Former Danesford House head chef Adam Simmonds has opened a 12-month pop-up in Soho to test the market ahead of a permanent opening in the capital.

Test Kitchen, near Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in Frith Street, will be just that – a counter where diners are expected to feed back to chefs on the dishes as they eat them.

Simmonds joined Le Gavroche as an 18-year-old apprentice and regards Raymond Blanc’s Manoir aux Quat’Saisons as his “finishing school”. He left Danesford House in Marlow after six successful years in 2013, since when he has travelled extensively in Europe and Scandinavia while working as a consultant chef.