Former Birdcage owner to open Oxford restaurant

Michael Von Hruschka, the chef and restaurateur who owned and operated London`s famous restaurant The Birdcage, is to open a new restaurant in Oxford. 

Von Hruschka, who ran The Birdcage in the West End in the late 1990s, has bought the former Old School pub in Oxford with plans to turn it into a 100-cover restaurant with his partner Colette Doran. 

The couple plan to open the town centre property, once a boys boarding school, as a restaurant serving classic modern cuisine, within the next month. 

Von Hruschka, who earned a Michelin star for his cooking at The Birdcage, was forced to down-size his businesses in 2005 when he suffered a back injury, from which he is now fully recovered. 

The couple bought the property`s freehold for an undisclosed sum off an asking price of £550,000 after securing funding through Christie Finance. 

Chris Field, a consultant at Christie Finance, said: “Michael and Colette have been looking for the right premises for an awfully long time and I am happy to have been able assist in funding the deal. The restaurant should be ready to open its doors within the next two to three weeks, and I am looking forward to tasting Michael’s food.”