Flailing chef Claude Bosi has just shuttered his Hibiscus restaurant in Mayfair and taken on another basket case.

Once boasting the best steak frites outside France, Bibendum in Chelsea was described by then director Simon Hopkinson as daring to be continental, Bibendum is now closed for another revamp as Bosi tries to rethink it amid Brexit insecurities.

Bibendum acts as a metaphor for changing sentiments in Britain.It was opened in 1987 during the first year of Nigel Lawson’s Big Bang, and seemed with its blue stained glass windows and a relaxed European eating environment to represent a more internationalist looking London.

That was the Boom. Then we had the Bust. And now the Brexit.

Owner Sir Terence Conran has decided it’s time for a rehash and has chosen Claude Bosi to fill the bill.

 

Bosi first set up shop in Ludlow and then moved the Hibiscus franchise to Mayfair.

Talking about his first experiences of London and Bibendum he said: “The first time I came I picked up the Michelin guide and looked where to eat. And I saw this restaurant called Bibendum. I thought wow! You have to be pretty desperate to get a Michelin star to call your restaurant that!  I didn’t know any of the history.” (Bibendum is the name of the Michelin Man in French). 

In possibly a last roll of the dice for the iconic restaurant and for himself, Bosi has now closed the doors at Hibiscus and decided to work in that very same restaurant.

Although Hibiscus was highly acclaimed in both Ludlow and Mayfair, Bosi laments that the ‘lights out neighbourhood’ could not support his restaurant.

Conran has faith in Bosi saying he is full of the “confidence, personality and vision” that Bibendum needs to reinvigorate its former glory.

“I want a roast chicken on the menu, a different flavour for each season,” said Bosi. “Wwe are having a rotisserie put on the carvery. We are going to have tripes lyonnaise – my mother used to make a wonderful tripe and cuttlefish gratin, which I am revising a little bit

Bosi admits that his cooking was once about showing off and being flamboyant, but he is now more concerned with good eating and this should fit in perfectly with Bibendum’s ethos.

Conran’s original vision was to create a relaxed atmosphere with good food where people could “come with their kid or with their wife as for a business meeting”.

Now the world awaits as we see just what Bosi and Conran will conjure out of the darkness.

 

Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road, London SW3 6RD; bibendum.co.uk