Claude Bosi to open restaurant in Bibendum building in collaboration with Sir Terence Conran
Chef Claude Bosi, who recently announced the closure of two-Michelin-starred Hibiscus in London, is set to launch a new venture on the site of London's Bibendum.
The project is a collaboration with veteran restaurateur Sir Terence Conran and will involve a more casual restaurant downstairs, retaining the existing oyster and seafood bar, accompanied by a fine dining restaurant upstairs. Claude Bosi at Bibendum is scheduled to open in March or April and the restaurant will close in January for a refurbishment.
The restaurant will be open Wednesday to Sunday, while the ground floor will open its doors seven days a week.
Commenting on the news, Bosi said: "This is an extremely exciting adventure for me. After 20 years of living and working in the UK, I'm looking forward to cooking my style of food in such an iconic building and putting my name above the door."
Bibendum occupies what was once the British headquarters for French tyre company Michelin. It was lovingly restored to a restaurant, shop and office space in 1986 and was bought from Michelin by Sir Terence Conran and the late Lord Paul Hamlyn.
Given the building's history, it is fitting that Bosi, who won one of the organisation's coveted stars just a year after opening the original iteration of Hibiscus in Ludlow in Shropshire in 2000 aged just 23, before winning a second in 2004, should be the chef to take over there. He is thought to be aiming to win three stars at his new restaurant.
Bosi closed Hibiscus for good on 1 October this year after nine years in London. He sold his Shropshire site in 2007 to enable him to move to the capital.
Over the years the chef has owned a wide range of businesses with brother Cedric, from pubs the Fox & Grapes in Wimbledon Village and the Charlton Arms in Shropshire, to a boutique townhouse hotel in Ludlow. The pair went on to win the Menu of the Year Catey in 2011 for the Fox and Grapes.
However, currently the only other business he currently operates is the 55-cover pub, The Swan Inn, in Claygate, Surrey which opened on 20 May 2016.
Legendary designer Sir Terence Conran is famed for launching household goods firm Habitat and growing it into a large chain.
He built up a restaurant empire working with Joel Kissin to run sites including Orrery, Quaglino's, Le Pont de la Tour, Blueprint Cafe and Butler's Wharf Chop House before selling 49% of the business to D&D, a company run by former Conran employees Des Gunewardena and David Loewi.
In addition to owning Bibendum, he and Peter Prescott own and run Lutyens, the Boundary hotel, Les Deux Salons and the Albion group in London under Prescott & Conran.
Claude Bosi to close Hibiscus after 16 years >>
