Owners of Michelin-starred Lima London acquire second site

The team behind Michelin-starred Peruvian restaurant Lima London has acquired a second site, to be called Lima Floral.

The new restaurant, which will have 70 seats and a further 30 in the basement, will be on Garrick Street in Covent Garden, and will open in July 2014, on the site of what was Robert Siegler's restaurant, the Forge.

It takes its name from the fact that the site has an entrance on Floral Street, and it will offer a menu that is a mix of both traditional and contemporary Peruvian cuisine.

Gabriel Gonzalez, co-owner of Lima, said: "We are so excited to have found a beautiful site in Covent Garden. After two years of operating Lima, we thought it was time to develop a casual and fun offering with serious food credentials in this foodie destination. The cuisine will be of very high quality, using traditional and unique cooking techniques. Lima Floral will be split in two spaces: the main restaurant and a piqueos bar [essentially a bar serving tapas dishes which is very traditional in Peru]."

The original Lima restaurant opened in August 2012, and became the first Peruvian restaurant in Europe to be awarded a Michelin star, in September 2013.

The menu at the new site, overseen by Virgilio Martinez (pictured) and head chef Robert Ortiz, will feature some of Lima's most popular dishes alongside new plates.

Martinez is a founding member of Peru's Mater Initiative, a multi-disciplinary group of Peruvian chefs, scientists and ecologists who travel around Peru discovering edible plants and ingredients with the goal of sharing them and information about the cultural and biodiversity of Peru's produce.

As a result of this, the menu will include some of these rare Peruvian ingredients, which have yet to appear on London menus, coming from remote places in the Amazon basin and the Andes.

Dishes are set to include scallops with chia ceviche, Amazonian fish with warm causa and kohlrabi and quinoa tiradito.

The restaurant and bar interior design is by B3 designers, B3's previous restaurant projects include Gymkhana, Bubbledogs and Roka. The building is owned and managed by Capco.

Virgilio Martinez to open Peruvian restaurant Lima in Fitzrovia >>