Neil Borthwick departs Merchants Tavern to join the French House in Soho
Neil Borthwick has stepped down as head chef of Merchants Tavern in London's Shoreditch after five years at the helm and will join the French House in Soho next week.
Merchants Tavern opened in 2013 as a collaboration between Borthwick, wife Angela Hartnett, and Canteen owners Dominic Lake and Patrick Clayton-Malone.
Tweeting this morning Borthwick said: "It's all change…I stepped down as head chef @merchantstavern earlier this year, and I want to say a big thanks to all the team for their hard work and dedication over the last 5 years, it's been a blast and I know you will go on to great things. Go for it! Watch this space."
He later added: "So from next week I will be cooking @frenchhousesoho. I'm doing what I love best!"
Before opening Merchants Tavern Borthwich worked at restaurants including Gordon Ramsay's Amaryillis in Glasgow, Restaurant Tom Aiken, Maison Pic in France and Phil Howard's the Square.
The opening came a year after a horrific cycling accident left him with a serious head injury. He later told The Caterer: "I think on a list of 10 things not to do after an injury like mine, number one would definitely be not to open a central London restaurant."
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