Quaglino's settles on O'Neill as head chef

The search for an executive chef to replace Australia-bound Henrik Iversen at London restaurant Quaglino's has finally been concluded.

Julian O'Neill, formerly head chef at Bank restaurant in London's Aldwych, steps into the role at the Conran Group restaurant in December.

The job hunt sparked some controversy when chef Toby Hill, former head chef at London's Halcyon hotel, claimed to have turned down the position (Caterer, 10 August, page 5). A spokeswoman for Conran insisted that Hill had been interviewed but had not been offered the job.

O'Neill, who has worked with the Roux brothers and Nico Ladenis, will head a team of more than 50 chefs at the 382-seat restaurant, bar and private dining room. He said he aimed to "elevate still further Quaglino's unique dining experience".

Conran's Coq d'Argent restaurant also gains a new head chef in December when Mickael Weiss joins from the Bleeding Heart Yard restaurant off Hatton Garden, London. He replaces Stephen Goodlad, who is joining Granada Compass as executive chef.

The Bank Restaurant Group, too, has seen a number of changes. O'Neill's job at Bank has been taken by Lee Ward, while Steve Carter, head chef of the London Zander restaurant, becomes executive chef for the London Bank and Zander restaurants.

There are also plans for Idris Caldora, executive chef at the Birmingham Bank, to become group operations manager for kitchens, and for Zander general manager Anders Baath to assume the same group role for front of house operations.

by Angela Frewin