Chef Victor Garvey has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help finance a new restaurant in Marylebone that he believes will set a new standard for ingredient-led cuisine.
He needs supporters to pledge £130,000 by the end of September to pay for the fitting out of the kitchen at Materia Prima, his new restaurant in Great Portland Street.
The El Bulli-trained chef runs the highly rated Californian cuisine specialist SOLA in Soho; last month he parted company with the Midland Grand in the St Pancras Renaissance hotel after just five months.
Launching his fundraising campaign on kickstarter.com, Victor says he is offering backers a rare opportunity to build something “truly new, truly novel on the London dining scene“, developing an idea he has been exploring for a couple of years.
“Materia Prima is a restaurant devoted to one simple, radical idea: The best possible ingredients, served at their best.
“That’s it. No gimmicks. No dogma. No boundaries. Just a relentless pursuit of the top of the top – whether that’s spiny lobster from Brittany, uni from the Faroe Islands, or the finest vegetables grown anywhere on Earth.”
The Marylebone site is, Victor believes, a perfect fit for his vision, featuring a 24-seat dining room beneath antique skylights plus a private dining space with its own outdoor area and a fully fledged cocktail bar – “rare for restaurants of this calibre“.
Victor says his own company, Rock On Hospitality, has put up half the investment required to create the new restaurant, but £130,000 is still needed to pay for mechanical and electrical infrastructure; kitchen equipment and specialist tools; furniture, fittings and the final finish; and operating capital for our first few months.
Supporters are urged to pledge what they can, and the project will only go ahead – and their pledge will only be enacted – if £130,000 is raised by 11am on Saturday 27 September. There are several levels of reward on offer, starting at a pre-theatre meal at SOLA for £68, via several jumps up to a tasting menu for two including beverage pairings at Materia Prima for £780. A full restaurant takeover for up to 28 guests is available for £8,000.