Ah, the closures. Gone now are the likes of Radici, a well-received Italian restaurant in Islington overseen by Italian flâneur Francesco Mazzei — one of D&D’s biggest names, and now gone too — as well as Stratford concept Haugen, described upon opening as a “three-storey behemoth” but which shut after just two years. It isn’t only London: East 59th in Leeds, Klosterhaus in Bristol. The future of Launceston Place, once famed as Princess Diana’s favourite restaurant (besting even Le Caprice), is presently also a tad uncertain, with Ben Murphy leaving. Murphy, the National Chef of the Year, is in particular a huge loss for the group as one of their rare standout talents.
