108 Garage restaurateur bids to find star chef No 2 on Gumtree

The owner of an acclaimed west London restaurant that found its chef through an advert on the Gumtree website is hoping to repeat the trick with his new opening.

The former financier turned restaurateur Luca Longobardi advertised for his venue 108 Garage with a plea for a chef “ready to sail on a new adventure in Notting Hill”.

His appointment, the previously unknown Chris Denney, has turned the brick-walled dining room in Golborne Road into one of London’s hottest culinary destinations with one critic describing him as “the kind of chef who comes along only once or twice in a decade”.

Now Mr Longobardi, dubbed “The Mafia’s Banker” when he was imprisoned during a brush with the authorities in Brazil from which he was entirely exonerated, is planning to launch his second venture round the corner in Southam Street. He has once again turned to the website normally associated with searches for flatmates or cars rather than award-winning kitchen maestros, to find his next chef — as well as 25 other members of staff.