Game changing restaurant Dabbous to close

Chef Ollie Dabbous’ eponymous Michelin-starred restaurant Dabbous in Fitzrovia is to close this June five years after it burst onto the London restaurant scene.

Ollie Dabbous (right) and Oskar Kinberg are to open a new joint venture

As reported by the Evening Standard, the lease for the site went onto the commercial property market yesterday and the restaurant will shut in June.

Dabbous chose to close the popular venue to launch a new project with co-owner and business partner Oskar Kinberg, who runs Oscar’s Bar beneath Dabbous.

The as-yet-unnamed new venture is slated to open in late 2017 or early 2018, with the majority of staff from Dabbous joining the pair at the new site.

The Standard reports that their new venture will be a completely different concept to Dabbous, which shot to fame in 2012 when restaurant critic Fay Maschler gave it a super-rare five stars in her review, hailing Dabbous as one of the brightest young talents to have emerged in London in years.

Among Dabbous’ signature dishes are coddled free range hen egg with woodland mushrooms served on a bed of hay; fennel, lemon balm and pickled rose petal salad; barbecue pork belly with acorn praline; and beef tartare with cigar oil and rye.

Playing to Kinberg’s strengths, the new restaurant will boast a destination bar within it.

“We’ve been offered an amazing opportunity that enables all of us to grow and evolve. We’re sad to be closing Dabbous, but at the same time we’re looking forward to the next chapter.

“It’s a phenomenal site and we can’t wait to get started. In the meantime, I’ll savour my remaining months in my current kitchen,” Dabbous told ES.

In addition, Dabbous has partnered with the Experimental Group (owners of the Experimental Cocktail Club) on their first London hotel – the Henrietta in Covent Garden – where he is due to run the restaurant when the hotel opens this spring.

The menu is expected to be seasonal and ingredient led with subtle nods to France in a hat tip to the Experimental Group’s Parisian roots. Reservations for Dabbous are being taken on a first-come, first-served basis.

In addition to Dabbous, Ollie and Oskar run Barnyard on Charlotte Street. Prior to Dabbous Ollie worked at Le Manoir Aux Quat Saisons in Oxford and Texture in Marylebone, where he rose up the ranks to become head chef.