London's Ransome's Dock Restaurant, a favourite of wine lovers, is set to close on August 11th.
Chef-owners Martin and Vanessa Lam said it was time to slow down after running the restaurant for the past 21 years.
‘It has been an extraordinary experience to be here for this length of time, and to watch the number and quality of so many other restaurants develop,’ said the Lams.
The award-winning Battersea restaurant pioneered modern British cooking via the clear flavours of California and the Mediterranean, and constantly attracted acclaim for offering high quality, fairly-priced wines, often introduced to diners by the winemakers themselves.
Despite the restaurant’s popularity, Richard Harden of Harden’s restaurant guides told Decanter.com that the restaurant’s niche had ebbed.
‘The restaurant scene has evolved tremendously in the last 10 years and especially the last five,’ said Harden.
Lam said that among the many highlights, seeing three generations of a family eating ‘proper food’ together gives him hope for the future of restaurant dining.
Written by Maggie Rosen
