Barnsley chop
Italian chef Francesco Mazzei to open restaurant at ‘perfect location’ Corinthia London
Renowned chef Francesco Mazzei is set to launch an Italian restaurant at five-star hotel Corinthia London.
Debuting in the summer of 2025, the restaurant will be situated in what is currently The Northall.
Calabrian-born Francesco was raised with a passion for food, often in the family kitchen, and had his first taste of a professional experience working in his uncle’s Gelateria, where he mastered Italian cakes and gelato by the age of nine.
Over the last four decades he has worked in five-star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. In 2019, he was awarded the OMRI (Order of Merit of the Italian Republic) and in more recent years has been in residency in Malta at the Corinthia Palace, bringing a taste of southern Italy to Villa Corinthia, the first and founding property of Corinthia Hotels.
Francesco describes his culinary style as “mamma’s cooking with a chef’s hands”.
His globe-trotting career to date spans his first role in the UK at The Dorchester, working with both Willi Elsener and Henry Brosi. He then went to Rome at La Terrazza dell’Eden, before launching Santini restaurants in both Edinburgh and Milan and then The Royal Sporting Club in Bangkok.
His professional travels continued as he joined restaurateur Alan Yau as he opened a series of venues in Mumbai and across the UK. In London, Francesco also worked at Franco’s on Jermyn Street and St Alban with Jeremy King and Chris Corbin, before opening the ultra-stylish L’Anima, followed Sartoria, Radici and Fiume.
He also plays a vital advisory role with the Calabrian government to promote their artisan goods in the UK including citrus fruit, bergamot, and nduja.
Francesco has written one cookbook – Mezzogiorno: Southern Italian Cooking (2015), and has appeared on numerous cookery programmes, including Saturday Kitchen, MasterChef, Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, The Wine Show, and Italian Hell’s Kitchen.
Commenting on the appointment, Thomas Kochs, managing director of Corinthia London, states: “I am so happy to be able to create a restaurant with Francesco and the team here at the hotel, which will be for Londoners and hotel guests alike. Francesco’s personality and his spectacular Italian food will be irresistible for sure.”
Francesco himself added: “Since my last ventures in London, I had been searching for the right opportunity, so when the prospect to open here at Corinthia London presented itself, I was delighted. It is the perfect location for me to showcase the most beautiful, classic Italian cooking that I am so excited to share.
“I am also thrilled to be in great company, working alongside the hotel’s other partners, Tom Kerridge and Salvatore Calabrese.”
Corinthia London leads the way with its restaurant and bar offering – including acclaimed chef Tom Kerridge at Kerridge’s Bar & Grill, and drinks supremo, 'The Maestro' Salvatore Calabrese at Velvet bar, as well as the Crystal Moon Lounge’s spectacular afternoon tea overseen by executive pastry chef Yago Doamo.
The hotel’s broader food and beverage operations, including The Garden and The Northall Bar are directed by executive chef André Garrett.
The Northall will remain open until late winter 2024, when it will close for a full refurbishment, to relaunch later next year with Francesco.
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Italian chef Francesco Mazzei to open restaurant at ‘perfect location’ Corinthia London
