Restaurateur Jeremy King has announced the resurrection of famed West End dining institution Le Caprice, and that former maître d’ Jesus Adorno will be returning as manager.
King, formerly half of famed restaurant duo Corbin & King with business partner Chris Corbin, has revealed that he will be relaunching the restaurant that started it all back in 1981.
The restaurant, in St. James’s, became a famed haunt of many a celebrity, including Princess Diana. In 2005 it was sold to Richard Caring, the man behind Sexy Fish cocktail bars, and shut up shop during the pandemic.
But now King has got the keys back for the site, and plans to help Adorno, who became hugely popular among the restaurant’s patrons, pass a milestone with his second coming, as King explained in an email: “When Le Caprice closed with the arrival of the pandemic, [Adorno] had completed 38 years service and was disappointed not to have passed the four-decade mark. Therefore I am delighted to tell you that he will now have the opportunity to complete that amazing feat because I have just signed a lease for the site and he will be joining me as we aim to recreate a restaurant that for many of our customers over the years was the one they professed their greatest love for.”
Given that Caring supposedly still owns Le Caprice’s name, it has been suggested by The Times that King will have to find a new one for the site.
“It will of course be a new version,” King declared, “but I hope you will find it reassuringly familiar in how it looks, and what we serve.”
The new restaurant is expected to open in the new year. In the spring, King will be opening another spot, near Hyde Park, that is described by him “very much within the ‘Grand Cafés & Brasseries’ mould”.
This article was originally published by the drinks business and has been shared with permission.
