Mark Askew set to return to the kitchen in new restaurant backed by Richard Caring

Mark Askew looks set to return to the kitchen in a new restaurant backed by Richard Caring.

The new restaurant is to be called the Grill Shack, and is expected to occupy the site of the Alphabet Bar in Soho's Beak Street, although the deal remains to be finalised.

Askew has previously indicated that he was working on a "counter service" project with Caring but declined to reveal any further details.

But now it has emerged that the restaurant will be a quick, healthy, quality counter service restaurant with fresh ingredients, based around the grill. It is planned to open in summer this year, and Askew is understood to be set to oversee the kitchen.

Askew was Gordon Ramsay's right-hand man at Gordon Ramsay Holdings in his role as executive chef from the mid 1990s until last year.

He since went on to become operations director of Cirrus Inns, the investment vehicle he co-founded by Alex Langlands Pearse. He has remained a shareholder in that business but left his operational role at around the same time that former Skylon executive chef Helena Puolakka joined the business.

The Alphabet bar in London was originally put up for sale through agents Shelley Sandzer in 2009 along with three other venues after parent company Alphabet Bars underwent a pre-pack administration.

A spokesperson for Richard Caring declined to comment.