Gordon Ramsay to open new West End restaurant

Gordon Ramsay is to open his first ever restaurant in the tourist heart of the West End as part of an ambitious expansion drive.

The all day dining room just off Regent Street will be modelled on his popular Bread Street Kitchen in the City and is expected to open in the Autumn, the Standard has learned.

The Kitchen Nightmares star also unveiled plans today for a new Hong Kong restaurant, also called Bread Street Kitchen, and said he is talks about two other Asian openings in Singapore and Macau.

The launch of Heddon Street Kitchen - just yards from Burberry’s huge flagship store - marks a bold move into the core of the West End’s shopping district.

The planned two-storey West End restaurant serving modern European food will be designed by Russell Sage, who has previously worked on Gordon Ramsay restaurants, the Savoy Grill and Petrus.

It is understood that Ramsay beat off competition from a number of other leading restaurateurs, including the operators of Zuma and Roca, to win the 9,000 sq ft Crown Estate owned Heddon Street site. It was previously a bar and restaurant called “The Living Room.”

Gordon Ramsay Group was advised by consultants Restaurant Property and the Crown Estate by CBRE.

News of the openings comes after it was revealed that Ramsay’s restaurant empire dropped £6.4 million into the red last year, largely because of one-off costs related to the lease on its York & Albany pub and hotel in Camden. Group turnover rose 4 per cent to £44.8 million and trading is said to be “buoyant” this year.

As well as Heddon Street Kitchen Ramsay is also due to open later this year on the site of his debut restaurant, Aubergine, in Chelsea. A spokeswoman for Gordon Ramsay Group said: “It’s an exciting time for the group as we look to open new restaurants in London and internationally with two new amazing sites in London and our entry into Asia with Bread Street Kitchen opening in Hong Kong in September.”

His business partner Stuart Gillies said there was “no reason why we can’t do 50 new restaurants over the next five years”.

Ramsay said of the Hong Kong opening: “This is an exciting step for the group, not only to be entering the Asian market which has such an amazing food culture but also to bringing one of our concepts which has proved such a success in London.”