yet undisclosed location in Shoreditch in October. The team are also planning another vegan concept called Nuclear Banana.
- A YO! Sushi-style cheese and charcuterie restaurant where plates are delivered to diners via a conveyor belt is set to open in Covent Garden this September. Pick & Cheese is the brainchild of World Cheese Awards judge and The Cheese Bar owner Mathew Carver, and will open in KERB's Seven Dials Market.
- Cyrus Todiwala, chef patron at London's Cafe Spice Namaste and Mr Todiwala's Kitchen, is to open a restaurant in Leicester's Highcross shopping centre next month. The new project, called Tandem, will have 150 covers and is described as a "celebration of authentic Indian cuisine".
For more of this week's news, click here.
