One of London’s most famous chefs of the moment — with over two million followers on both Instagram and TikTok — Thomas Straker is apparently opening a restaurant in New York.

The princess-dating chef known for his Notting Hill restaurant Straker’s; his viral recipes; and his liberal use of butter (as well as an all-white-guy kitchen lineup that had gotten plenty of blowback); has allegedly signed a lease in Soho.

In an Instagram story announcing his “new home in NYC,” Straker says he has “secured to the keys” to what had been Keith McNally’s Lucky Strike (59 Grand Street, at West Broadway) in Soho for 31 years. That restaurant closed in 2020. On Google, there’s a “temporarily closed” listing for The Ruby at the address. And now the location seems like it’s on track to become home to Straker’s, or at the very least, a Thomas Straker restaurant. He apparently had a sold-out pop-up in NYC in October in preparation for the opening. Eater has reached out for more information.

“This is a tale of our times,” reads the UK Michelin Guide about his Notting Hill spot that opened in 2022, now a celebrity magnet and a critic favorite. “A chef creates a large fanbase by giving cooking demos on TikTok during lockdown and then opens a small restaurant in Notting Hill so that they can come and experience his cooking first-hand.” The guide calls it “modern British by way of Italy.”

Recent dishes at the restaurant via Instagram include things like chicken liver parfait with Seville orange; tagliolini with Cornish crab and fennel; nettle flatbread with stracciatella; lamb chops with lentils and salsa verde; and burnt honey ice cream.

Before the pandemic, Straker cooked at London’s Dorchester Hotel, with Alain Ducasse, and for Wolfgang Puck at Cut, also in London, he says.

Conde Nast’s Tatler calls Straker “the hottest chef on the planet,” having recently updated its 2024 profile of him with the opening of his follow-up restaurant, Acre, and his announcement that he’s expanding his “empire.” Straker is also behind Flatbread in the Arcade food hall in a former power station, according to his website, and, of course, a butter line.

Straker rose to fame starting when he was a chef for a billionaire during lockdown, according to Tatler. He was to go to St. Barths, landed in Connecticut en route, and was stuck there, it reports. A friend filmed him cooking, starting his social media momentum. The videos continued when he returned to London, at which point he launched the All Things Butter series.

His restaurant opened in 2022. Then in 2023, Straker posted his all-white, all-male chef lineup with the caption, “chef team assembled.” In response to an avalanche of criticism, with one chef calling it a “Ken brigade,” Straker told everyone to “calm down.” He claims to have learned from it. “I’m young — this is my first business,” he told Tatler. “I’m staying in my lane, learning from my mistakes.” (He is apparently 34.)

Since then, accolades have continued. Esquire wrote about the opening of London follow-up Acre last month, noting it will be a day-to-night kind of place, with a deli on the ground floor serving fresh pasta, soups, and salads. The restaurant upstairs starts with breakfasts like “potato rösti with a fried egg,” and will roll out lunch and dinner menus, Straker said.

Straker told Esquire he wants to open “four or five” Acres in London over the next couple of years. And apparently, a restaurant in New York, too.





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