Dominic Chapman to head up restaurant at Southdown hotel

Chef Dominic Chapman is to head up a restaurant at the new Southdown hotel in Sussex.

The move comes as part of a collaboration with hotel management company Premier Cru Hotels and Inns.

The Brasserie by Dominic Chapman will be set within the hotel, which is due to open on Valentine's Day 2016 in Eastbourne's Howard Square.

Chapman opened the Beehive last year in Berkshire, having left Michael Parkinson's pub the Royal Oak at Paley Street in Berkshire, where he won a Michelin star. He confirmed that he would continue to cook at the Beehive and consult on the restaurant in Eastbourne, where he will appoint a head chef to interpret his philosophy of straightforward, seasonal, British food.

Earlier in his career, Chapman worked at Heston Blumenthal's the Fat Duck before becoming head chef of Blumenthal's Hind's Head in 2007.

He is set to appear in BBC TV show Great British Menu for the second year running later this year.

The Brasserie by Dominic Chapman will open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, while Chapman will also oversee breakfast, afternoon tea and room service at Eastbourne.

Three-course specials will include: lasagne of wild rabbit, wood blewits and chervil, line-caught sea bass with samphire, cockles and mussels and rhubarb trifle; and pickled herrings with beetroot and horseradish, oxtail and kidney pie and lemon posset with Eccles cakes. Average spend per head on food will be around £25.

The Southdown, which is aiming for four-star standard and will be positioned as an elegant townhouse hotel, is managed by Premier Cru Hotels and Inns, which has a track record in operating privately owned hotels such as the Lords of the Manor in the Cotswolds, the Feathers hotel in Oxfordshire, and Fredrick's hotel and spa in Berkshire.

Iain Shelton, owner of Premier Cru said of the partnership with Chapman: "Great food is always at the heart of our hotel business, we believe that a fantastic restaurant experience is an interracial part of a guests whole staying experience. We are excited to be working with Dom Chapman, who comes to us with an excellent track record of delivering superb, uncomplicated, real British food."

“Premier Cru is a great company and if this restaurant goes swimmingly well, there could well be other projects in the pipeline.”

Menuwatch:Â The Beehive, Berkshire >>

Chef Dominic Chapman to take on new pub venture >>