Macdonald to open up second Bankside

Chef-restaurateur Kelvin Macdonald is to open a sister restaurant to his successful London eaterie, Bankside.

The new business will be sited on the north side of the River Thames in the City of London and be called Bankside EC2. The original Bankside - which is situated close to Shakespeare's Globe theatre on the South Bank - will be renamed as Bankside SE1.

Macdonald told Caterer: "It was always in the game plan to have more than one restaurant and we've found a great site with affordable rent."

The new restaurant, in Throckmorton Street, will occupy 9,000sq ft and will have seating for about 300 in the main dining area, plus capacity for about 150 in a bar area.

Bankside EC2, Macdonald said, would continue to serve the "fast, affordable, fresh" food established by the original Bankside, including dishes such as belly of pork on apple mash with sprouting broccoli and cinnamon cream jus, and chicken breast with boulangŠre potatoes and butter bean casserole. Spend per head for a three-course meal with wine is expected to be about £20.

Macdonald confirmed that Bankside EC2's target market would be office workers and that he would be investing £750,000 in fitting out the basement site. He added that he expected to bring in a turnover of between £2m and £3m per year at the site and confirmed that the new restaurant's head chef would be Richard Oxley, formerly of the Tate Modern. Oxley will head a kitchen brigade of about seven chefs.

John Page will take over as general manager at Bankside SE1. Page has been head chef at the 170-seat South Bank eaterie since it opened two years ago, and has a stake in the business.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 15 - 21 April 2004