Thomas Straker to open second Notting Hill restaurant

Thomas Straker has unveiled plans to launch his second restaurant in London’s Notting Hill, two years after opening his first.

The chef told Tatler he will be serving a “breakfast-lunch kind of deli scenario” with dishes such as acai bowls, granola and eggs with ground beef.

Tatler reported the restaurant will be located at 60 Golborne Road, “a stone’s throw” from Straker’s, which is at 91 Golborne Road.

Straker’s launched in June 2022 offering “unfussy” dishes such as potato gnocchi with burnt butter, lemon and Parmesan; slow cooked lamb shoulder, broad beans and salsa verde; and more recently mussel and chilli butter flatbread.

It was praised by Jimi Famurewa at the Evening Standard for having “possibly cracked the code of aspirational deliciousness for a new generation”.

The former sous chef at London’s Michelin-starred Elystan Street had risen to TikTok fame in June 2020 after posting short-form recipe content.

He now has 2.5 million followers and an All Things Butter range available at major supermarkets following his viral videos on flavoured butter, such as bone marrow butter, burnt spring onion and chipotle butter, and curried butter.

In July last year, he also joined the line-up at Arcade Battersea at London’s Battersea Power Station, offering a selection of his signature flatbreads.

Straker started his career as chef de partie at the Dorchester hotel in 2010 before taking the same role at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in 2013.

He opened Casa Cruz in Notting Hill in 2015 before taking the Casa Cruz pop-up to New York in 2016.

After working under Phil Howard at Elystan Street in late 2017, he left to work as a private chef.

In 2021 Straker ran a sell-out residency at London’s Carousel and in January 2022 launched a content studio in west London to further build his social media following.

Last summer, he faced criticism over the lack of diversity in his team after he posted a photo on Instagram of his all-white, all-male brigade.

His defence aggravated the backlash and resulted in him deleting the original post. He has since apologised for his reaction to the incident.

He told Tatler: “That was such a huge thing for so many people. So we had to, like, take some time to understand that.”

Thomas Straker and his team have been contacted for comment on the new opening.