Frankie Dettori relaunches Chelsea Italian restaurant as Sette

The new project sees a minor refurbishment to the Sydney Street site and a menu developed with Stecca which is designed to span the whole of modern Italy and contain signature dishes from each region.

Sette, Italian for seven, is a reference to Dettori's record-breaking day at Ascot in 1996 where he rode seven winners in a row.

The 70-cover venue formerly housed Cavallino, a previous restaurant venture for the Italian jockey which originally launched in June last year. Neither were Dettori's first foray into the restaurant industry after he previously collaborated on Frankie’s Bar & Grill with celebrity chef Marco Pierre White - a business the sportsman retains an interest in.

"Sette has a huge place in my heart and is a project that I am very close to and proud of, both in terms of the food and atmosphere on offer, but also for the Italian soul that is the lifeblood of the restaurant. I am Italian and whilst England is my home, Sette is where my heart is in terms of my
heritage," Dettori said.

Stefano Stecca​

Stecca joins the team at Sette from fine dining Italian restaurant Blummyz where he was a consultant chef. He left the restaurant in March after telling BigHospitality that the restaurant was not busy and was, in his opinion, too expensive​. The latter claim was one the owner, Swiss-born entrepreneur Elliot Blum denied.

The Italian chef told BigHospitality he was no longer in contact with the team behind Blummyz and was enjoying the working relationship he was developing with Dettori at Sette, where the price of a main meal begins at £16.

"I am very happy, Mr Dettori likes my food. I can choose all the produce and changing the recipes is not a problem."

Stecca, who previously ran Osteria Stecca and collaborated on the launch of Mayfair Italian restaurant Novikov, also revealed Dettori has ambitions to expand the restaurant. "First we need to be focused here and build the restaurant so it is working 100 per cent and after we can see - the idea is to open another one but first of all we need to be focused here," he said.

Regional​

It was Sette's restaurant manager Umberto Scomparin that first introduced Stecca to the jockey; the chef said he was proud of the restaurant's new menu which he had designed. "It is typical Italian, not sophisticated and it is simple but we buy very good produce fresh everyday - almost 90 per cent from Italy directly."

Stecca explained he was confident the restaurant could differentiate itself from other Italian eateries on the market because of the focus on Italian regions on the menu which includes Rimini-style fish soup, cuttlefish and langoustine salad and grilled lamb chop with aubergine.