Atul Kochhar acquires Marlow restaurant site
The chef has taken on the former Villa D’este Italian restaurant, which has been trading since the mid-1980’s.
It is not yet known what Kochhar has planned for the site but property firm Christie & Co. which handled the sale, says the chef is planning a complete refurbishment.
The ground-floor dining room seats 80-100 covers and features a large commercial kitchen.
Kochhar, who became the first Indian chef in the UK to receive a Michelin star at Tamarind in Mayfair in 2001, already runs Marlow restaurant Sindhu at The Compleat Angler Hotel.
The chef’s restaurant portfolio includes Hawkyns in Amersham, Indian Essence in Orpington and Kanishka in Mayfair. He is also set to launch Mathura in a former Westminster fire station building this year.
Kochhar was formerly chef patron at London’s Michelin-starred Benares until the restaurant cut ties with him in 2018 over a series of controversial tweets, which he has since apologised for.
He appeared on the BBC’s My Million Pound Menu as an investor in 2018 and 2019 and backed chef Ruth Hansom's Epoch restaurant in the first episode of the show, but Hansom told BigHospitality last year the project is no longer going ahead.
