The group is back on the expansion trail with two new restaurants due to open this year.
Seafood and grill restaurant group Lussmanns is set to return to London after a 20 year break as part of its expansion.
The business was founded by restaurateur Andrei Lussmann in North Kensington in 2002 before relocating to Hertfordshire in 2004 and opening five sites across the county.
Now it has taken on the 130-cover former Côte site on Highgate High Street, which will reopen in August as Lussmanns’ first London launch in two decades.
A seventh Lussmanns restaurant, in Woburn, is also due to open in October.
The Highgate restaurant will feature a café area at the front of the building serving coffees, spritzes and dishes from the main menu, with plans to offer sandwiches, salads and drinks to-go in future.
A bar area will serve Lussmanns own Garden Gin and beers from Hertfordshire’s Mad Squirrel brewery, while the main restaurant will include a 30-cover walled garden.
Dishes will include Label Anglais free-range chicken schnitzel; fishcake with spinach, capers and a butter sauce; and south coast crab linguine, with brunch served at weekends.
Lussmann said: “Opening a restaurant in London feels like we’re coming home, as that’s where it all started for Lussmanns in North Kensington in 2002.
“We can’t wait to open our doors in historic and beautiful Highgate Village and welcome customers to come and enjoy the finest ingredients sourced from farmers, fishers and producers all practising the highest standards – and at affordable prices.”
Lussmanns has also taken over the former Loch Fyne restaurant in a Grade II-listed Woburn Estate for its seventh opening later this year.
The group was the first small restaurant business outside London to be certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in 2014 and has won numerous awards for its sustainability.
Lussmanns currently runs five restaurants across Hertford, St Albans, Hitchin, Harpenden and Berkhamsted.