Pedersen and Mercedes Andre-Vega. Known for being startlingly different to comparable restaurants at the time the restaurant was a big success and was named the Times Restaurant of the Year in 1993.
In 1995 the team would go on to open another restaurant, also named Alastair Little, off Ladbroke Grove in West London. Then in 2002, after leaving the group, Alastair opened Tavola a deli in Notting Hill, West London.
In 2017, Alastair moved to Sydney with his wife Sharon and opened a pop-up restaurant called Little Bistro inside the CBD Hotel at the same time he co-owned Restaurant Et Al in Potts Point.
Following that, in 2019, he started a home delivery service in London called ‘ByAlastairLittle’ which was based on the dishes created for Tavola.
Impact on the Industry
Alastair was famous within and outside of the industry for his contributions to Britain's culinary culture as he helped develop a style that fused simple, seasonal cooking with influences from across Europe, in his case, most notably Italy.
It is a style that has stood the test of time and has gone on to influence many great chefs and is still being mimicked by restaurants today.
Fay Maschler, critic for the Standard for 48 years, speaking to the paper, said: “The changes to restaurant cooking that handsome, helpful Alastair Little codified nearly 40 years ago in his eponymous Soho restaurant still inspire and reverberate — perhaps at even a higher volume.
“A thirst for knowledge, love of travel, of Italy and Japan, a strictly seasonal menu changing twice daily, an ability to cut to the chase and not suffer foolish customers gladly, intolerance for fripperies; all are sound, all are Alastair.”
