Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, the art-world power-brokers behind the Frieze global art fairs, are taking their first steps in hospitality with the opening of Toklas, a Mediterranean-style restaurant in the Strand that shares a site with their Frieze headquarters.

Drinks are being served on the terrace this week to coincide with this year’s edition of the Frieze fair, with the formal opening on Tuesday next week (19 October). The kitchen will be run by chef Martin Lyons, who has worked with Ollie Dabous and Sam and Sam Clark of Moro. There will also be a European-style bakery and coffee shop, scheduled to open next month.

The name refers to Alice B Toklas, who alongside her partner, the critic Gertrude Stein, was an important figure of the Paris arts scene at the height of Modernism from the 1910s to the 30s. She was the author of the Alice B Toklas Cook Book, published in 1954, one of the most famous cookery titles in history, whose most celebrated recipe is for ‘Haschich Fudge’ – a must, surely, for the new venture’s signature dish.