Allister Barsby to leave The Grove at Narberth to open new restaurant in Kent
Allister Barsby is leaving his position as executive head chef of The Grove at Narberth to open his own restaurant. Barsby and his partner, Alice Bussi, who is food and beverage manager of the Seren Collection (owners of Coast in Saundersfoot and Beach House in Oxwich Bay, as well as The Grove), will relocate to Kent to open their first restaurant together in the coastal town of Hythe. Barsby joined The Grove in January 2016 and in that time he has raised the restaurant’s Good Food Guide cooking score to six. He leaves The Grove in June and the Seren Collection will announce his replacement soon.
Restaurant Story owner Tom Sellers to open new restaurant in Nottingham
Tom Sellers, owner of Restaurant Story in London and The Lickfold Inn in West Sussex is opening a new restaurant at Trent Bridge, home of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club. Called Six, the contemporary British restaurant and bar will open in March on the sixth floor of the cricket ground’s Radcliffe Road Stand. Nottingham-born Sellers will develop the menus at Six and employ a local chef.
Benedicts chef Richard Bainbridge to take over London's Carousel for one week only
Richard Bainbridge of Norwich restaurant Benedicts will be taking over the kitchen of London’s Carousel pop-up restaurant and creative hub for one week only in February. Bainbridge will be cooking at the Marylebone venue between February 12 and 16, and the menu will include prawn cocktail with freeze-dried raspberries and Marie Rose sauce, and quail with pearl barley, kale and carrot. Tickets are £49.50 per person and available here.
Rupert Rowley leaves Derbyshire's Fischer's Baslow Hall after 17 years behind the stoves
Head chef Rupert Rowley has left Fischer’s Baslow Hall in Derbyshire after 17 years behind the stove. Rowley, who previously worked at a number of high profile restaurants including Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, took to social media to announce his departure and plans for ‘a change and a new challenge’.
The restaurant world mourns the deaths of two of its great figures
The UK restaurant scene is mourning the sad loss of two of its greatest figures this week. Scottish chef Andrew Fairlie and French sommelier Gerard Basset both died after long battles with cancer. Mr Fairlie had run his eponymous restaurant at the Gleneagles hotel and golf resort since 2001 and was in the Good Food Guide’s Top 50 for many years. Mr Basset started his career as a head waiter in a number of restaurants around Hampshire and East Sussex but he made his name as sommelier at Chewton Glen, where he met Robin Hutson. They went on to found the Hotel du Vin chain before selling it to Malmaison in 2004, after which Basset opened Hotel TerraVina in the New Forest and Hutson launched The Pig chain of boutique hotels.
