UK News Team

Highly regarded chef Jason Atherton will head up the kitchens of Gordon Ramsay's latest restaurant "maze" which opens in London's Grosvenor Square this coming Wednesday (25 May.) Atherton has traveled the world since leaving Ramsay's Verre restaurant in Dubai last year, collecting ideas for dishes from the Far East and America. As well as the three course a la carte, maze will offer a menu of around 20 regularly changing tasting dishes. Priced on the launch menu at between £3.50 and £8.50, Atherton will be offering the likes of pressed foie gras and smoked eel with pickled ginger and rhubarb, ginger brioche (£4.50); Scottish lobster with white radish and asparagus, aigre doux dressing, fennel shoots (£7.50); and honey and soy roasted quail with landes foie gras, peach and Persian saffron chutney. A la carte choices are made up of larger versions of the tasting plates and dishes such as John Dory with St George Mushroom, Alsace bacon, guillot onion in red wine (£14.00.) Desserts are priced at £5 and £6 and are also available in tasting sized portions for £2.50 and £3.00 and include mango parfait with orange and anise jelly, coriander shoots; white chocolate and cocnut panna cotta with olive caramel, white chocolate granite; and lemon thyme marinated peach with basil sorbet, gariguette strawberries and Sarawak pepper jelly. Atherton trained with Pierre Koffman and Nico Ladenis and claims to be the first British chef to complete a stage at el Bulli. He was head chef of Oliver Peyton's Mash and Air in Manchester and worked alongside Stephen Terry at Frith Street restaurant in Soho. The dining room, designed by Rockwell Group, features a series of maze-like wood, fabric, woven metal and etched glass panel screens and will seat 90. The bar provides an additional 50 seats and will serve Asian-influenced cocktails such as Honey and Rhubarb Bellinis and Strawberry Balsamic Caipirnha designed to complement the food. maze 10-13 Grosvenor Square London W1K 6JP 020 7107 000 Fax 020 7107 0001

Paul Allen and Dave Stewart's art, music and entertainment private membership club The Hospital will fully open in mid-October 2004 and it has been announced that Adam Byatt and Adam Oates will transfer their popular Clapham restaurant Thyme to its West End premises. Byatt will remain as head chef of the new 80 seat Thyme Restaurant and Bar, which will have a private room for 14 people and a lounge bar for 20. Interiors will be by Nelson Designs, who were responsible for The Square, La Trompette, The Glasshouse and Chez Bruce. Adam Oates will become The Hospital's food and beverage director, managing the kitchens and general operations of the clubs member's only informal 50 seat restaurant and bars. He will also oversee private functions at the club. Thyme Restaurant and Bar 24 Endell Street London WC2 (All information courtesy of Network London)

An update from Phil Howard on this project today: current expectations are that the restaurant will open around January 2005. Although Howard will be closely involved with setting up the restaurant (which will share some similarities with Nigel Platts Martins other ventures with Bruce Poole) he will not have an ongoing executive chef role. According to Howard, "it won't be The Square II. My day to day responsibilities at The Square will be unaffected. This is where I will die. "

<P>Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares is a new 4 part series beginning on Channel 4 on Tuesday April 27. Executive Produced by Pat Llewellyn of The Naked Chef & French Leave fame, each hour long programme shows Ramsay's efforts to turn around the fortunes of a struggling UK restaurant in just two weeks. At the end of each week’s show, Ramsay revisits the restaurant to see whether his advice has been adopted and if the restaurant has improved. The four kitchens featured in the series are: Bonapartes, Silsden, West Yorkshire Moore Place, Esher, SurreyThe Glasshouse, Ambleside, CumbriaThe Walnut Tree, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire <P>“I’m delighted to see Gordon back at Channel 4, “ comments Sue Murphy, Channel 4 Head of Features. “This series captures the passion for which he is renowned and points in the direction of the struggling restaurateurs who’ve asked for his help. What they and the audience get is the Full Ramsay.’ <P>‘This series is different’ adds Gordon Ramsay. ‘I’ve opened up the doors to my kitchens in the past, now there’s going to be some serious criticism of how other people run theirs. I’ve only got two weeks to turn things round so I won’t be mincing my words and if they can’t cut it, they won’t know what’s hit them.’ <P>A book, Ramsay's Kitchen Heaven, accompanies the series and is published by Penguin in May. <P><table align=left><TD><A HREF="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0718147316/egulletcom-21"><IMG SRC="http://images.egullet.com/u16710/i5850.jpg" border="0" alt="cover" hspace="3" vspace="3"></td></table></A> <br><br><br> <br><br><br>

Caterer-Online has reported that Philip Howard is to open a new restaurant venture with his partner Nigel Platts Martin on the site of what was Dakota in Notting Hill: more details here. We will update this story when we have more details.

Mayfair Michelin starred restaurant The Greenhouse re-launches on 13 April following an extensive renovation and last year’s ownership change. Antonin Bonnet, who previously worked with Michel Bras at his three-Michelin star restaurant in the Aubrac region of France, will oversee the re-opening as the consultant chef. Dishes on the £55.00 set dinner menu will be graded from the lightest through to the richest, allowing diners to tailor their selection according to personal taste and appetite. Starters include Open Devon crab lasagne with salsify foam, crab bisque and Foie gras terrine with fresh brioche and apple. Mains feature Roasted fillet of turbot with ratte mash potatoes, morels and new season asparagus, Fillet of Aubrac veal with sweetbreads and girolles, Swiss chard and ricotta terrine and Cote de beouf of English rare breed with crispy polenta (for two). Award-winning designers and architects SHH, are responsible for remodelling the interior. Their brief was to achieve an ‘inside-outside’ feel using neutral tones and natural textiles. The new design will incorporate a collection of antique Gallé and Daum vases, chosen to accentuate the botanical themes of The Greenhouse. The wine list at The Greenhouse will number 2,000 bins when it re-opens. The vast list offers a selection of Old and New World wines, from lesser-known producers to emerging wine regions; including Mount Horrocks Watervale Riesling, Clare Valley, Australia, 2002 at £35. Other fine wines sourced by Head Sommelier James Payne range from Bodegas y Viñedos Alión, Ribera del Duero, Spain, 1996 at £79 and Zind-Humbrecht Tokay-Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl, Alsace, France, 1995 at £90 to rarities such as D.R.C Montrachet, 1978 at £2,350 and Heitz Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA, 1974 at £1,250. The Greenhouse, 27A Hay’s Mews, Mayfair, London W1X 7RJ 020 7499 3331 reservations@greenhouserestaurant.co.uk