Chef Lee Westcott to open Typing Room in Viajante site
Chef Lee Westcott is to open a new restaurant called the Typing Room, backed by chef and restaurateur Jason Atherton, in the former site of Nuno Mendes' Viajante.
The 40-cover restaurant, in the Town Hall hotel in London, will open officially on 16 May.
It will offer a "refined" European menu showcasing British seasons and produce.
The menu will consist of five snacks, five starters and five mains.
Sample dishes include: mackerel, passion fruit, burnt cucumber and dill; pigeon smoked in pine, salt baked celeriac, lovage and hazelnut; and green tea, yoghurt and sesame.
Six-course and eight-course tastings menus will also be available.
The menu will be accompanied by a "dynamic and versatile" wine list with a mix of classic and more unusual styles, incorporating smaller producers. There will also be a selection of English wines by the glass.
Lee returns to London having joined Jason Atherton's team of executive chefs by running his two Hong Kong restaurants 22 Ships and Ham & Sherry.
Before that he spent four years working alongside Tom Aikens, heading up the kitchen at his eponymous Chelsea restaurant. Prior to that, Westcott completed stints at three-Michelin-starred Per Se in New York, alongside Rene Redzepi at Noma, and with Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's.
Marie Baxter, general manager of Town Hall hotel, said: "We are extremely excited to introduce this new restaurant venture to the area and to our guests. Lee has been focusing on an elegant yet casual dining experience, with a relaxed service. The creative menu, together with the newly decorated room and a brilliant team brings it all together."
Westcott will oversee the menu in Corner Room, the hotel's brasserie, and the new Peg + Patriot bar, as well as the conference and banqueting menus for the hotel.
The Town Hall building, which has stood in London's East End since Edwardian times, reopened its doors in April 2010 as Town Hall hotel.