Former Fino site to become Uzbeki restaurant

The site of what used to be Fino at 33 Charlotte Street in London, run by brothers Sam and Eddy Hart, is to become an Uzbeki restaurant.

The new venue will be named Samarkand, named after a city in Uzbekistan located on the Silk Road, the ancient trading route linking China to the Mediterranean.

The Hart Brothers has assigned the leasehold interest on the remainder of an existing 20-year lease due to expire in September 2027 at a passing rent of £170,000 per year exclusive, in a deal brokered by property firm Davis Coffer Lyons.

David Moore, who owns Michelin-starred restaurants Pied à Terre in Fitzrovia and L'Autre Pied in Marylebone, was part of the team behind the new business, which will be run by Sanjar Nabiev, an international restaurateur originally from Samarkand. Moore is no longer involved, instead and hospitality consultant Charles Oak of the Quercus Partnership, whose project list includes the Mayfair Hotel, Pied à Terre, Ethos, Skibo Castle, Angela Maliks, the Savoy, Gleneagles and Mahiki, is working with Nabiev.

Sam and Eddie Hart ran Spanish restaurant Fino for 12 years until they closed its doors last summer to focus on new projects.

The contemporary Spanish tapas venue was the first restaurant for the brothers when it opened in 2003, with head chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho at the helm.

Sam and Eddie Hart also own Quo Vadis and three Barrafina sites.

Sam and Eddie Hart close Fino >>
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