Robbie Lorraine finds new site for his Only Food and Courses restaurant
The chef will open the restaurant in The Strand in London next week having previously operated it as a temporary concept in a 30ft steel container in Pop Brixton. The move comes almost two years to the day that Lorraine launched in Brixton.
It will operate in the dining room at the Cheshire Cheese pub, on Little Essex Street, in collaboration with the Blighty Pub Company, which has taken over management of the pub.
The 26-cover restaurant will continue Lorraine’s playful nostalgic take on 1980s and 90s culinary trends and will also serve bar snacks to guests in the pub downstairs.
Dishes will include Lorraine’s take on smoked salmon and eggs, duck liver pate, prawn cocktails, beef and onions, millionaire’s shortbread, and a beetroot bakewell tart (pictured below) as well as snacks such as duck éclairs and lobster doughnuts.
The new restaurant will have a similar aesthetic to its first iteration, respecting the pub’s historic Grade II-listed status but taking design inspiration from greasy spoon cafés of the 80s.
“I’m chuffed to bits to be opening in my first bricks and mortar site. It has been a mad few years since we first launched, and I can’t quite believe how well the restaurant and our food has been received,” he says.
“Pop Brixton was a wonderful place for us to launch and the next stage in our journey being a great British pub makes perfect sense. I can’t wait to be able to showcase our modern take on nostalgic British food to a wider audience.”
Speaking to BigHospitality last year, Lorraine said that he had never intended for Only Fools and Courses to be a restaurant, but the success of his suppler clubs and the subsequent Brixton site has made him reassess this view. He said he was looking at sites in south London, with Brixton and Peckham both areas of interest, for a small venue.
“I want to find somewhere small, between 30 and 50 covers, and then build towards getting something bigger,” he said “Our positioning is good right now, and with rents going down it’s a good time to be looking.”</p>
Lorraine was overseeing the restaurant and pub menus within the grounds of Boys Hall which was acquired by husband and wife team Bradley and Kristie Lomas in 2019 and has been undergoing an extensive renovation ahead of its opening in the autumn.
