Former Chiltern Firehouse chef to launch first solo venture Nuala

Chef Niall Davidson, formerly of Chiltern Firehouse, is to open his first restaurant in Old Street's new White Collar Factory development in London, on 7 December.

The 75-cover restaurant, which is inspired by traditional Irish pubs, will have an open fireplace centrepiece where meat and fish will be cooked.

Colin McSherry, formally of the Fat Duck and Dinner by Heston, will head the kitchen while the front of house will be run by Charlie Sims from Noma in Copenhagen.

The menu will include dishes such as bone marrow doughnuts and flamed clams in cider and mains of clay-baked spider crab with Indian spices; T bone steak with saison sauce; and suckling pig with cabbage.

The bar downstairs will be overseen by head bartender Lauren Taylor, formerly of Hawksmoor Spitalfields. It will be decorated with photos from the original Guinness archives in Dublin.

Bar snacks will be on offer such as scampi-fried quail eggs and coffee ham.

Nuala will be open from Monday to Friday up until Christmas. From January there will also be a breakfast menu and opening hours will extend to seven days a week.

Davidson was born in Scotland, but was brought up in Derry from the age of nine. Ten years later he went to work in London starting at Harrods under Jack O'Shea.

From there he moved on to St John Bread & Wine, Lockhart, the Chiltern Firehouse and In de Wulf in Belgium.

By Katie Pathiaki and Rebecca Riezebos

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