It was once a favourite haunt of the fabulously rich and the unquestionably famous: Diana, Princess of Wales, and Princess Margaret were regular diners; Mick Jagger and Liz Taylor, too.
Now the site of London’s Le Caprice restaurant seems ready to open its doors again, three years after it closed. And it will be under familiar management.
Jeremy King, the famed restaurateur behind the Wolseley and the Delaunay, this week said he has taken over the lease for 20 Arlington Street, the former home of Le Caprice, which was his first restaurant.
King is reuniting with Jesus Adorno, the restaurant’s former maître d’, who remained there after it was taken over by Richard Caring in 2005.
King took over Le Caprice in 1981 with his business partner, Chris Corbin. Known for its distinctive blue signage, it soon became a regular haunt for the stars of the 80s and 90s. Royals and rock stars aside, Liz Hurley, Omar Sharif and Madonna were also spotted at the restaurant.
Harry Murray MBE, the president of the Hospitality Professionals Association, first visited Le Caprice in 1982. Under King’s ownership, he dined there dozens of times.
He is “absolutely delighted” about the site’s reopening and Adorno’s involvement.
“Jesus’s total heart was in Le Caprice. He made you feel so important. You knew that you were surrounded by people getting exactly the same treatment, whether it be a politician or a film star.”
Last year, Corbin & King, the fine dining group founded by the pair behind Le Caprice, went into administration after trade was devastated by the pandemic.
King intended to buy back the business but Minor International, owned by the American-born Thai billionaire William Heinecke, which had held a majority stake in the business, paid more than £60m in an auction and ousted King and Corbin.
Jay Rayner, the Observer’s restaurant critic, said: “King made it absolutely clear right from the moment he lost control of the original group that this was not the end for him. It’s not a surprise to any of us that we’ve had this sudden flurry of announcements, but it is a delight because he’s very, very good at it.”
Le Caprice closed in 2020 after its lease came to an end but plans were announced to open the restaurant at another location.
While King has acquired 20 Arlington Street, it is unlikely he will be able to use the Le Caprice name.
Last month, King first announced his return to the industry with the opening of a restaurant in Kensington. “I have no doubt that it will be emotionally an important thing to him that he’s going back to where he started as an independent restaurateur. But the one thing that he’s always been brilliant at is catching the tone of the times,” said Rayner.
“While I imagine there will be echoes of what Le Caprice was when it originally opened in 1981, this will not be a museum piece. He’ll be opening a new restaurant fit for 2024.”
Murray said he dined at Le Caprice once after it was taken over by Caring. “It wasn’t the same. When you don’t see familiar faces and they don’t recognise you, you react in a different way. I don’t want to be unkind to Richard Caring but we never went back,” he said.
Rayner said: “Jeremy King has always had a line which is, you should run restaurant businesses from the floor, not the boardroom. And to a lot of us, that has always felt like a dig at Richard Caring, who has never felt as if he was in it for the hospitality side of the hospitality business and more in it for business. And that has at times been to the detriment of some great old restaurants.”
Le Caprice’s reputation as an A-lister’s restaurant of choice may be hard to replicate in 2024. “The world has moved on hugely since 1981, and Jeremy King will know that,” said Rayner.
“When the original Le Caprice opened, there wasn’t vast amounts of competition but now there is. It’s going to be impossible for it to be the landmark that it once was but I have absolutely no doubt that it’s in the hands of a very skilled restaurateur and will be somewhere that people will talk about,” he added.
Regardless, there is one diner who will most certainly be at the new restaurant in 20 Arlington Street. “As soon as we know when it’s reopened, we will book and go,” said Murray.
