{"id":32034,"date":"2025-04-19T04:41:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T04:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/32034\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T04:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T04:41:09","slug":"one-of-the-biggest-chefs-on-tiktok-londons-thomas-straker-is-opening-a-manhattan-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/32034\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the Biggest Chefs on TikTok, London\u2019s Thomas Straker Is Opening a Manhattan Restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of London\u2019s most famous chefs of the moment \u2014 with over two million followers on both Instagram<\/a> and TikTok<\/a> \u2014 Thomas Straker<\/a> is apparently opening a restaurant in New York. <\/p>\n

The princess-dating<\/a> chef known for his Notting Hill restaurant Straker\u2019s<\/a>; his viral recipes; and his liberal use of butter (as well as an all-white-guy kitchen lineup<\/a> that had gotten plenty of blowback); has allegedly signed a lease in Soho. <\/p>\n

In an Instagram story announcing his \u201cnew home in NYC,\u201d Straker says he has \u201csecured to the keys\u201d to what had been Keith McNally\u2019s Lucky Strike (59 Grand Street, at West Broadway) in Soho for 31 years. That restaurant closed in 2020<\/a>. On Google, there\u2019s a \u201ctemporarily closed\u201d listing for The Ruby at the address. And now the location seems like it\u2019s on track to become home to Straker\u2019s<\/a>, or at the very least, a Thomas Straker restaurant. He apparently had a sold-out pop-up <\/a>in NYC in October in preparation for the opening. Eater has reached out for more information.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is a tale of our times,\u201d reads the UK Michelin Guide<\/a> about his Notting Hill spot that opened in 2022, now a celebrity magnet and a critic<\/a> favorite<\/a>. \u201cA 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.\u201d The guide calls it \u201cmodern British by way of Italy.\u201d <\/p>\n

Recent dishes at the restaurant<\/a> 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. <\/p>\n

Before the pandemic, Straker cooked at London\u2019s Dorchester Hotel, with Alain Ducasse, and for Wolfgang Puck at Cut, also in London, he says. <\/p>\n

Conde Nast\u2019s Tatler<\/a> calls Straker \u201cthe hottest chef on the planet<\/a>,\u201d having recently updated its 2024 profile of him with the opening of his follow-up restaurant, Acre, and his announcement that he\u2019s expanding his \u201cempire.\u201d <\/a> Straker is also behind Flatbread in the Arcade food hall<\/a> in a former power station, according to his website, and, of course, a butter line<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Straker rose to fame starting when he was a chef for a billionaire during lockdown, according to Tatler<\/a>. 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<\/a>. <\/p>\n

His restaurant opened in 2022. Then in 2023, Straker posted his all-white, all-male chef lineup<\/a> with the caption, \u201cchef team assembled.\u201d In response to an avalanche of criticism, with one chef<\/a> calling it a \u201cKen brigade<\/a>,\u201d Straker told everyone to \u201ccalm down.\u201d<\/a> He claims to have learned from it. \u201cI\u2019m young \u2014 this is my first business,\u201d he told Tatler. \u201cI\u2019m staying in my lane, learning from my mistakes.\u201d (He is apparently 34.) <\/p>\n

Since then, accolades have continued. Esquire wrote<\/a> 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 \u201cpotato r\u00f6sti with a fried egg,\u201d and will roll out lunch and dinner menus, Straker said.<\/a><\/p>\n

Straker told<\/a> Esquire he wants to open \u201cfour or five\u201d Acres in London over the next couple of years. And apparently, a restaurant in New York, too. <\/p>\n


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