Former Hedone head chef Lee Skeet is launching an oyster bar in Cardiff’s city centre this weekend, ahead of moving his tasting-menu restaurant Cora into the same venue next month.

The oyster bar, Jackson’s, will be on the ground floor of the Duke Street Arcade, near Cardiff Castle, with the tiny 10-seat Cora upstairs. Cora has operated for the past year in a room above neighbourhood restaurant Milkwood Pontcanna, where it grew out of Lee’s 40 Days, 40 Nights pop-up.

The two new venues are named after Lee’s children, and have been made possible by the £26,000 raised via a crowdfunding campaign.

Lee introduced Jackson’s as “the city centre’s first oyster bar – a relaxed all-day bar and restaurant serving incredible quality seafood at affordable prices as well as a great changing selection of wines from around the world. The perfect place to enjoy a coffee, a glass of wine or feast on the best quality seafood in the capital, there will be seating for around 40, as well as seats right at the oyster bar.

“We’ve been working on this – but not been able to talk about it – for quite a while now! Thank you so much to everyone that’s supported us so far, from our popup less than a year ago to now opening our next two restaurants, still without any loans or outside investment!”

A former surf bum from Devon, Lee got his break as a chef under Gordon Ramsay and worked for Marcus Wareing and Tom Aikens before being appointed head chef at Hedone (RIP), the ground-breaking Chiswick venue.

He took a three-year break from cooking after narrowly escaping death with Jackson, then aged two, when they were wiped out by a hit-and-run lorry as pedestrians in Cornwall in 2017.