Theo Clench shooting for the stars with new project Igni
While the opportunity to return to the kitchen day-to-day came around unexpectedly, when it did, Theo Clench was more than ready.
Formerly working at the likes of The Clove Club, Portland and Akoko, Theo won a Michelin star at his debut restaurant concept Cycene, before leaving in the summer of 2024.
Since, he has spent his time as a consultant chef, but next week launches his next project, Igni, under the Creative Restaurant Group (CRG) umbrella.
Igni is taking on the former site of Humo, which recently closed its doors and has been rebranded, having lost its Michelin star earlier this year.
With head chef Robbie Jameson deciding to move on, taking on a role at Alta, new-look Igni will open its doors next week, with Theo at the helm.
Excited to get going
“I’m very, very excited to be back in the kitchen, back in central London, cooking my food,” Theo told The Staff Canteen.
“It was soft opening this week, first service to close friends and family, which went very well. I’m looking forward to being open and getting going. I can’t wait.”
He added: “I started with CRG in January as an operation chef for the entire group. The idea was to be supporting the restaurants which needed it.
“So I started off with Humo to support Robbie and the team and be there as a senior person and assist.
“And then the opportunity arose to take over the site and rebrand and relaunch under my concept.”
Asked how he has found the past couple of years working in various places as a consultant chef, Theo said: “I've enjoyed it. It's great. It's challenging, because generally people are calling you when they're in a sticky situation, let's say.
“But it's been really satisfying, going in, solving the problems, fixing the teams, and then handing the restaurant back over.
“But at the same time, I missed having a team and working together towards something.
“So it was never the plan to start with to take on this site, but the opportunity arose. I felt the timing was right for me and it was right for the group.
“I really get along with the people within CRG. They're a great company to work for. They have the right culture, right leadership, which is incredibly important to me.”
He added: “Once you've been in the kitchen for so long, it's hard to step away from it. There'd also been a lot of opportunities that weren't right over the last couple of years.
“I've always had this concept in my mind.
“When I came on as an operation chef, I met all the senior leadership team. We aligned on so many things. And then the opportunity arose and I just thought, you know what, this is a great site, it's great people, perfect location - for me to be back in Mayfair and cooking is amazing.
“It was too good an opportunity to turn down.”
Igni ‘completely different’ to Humo
Humo, originally under chef Miller Prada, thrived with its bold, fire-led menus. And while Theo will still be using that cooking method, he says the type of food he is looking to create is not the same as the restaurant space’s previous iteration.
“It will be a completely different offering,” he said.
“It's very much my style, which I've honed over the last few years.
“It's very seafood heavy, Japanese and Nordic influences, but it's got classical as well. That's why I'm kind of calling it global gastronomy.
“The world's such a small place, we should be able to cherry pick the ingredients from somewhere we want, do what is the best.
“We should be inspired by different cuisines around the world. Every cuisine has got great things, so we want to take inspiration from them, trying to create something truly unique.
“Obviously, everything is still cooked over open fire and wood, but I'm going much more of a refined, elegant way. Subtlety, not everything's charred, not everything's smoked. We're using the fire as a tool, not just as flavour.
“So, there's no electricity used, everything is cooked using the fire, everything is touched by the fire, just a lot more refined and elegant.”
‘Global’ cuisine
Igni will be a 34-cover restaurant with a 10-seat chef’s table on St George Street in Mayfair.
Front of house will be led by general manager Gaëlle Dubois and head sommelier Alessio Ragusini, formerly of two-Michelin-starred La Dame de Pic in London.
The menu features ingredients such as oyster and cucumber, turbot with sake, bluefin tuna, tartlet of akami with lapsang ponzu jelly and a dessert of tofu, chocolate and koji.
The offering will be set menus only, of three, five or eight courses, including a £49 lunch deal.
“It is a culmination of my experiences where I've worked, my life, and bringing it all together,” said Theo.
Rebuilding after Humo’s Michelin loss
The kitchen team will largely be new, with many ex-Humo chefs following Robbie’s lead and deciding to pursue a new challenge.
Theo said: “Losing the Michelin star was hard for the team, obviously. It's devastating.
“You never want to be part of a team that has that, but I don't think it's down to all their hard work. They were working very hard. They were committed.
“So I think for them, it was a tough blow, but that was the journey of Humo, and we are now Igni and we're looking forward to the future.
“There's a new team, a new concept, new menu, so it's really getting the site back on track and pushing forward.”
He added: “In the kitchen, we have two people left from before.
“Front of house is everyone, the old team. We wanted to give everyone the opportunity who wanted to stay to be part of it.
“I think for the kitchen, for a lot of them it was time to move on.
“Joining I've got Tony (Antonis Gkoumas) who was at Pied à Terre and worked with me at Cycene as well. And then I've got Will Scanlan, who first worked for me back in 2019 at Portland, then he helped me open Akoko as well.
“So my senior core team, we've worked together for years, we're good friends and it's great to have that support.
“And then the majority of the rest of them are young, they're fresh out of college, they have some good jobs.
“It's about attitude. We can teach people how to cook. All we ask is you have a good attitude and you work hard and you turn up on time.”
Sights on two stars
Theo is coming into this new journey with lofty ambitions.
“I'm not going to lie, of course I want to get a Michelin star back,” said the Brighton-born chef.
“I do want to push even further. We'll start with one Michelin star and then we're going to aim for two.
“But also I would like a busy restaurant. Bums on seats, a full restaurant is priority number one. A happy team, a hard-working team.
“We're not cooking to get a star. We're cooking the food we love, using the produce from amazing producers in the UK and around the world, the network I've built up over the last 15 years of being a chef in London.
“There's a certain standard that we work to. There's certain practices that we do, which is at that (Michelin) level, because I've been cooking at that level for eight or nine years.
“But we're not cooking for accolades, we're cooking for our guests.
“If accolades come, amazing. But it's showcasing the best produce that we can get our hands on and letting it speak for itself, really.”
Igni opens on Wednesday, April 22.
For 17 years, The Staff Canteen has been the meeting place for chefs and hospitality professionals—your stories, your skills, your space.
Every recipe, every video, every news update exists because this community makes it possible.
We’ll never hide content behind a paywall, but we need your help to keep it free.
If The Staff Canteen has inspired you, informed you, or simply made you smile, chip in £3—less than a coffee—to keep this space thriving.
Together, we keep the industry connected. Together, we move forward.
Support Us
CONTRIBUTE
Theo Clench shooting for the stars with new project Igni
