'Pie king' Calum Franklin to open Paris restaurant in 2024

Calum Franklin, former executive chef at London’s Holborn Dining Room, is to open a restaurant in Paris next year.

Named Public House, it is described as a British brasserie and will launch in February 2024 on the Rue Daunou in the Opera district.

The restaurant will be spread over three floors with a design blending the style of a Parisian brasserie with an English pub.

Franklin’s menu will include comfort food such as the pies he became famous for at London’s Holborn Dining Room as well as scotch eggs and desserts such as sticky toffee pudding, and a ginger and clementine trifle.

It is the first new restaurant opening for Franklin since he stepped down from Holborn Dining Room in 2022 to focus on new projects.

The chef oversaw the restaurant, located within the Rosewood London hotel, since 2014 and launched a dedicated Pie Room in 2018. After discovering antique pie tins in the hotel’s basement, he earned a large following on social media after posting pictures of his elaborate pie creations.

“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to share the British cuisine that I love, and to do it with the best of French produce,” said Franklin.

“Public House will be a marriage of these two ingredients.

“I’ve always dreamed of working in Paris, I’ve been here so many times over the years that the city has become like my second home. With Public House, I now have that home.”

Under Franklin, Holborn Dining Room won Hotel Restaurant Team of the Year at the 2018 Hotel Cateys. The following year, Franklin himself won Hotel Restaurant Chef of the Year.