Friday five: the week's top restaurant stories
- Insolvencies in accommodation and food service activities rose 20% in the 12 months to May, the latest statistics released by the Government show, the highest year-on-year increase of any sector. According to the figures released last week, hospitality insolvencies rose to 3,752 in the 12 months to May 2024, up from 3,133 recorded in the 12 months to May 2023. As well as recording the highest year-on-year increase, the data shows that accommodation and food service activities saw the third highest number of business insolvencies in any industry over the period, pipped only by construction (4,287 insolvencies recorded), and wholesale and retail trade (3,811 insolvencies recorded).
- Indian restaurant group Dishoom will make its transatlantic debut next month in the form of a collaboration with famed New York French brasserie Pastis. According to an Instagram post published by both brands DishoomNYCxPastis will be focused on breakfast dishes and will run 8-11am Monday to Friday from August 19 - 23 and August 26 - 30. Dishoom famously made Indian food - a cuisine that had hitherto only really been served for lunch and dinner in UK-based restaurants - into a compelling breakfast offer when it launched in 2010. The brand’s famous breakfast naan roll (see main image) appears as part of the Instagram post alongside its chilli cheese toast with fried eggs.
- Nick Beardshaw will open his debut restaurant in his home town of Esher, Surrey, at the end of August. Called Starling, the 40-seater restaurant will be located on Esher's high street and will serve a concise menu of seasonal British cooking, with no more than five dishes to choose from at each course. Its opening menu will celebrate Beardshaw’s success on Great British Menu and include his winning fish starter A Moon Shaped Pool. Mains, meanwhile, will include Creedy Carver duck; and Cornish jumbo plaice. The dessert menu will also commemorate his Great British Menu achievements where his Balloon Girl dish will feature alongside two other choices. Other dishes will include Himalayan salt aged steaks are available as a ribeye, fillet or sirloin to share.
- Leeds-based restaurant Bavette has been named as Britain’s Best Local Restaurant by The Good Food Guide. The restaurant, which is run by Sandy Jarvis and his husband Clément Cousin, opened in the Leeds town of Horsforth in March this year. It was described by The Good Food Guide as ‘the model of a perfect local restaurant’. At the time, Jarvis said the restaurant was something the couple had always wanted to open together and and would serve "the food we really love and which I love to cook". “With Sandy and Clément’s backgrounds in some of London’s top establishments (Terroirs, where they met, is a strong influence), opening a restaurant together in an outer suburb of Leeds looked great on paper. But the way they’ve brought it to life – excellent bistro cooking, an adventurous, engaging wine list (including bottles from Clément’s family of organic winemakers in the Loire), and the energy and warmth of the team – make it irresistible,” says Chloë Hamilton, co-editor of The Good Food Guide.
- Liz Cottam will close her Leeds-based restaurant Home at the end of September after seven years. The chef and restaurateur says it is with a “profound sense of sadness” that the restaurant is closing, citing soaring costs and low consumer confidence as the reason behind the decision. Describing the past 18 months as “very tough”, Cottam says that a sharp rise in energy bills, at a time when she was unable to secure a fixed energy contract, coupled with high food inflation and interest rates had created a perfect storm for the business.
For more of this week's headlines, click here.
