Striking Chelsea restaurant Fantomas has shut abruptly after less than a year in operation, with the departure of its highly rated chef Chris Denney.
The restaurant’s website said it has closed for “an exciting transformation. This autumn, we’re returning reimagined and ready for a new chapter.”
For his part Chris, who made his name at Notting Hill restaurants 108 Garage and Fiend, posted enigmatically on Instagram: “Coming soon! Fuck knows where, definitely not SW3...”.
Backed by restaurateurs George Bukhov-Weinstein and Ilya Demichev – the duo behind Goodman steakhouses, Belvedere and Wild Tavern – Fantomas won high marks in this year’s as-yet-unpublished Harden’s survey. Chris’s cooking earned rave reviews from Grace Dent of the Guardian and the Standard’s David Ellis, although both had severe reservations about the venue, Grace describing it as “borderline chaotic” and David likening it to Jeff Bezos’s panic room.