Aiden Byrne to crowdfund for new Knutsford restaurant

Chef Aiden Byrne has revealed his next project will be the opening a 35-cover fine dining restaurant in Knutsford, Cheshire.

The Great British Menu finalist intends to independently run the venue with his wife Sarah at 48 King Street, the former site of Japanese fusion restaurant, Kampai Sushi Bar and Grill, which opened in November 2021 and closed a year ago.

Byrne posted a video on his social media accounts outlining his intention to launch a crowdfunding campaign to overhaul the property, which he described as “pretty dilapidated”.

The chef is hoping the work required at the Grade II-listed 300-year-old building will be completed in time to open what will be called Li-Ly (pronounced Lee-Lee, named after Knutsford’s river and the Danish word for small) by the end of October.

The crowdfunding campaign will start at the end of this month, running for a month, and will offer rewards including a table of two for a six-course lunch menu, a place at the launch night event and a cookery masterclass and lunch.

Byrne uploaded a venue walkthrough video to his YouTube channel, during which he said of the crowdfund: “We’ve got a pot of money but upon closer inspection we’ve now realised that there’s a lot more work to be done than we initially anticipated. We’d really appreciate if you could get involved in the journey.”

He told The Caterer he’ll be hosting a crowdfunding launch dinner on 31 August at microherb and vegetable producer Field 28 in Daresbury. Byrne will use the supplier’s greens at the new venue.

In September, the crowdfunding collaboration events will then move onto Tim Allen’s So-lo restaurant in Ormskirk and Liam McKay’s Chef’s Table in Chester. Byrne also praised chef Gary Usher as providing “unbelievably good” advice in the run-up to Li-Ly’s launch.

Byrne’s new restaurant will open four days a week, serving different tasting menus at lunch and dinner, with six courses in the former and nine for the latter. Dishes will showcase seasonal and regional modern British fare, with Byrne saying that he will aim to use as many local suppliers as possible.

He said the restaurant’s restricted opening hours were designed to improve staff retention, sustainability and waste management.

“Our ambition is to give our staff a real work-life balance,” he said. “It’s tough in our industry and we want to give something back to our staff, who will hopefully help us turn this business into a success.”

Byrne added: “We’re so excited to get stuck into something quite new and exciting for us. We’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do in very short space of time. But we’re not scared of the work, we’re excited about the challenge.”

His ambition is to make Li-Ly “a cosy, intimate restaurant where every meal feels like a special memory in the making”, bringing “an independent restaurant to an already thriving town of Knutsford”.

In May, Byrne departed the Church Green gastropub he ran in Cheshire after 16 years.

He left his head chef role at the Dorchester hotel’s Grill restaurant in 2008 to run the Church Green in Lymm alongside his wife Sarah.

Since launching the Church Green, he worked for D&D London’s 20 Stories in Manchester and also ran Restaurant MCR, which closed in 2020.

Prior to his Dorchester stint, Byrne was executive chef of Danesfield House hotel in Marlow and head chef of Tom Aikens’ eponymous restaurant in London’s Chelsea.