Russell Norman announces opening date and team for Trattoria Brutto

Russell Norman has revealed the opening date and senior team who will be heading up his new London restaurant and bar Trattoria Brutto.

Following a short delay caused by licensing issues, the Polpo founder will launch the restaurant at the former Hix Oyster and Chop House site in Smithfield in September.

Trattoria Brutto will offer Italian dishes and open from 8am for coffee, pastries, sandwiches and breakfast Prosecco. It will seat 70 indoor covers, with 10 at the bar and 10 outdoors.

Head chef will be Oliver Diver, who graduated from Westminster Kingsway College and started his career at Polpo in Soho. He spent more than two years at Anthony Demetre’s Wild Honey and was most recently senior sous at the Allegra restaurant at the Stratford hotel in London.

Diver is due to join Norman in Italy over the next few days to research and visit suppliers ahead of Trattoria Brutto’s opening. The menu will include dishes such as pappardelle with wild boar; chicken liver toasts; peposo (a beef stew); and lampredotto (spicy tripe in a sandwich).

General manager will be Monique Sierra, who trained in New York before arriving in London in 2002 to spend 11 years at Giraffe managing several central London sites. She later became group general manager at Polpo, where she oversaw six sites.

Sommelier Alessandro Marchesan, ex-global wine buyer for the Zuma group, will oversee the wine list, which will total 100 labels and focus on old-world European varieties.

Norman and Richard Beatty opened the first Polpo in London's Soho in September 2009 and grew the group to eight sites. Two restaurants in Soho and Chelsea remain.