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Garlic crushers at the ready as Ramsay's new Pétrus is set to spark turf war
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Business Editor05.06.09
It promises to be London's most vicious turf war since the Krays clashed with the Richardsons.
But rather than shotguns and knuckle-dusters, this one will be fought out with garlic crushers and Michelin stars on the boulevards of Belgravia.
The Standard has learned that Gordon Ramsay's new site for his Pétrus restaurant will be a provocative stone's throw from the dining room that once bore the name - run by his former protégé and now sworn enemy Marcus Wareing. It is the latest twist in a relationship that was once one of the closest in the London restaurant scene but is now garnished with bitterness.
The two famously fell out over the Pétrus name, which after a lengthy legal tussle last year, was retained by Ramsay.
His rival was forced to rename his version of Pétrus, where he made his name, Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley.
The new Pétrus, due to launch in September, is a five minute walk away on the corner of Kinnerton Street and Motcomb Street. A 20-year lease on the premises was signed by Gordon Ramsay Holdings this week.
Pétrus will return with an "open cellar" of 2,000 wines in the middle of the dining room, including 34 vintages of the prized claret from which it takes its name. The most expensive will be a magnum of the 1961, likely to be priced at around £50,000.
In its former guise Pétrus became a by-word for boomtime excess when a group of bankers spent £44,000 on a meal in 2002.
However, Ramsay said today that the emphasis at the new Pétrus would be on "affordable luxury" with "modern French, seasonal, honest cooking".
