Yotam Ottolenghi unveils details of first restaurant

Chef, author and delicatessen owner Yotam Ottolenghi has unveiled full details of his first restaurant venture, which opens in London's Soho at the end of next month.

Nopi will be a high-end brasserie serving a modern menu inspired by the flavours of the Mediterranean, Middle East and Asia. It will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and offer both individual and sharing plates.

The kitchen will be overseen by executive chefs Ottolenghi and Sarit Packer as well as head chef Ramael Scully.

Dishes will include rose veal carpaccio with marinated beetroot and kashk; grilled garfish with vine leaves and chermoula; and baked Stilton cheesecake with wild mushrooms. Desserts will feature chocolate, peanut brittle with mace syrup and crème fraîche; and cardamom rice pudding with rose syrup and pistachio.

Average spend will be £35 at lunch and £50 at dinner including drinks and service. The restaurant will be managed by Basia Murphy.

Located on Warwick Street in Soho, Nopi will be housed in the site formerly occupied by Club Bar & Dining. Spread over two floors, it will feature the kitchen in the lower floor, with high sharing tables alongside it. Interiors, designed by Alex Meitlis, will feature marble, brass and wood.

Israeli-born Ottolenghi moved to London in 1998 and trained at Cordon Bleu before working as a pastry chef at the Capital restaurant in Knightsbridge and Kensington Place. He then moved to the Baker and Spice shop in Chelsea, where he became head pastry chef.

In 2002, he teamed with Noam Bar, Sami Tamimi and Jim Webb to set up Ottolenghi, which now has shops in Notting Hill, Kensington, Islington and Belgravia.

Ottolenghi also writes a weekly column in The Guardian called the New Vegetarian and has published two cookery books, The Ottolenghi Cookbook and Plenty.

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By Kerstin Kühn

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