This month, London’s Marylebone sees the opening of “Lita”, a brand-new eatery from Luke Ahearne and the team behind the Wild Tavern in Chelsea and Canadian-born restaurateur Daniel Koukarskikh. This is the first time that Irish chef Luke Ahearne, formerly Head Chef at the always superb Corrigan’s Mayfair, has struck out on his own. His aim is for Lita to bring refined yet relaxed dining to London’s Marylebone, with a produce-driven, seasonal menu celebrating the lavours of the southern Mediterranean.
Honouring the seasons, the menu will change frequently and will have a focus on regional produce, accompanied by wines from a selection of small, biodynamic producers to well established European wineries. In addition to the open kitchen space, there will be an open fire grill acting as the heartbeat of the restaurant where Chef Ahearne and his talented team will prepare each dish for service.
Now Marylebone is not short of some great places to eat, but the provenance of the chef here makes this one we are really looking forward to trying. Luke hails from Clonmel Co. Tipperary, and had his first taste of cheffing at Neven Maguire’s MacNean’s House & Restaurant in Cavan during a summer internship. With no formal cooking training, Luke then properly cut his teeth at his father’s cosy Clonmel cafe, which he ran for two years from just the age of 18, before landing a job at Garrett Byrne’s highly regarded Campagne restaurant in Kilkenny.
After almost four years under Byrne’s wing, Luke set his sights on London, and moved to the British capital for a position at fine dining eatery, The Clove Club; a restaurant which at the time was ranked 26th best restaurant in the world and now holds two Michelin stars. He then ran its sister restaurant Luca for four years before claiming the role of Head Chef at Corrigan’s Mayfair at just 29 years old. That’s quite a CV and we cannot wait to see what he does at Lita.
Lita has a capacity of 80 seated indoors, and an additional 20 seats on its front terrace. It will be open to the public from early March, and is located at 7-9 Paddington Street.
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