Dabbous, the Fitzrovia restaurant that opened to rapturous acclaim five years ago, is to close this summer as chef Ollie Dabbous (right in picture) and his business partner Oskar Kinberg, who runs the basement bar, prepare their next venture.

No details have yet been released for what Dabbous says will be a “major undertaking” with a “completely different identity”. He plans to take his current team with him as well as hiring new staff, and expects to open late this year or early next.

“Naturally we are sad to be closing Dabbous,” he said, adding that the current lease would be put on the market, but “we have been offered an amazing opportunity that enables all of us to grow and evolve”.

Dabbous, who has a French-Italian father, grew up in England and trained under Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons near Oxford. Sensational press reviews made Dabbous, his first restaurant, London’s hottest ticket in 2012, although an increasing proportion of Harden’s Survey reporters have felt the cooking failed to live up to the hype in the past two or three years.

He has a second restaurant, Barnyard in Charlotte Street, with Henrietta scheduled to open this spring in Hanrietta Street, Covent Garden.