As Soutine restaurant in St John’s Wood (pictured) reopened this week after a closure forced by staff shortages, its owners, Corbin & King, revealed long-term plans to open a branch of The Wolseley, their flagship ‘grand European café’ in Piccadilly, in “every major city around the world”.

Zuleika Fennell, Corbin & King’s managing director, said the company was looking to open in cities across Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and especially the United States – but she ruled out any cities in the UK.

In the shorter term, the company plans to press ahead with three London openings that have been “mothballed” since the onset of the pandemic almost two years ago: the resurrection of Manzi’s, a 200-cover seafood specialist in Soho; a Wolseley-style brasserie in King William IV Street in the City; and a neighbourhood restaurant in Notting Hill.

Corbin & King currently have eight venues in London, including the Delaunay in Covent Garden, Colbert in Sloane Square, Chelsea, and Bellanger in Islington, and a one-off Café Wolseley offshoot in Bicester’s shopping village.