Peter Sanchez-Iglesias: 'It was the right time to move on' from Casamia

Peter Sanchez-Iglesias has said he plans to relaunch the Casamia site as a completely new concept after the Michelin-starred restaurant closes on 20 August.

The chef announced this week that the Bristol restaurant will shut its doors this summer and reopen as a more accessible venue.

Sanchez-Iglesias told The Caterer it was the "right time to move on and try something new again" in the site, which will relaunch either this year or early 2023.

He said: "We're not ready to announce [the new restaurant] as we're ironing out the concept as a family, but it'll be something totally new for us there."

He added: "The [Casamia] team have been offered roles within the next-door business, Paco Tapas, so I hope that we'll retain lots of them of course. They have also been offered the opportunity to take a break and come back to the Casamia site in its new form later this year / early next when we reopen."

Casamia, which was founded in 1999 by Sanchez-Iglesias' parents, relaunched in 2020 after the Covid lockdowns with a dramatic change in direction led by head chef Zak Hitchman, serving a 20- to 25-course menu priced at £180.

Sanchez-Iglesias acknowledged that costs for hospitality venues were on the rise and said tasting menus were "always challenging because of the intricacies involved".

He will continue to oversee Paco Tapas and the Decimo restaurant at the Standard hotel in London's King's Cross.

The chef said: "I'm so proud of the menus at both of those restaurants and my teams there are world class. I just want to keep refining, keep pushing to improve, and keep cooking for our guests. We're lucky to have really loyal followings for both."

In a post on Instagram, Hitchman said the Casamia team had "ripped up the rule book" when it relaunched in 2020.

He wrote: "For reasons out of my hands Casamia will be closing permanently on August 20th.

"I have very mixed feelings about this, part of me likes that it couldn't exist for long as it fits the concept of rip it up and start again, it would obviously be great if we weren't all out of a job though.

"I don't know that a restaurant quite like this will exist again, and we won't be going out quietly, so come and see it before we close."