Cannes restaurant La Môme to replace Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley

Two French restaurateur brothers are to open a London outpost of their Cannes restaurant La Môme at the Berkeley hotel next year.

It will take the space previously occupied by Marcus Wareing’s eponymous restaurant, which closed at the end of 2023, and the Collins Room.

Ugo and Antoine Lecorché will make their London debut in January, after launching three La Môme restaurants across Cannes and Monaco, including on the famous Promenade de la Croisette in Cannes.

Maybourne Group, the parent company of the Berkeley, described La Môme as a “legendary Cannes restaurant” and said the London opening would bring “the glamour of the French Riviera” to Knightsbridge.

The main restaurant will open daily for lunch and dinner, seating 220 inside and 30 outside on a new terrace.

Rather than resetting tables, waiters will carry freshly laid tables above their heads through the dining room to replace a previous setting. Some dishes will be prepared in front of guests, including deboning the whole fish of the day and snipping thyme into olive oil. 

Cocktails and digestifs will also bring a touch of theatre, with drinks shrouded in a cloud of dry ice until released from under a glass cloche.

A 10-cover bar will serve cocktails and small bites and there will be live music, including a DJ and pianist, in the evenings.

Kostas Sfaltos, general manager at the Berkeley, said: “We are excited to bring La Môme, a true Cannes legend to London, and believe its cosmopolitan energy and joie de vivre will bring something new to the capital.”

The name La Môme pays homage to one of Cannes’ most famous hostesses during the Riviera’s golden age. Lucienne Suzanne Vreurick, nicknamed ‘La Môme Moineau (the little sparrow)’, was known for throwing lavish parties at the magnificent art-deco-style Villa Bagatelle in Cannes.