This month Amy Corbin and her husband Patrick Williams make the bold step of consolidating their Peckham-based South African-inspired mini restaurant empire and relocating it to Marylebone. The move has meant the closure of the couple’s Kudu, Kudu Grill and Curious Kudu restaurants and private dining spaces and the opening of a large restaurant on the corner of Moxon Street and Cramer Street in a site that will bring together the best bits of their previous projects.
Restaurant relocation is not unusual, but three into one is. Tell us about it
We’ve always dreamed of having a central London site and an amazing opportunity to open in Marylebone came up we felt like we had to go for it. I’ve always loved Marylebone, it still feels like a neighbourhood. Coming from Peckham and being in a neighbourhood in south London it felt right to move to somewhere with a village feel.
Did you consider keeping your existing sites?
We did, but we really wanted to have one focus and have our team all at one site and put all our efforts into it because it is such a big step for us. We looked at how we could bring everything together and not be overstretched and keep standards high and this seemed the only way to do it. Patrick is a perfectionist, and he wants to be at the restaurant every day and we couldn’t do that across different sites.
How has the process been?
It has definitely not been smooth. It has been a big challenge and not something I really anticipated. We have retained all our staff minus two people, so we have taken 39 people with us, including all the kitchen team. That gives us a huge advantage as many of them have cooked together for years and have been able to cook and practice the new dishes. We had a date in mind for opening in Marylebone and traded until the last minute in Peckham, and then we did some staff training in Peckham before moving them on site here. We still are in the process of selling the three Peckham sites; we have got offers on them, but we are still paying rent. There will be three different restaurants going into the three different sites.
How did your staff and customers react when you told them you were moving?
All of our team were super excited about the opportunity of coming to central London and having a bigger kitchen to be able to explore different dishes on the menu that we haven’t been able to do in the smaller kitchens in Peckham. Most of our local customers have been very supportive and encouraging of the move - they understood it was an opportunity we wanted to take. Some people are sad to see us go and south London will always have a place in our hearts - we still live there, and our kids go to school there, so we are grateful for the community and the support we’ve had over the past eight years. We invited all our top customers to the Marylebone friends and family, and we had a big leaving party in Peckham. We have made a lot of friends, and we hope they can continue the next Kudu chapter with us here.
How different will Marylebone be to Peckham?
I’ll have to do the school drop off and then get on the train, whereas I used to just walk. My kids are getting a bit older now - I used to have to be so close to work and home but now they are all nearly at school so I’m able to get back into a new project and be able to immerse myself into work a bit more. I love coming into Marylebone, the streets are so clean, and it has a faster pace to it. There will be a different rhythm and a broader customer base.
Will the new Kudu embody all your previous restaurants?
It will be the best of the three we’ve had. It is still going to be European with a South African twist and the favourite dishes from Kudu and Kudu Grill will be on the menu as well as some amazing new ones Patrick has been working on this year. It has a much bigger menu that is split between bread, snacks, starters, skewers, mains, and sides. We’re not doing the small plates thing that we did at Kudu because people are dining differently now - they want a starter, main and dessert or their own dish or a big sharer. We have this amazing dessert for three or more people called the Durban pineapple, which is half a pineapple with cardamom brûlée, spiced pineapple, Kudu kit kat, coconut soft serve, and a brandy canelé (see picture). The new restaurant has got quite a lot of big tables for sixes and eights because there’s a market in Marylebone for families and groups, so we are catering to that.
When does it launch?
The restaurant opened on 16 September. We will then open a cocktail bar and private room upstairs in October. We want people to just come for a cocktail, but there will be a snack menu served up there as well.
Was it always your dream to have a central London restaurant?
When we first opened Kudu, we expected to do a mom-and-pop restaurant in Peckham. It was me on the floor and Patrick in the kitchen and there were only three in the kitchen and three on the floor including myself and Patrick. We lived above the restaurant in a little apartment before we had kids and weren’t paying ourselves any money and just put the hours in. We never expected for that restaurant to take off like it did, but we had an amazing Giles Coren review that put us on the map as more of a destination neighbourhood restaurant than just a neighbourhood one and from there it just took off. I never dreamed this would become a reality, but now that it is we are ready to work as hard as we can to get it right.
