will undergo a six week renovation before it opens on June 5. Charle Wainwright will oversee the exterior whilst the interior will be designed by led by Ilse Crawford from the award winning Studioilse.
Stephen Milton, centre manager at St Cuthbert’s, said: “we are incredibly excited to have been chosen as Food for Soul’s first pioneering Refettorio in the UK. This will have a fundamental impact on all those associated with the centre, not least our guests, and leave a legacy for our future by raising our profile and visibility in the community.”
More than 30 leading British and international chefs have already accepted the call to action from Massimo Bottura to cook in the Refettorio. So far those confirmed include: Alain Ducasse (along with Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester executive chef Jean-Philippe Blondet), Alberto Crisci (from The Clink Charity), Angela Hartnett, Anna Hansen, Antonio Favuzzi,
Ashley Palmer-Watts, Brett Graham, Bruno Loubet, Clare Smyth, Claude Bosi, Damian Clisby, Daniel Boulud, Douglas McMaster, Enrico and Roberto Cerea, Francesco Mazzei, Giorgio Locatelli, Isaac McHale, James Lowe, Jason Atherton, Jess Murphy, Jonny Lake (Executive Head Chef The Fat Duck), Leandro Carreira, Lee Tiernan, Margot Henderson, Michel Roux Jr., Monica Galetti, Nuno Mendes (chef of Chiltern Firehouse), Oliver Peyton, Sat Bains, Robert Ortiz, (head chef of Lima) and Robbin Holmgren (head chef of Fifteen).
Their expertise will help to turn surplus ingredients into a delicious menu. “Chefs have risen to celebrity heights,” Chef Bottura commented. “I believe we, chefs, can reflect these lights to illuminate the most pressing issues facing society today. Cooking is a call to act.”