Pierre Koffmann agrees to run pop-up restaurant for longer
The Pierre Koffmann 'pop-up' restaurant, due to open for six days on the roof of London department store Selfridges, is to remain open for more than two extra weeks after the store received unprecedented demand from diners to try the legendary chef's food.
Koffmann, who has not run a restaurant in the capital since 2002, was originally scheduled to cook at the 80-cover roof-top restaurant from October 8 to 13 for the London Restaurant Festival, but agreed to remain there until October 31 when the festival's organisers asked him to stay on.
He said: "Now London Restaurant Festival has given me the chance to get my feet back under the stove I really don’t want it to end.
"By extending my time I am thrilled to have more opportunity to experiment with new dishes and introduce a daily special, which will sit alongside some of my more classic dishes."
Koffmann will be joined in the kitchen during the festival by some of his former proteges including Tom Kitchin, Eric Chavot, Tom Aikens, Raphael Duntoye, Helena Puolakka and William Curley and other top London chefs have reportedly already booked tables to sample the French chef's cuisine.
Selfridges Food and Restaurants director Ewan Venters said: "I am overwhelmed by the response to one of the greatest chefs of our time returning to the kitchen. After much negotiation and persuasion we were able to convince Pierre that he ought to extend his stay at Selfridges for one last time so as many people as possible can indulge in Pierre's cooking.
The Koffmann restaurant is just one of the events happening during the inaugural London Restaurant Festival and more than 600 restaurants across the capital have signed up in support of the event designed to highlight the diversity of London's restaurants and boost numbers of diners going into them.
