George Ormond named executive chef at The Barbary

The Barbary in Notting Hill has named George Ormond as its new executive chef, putting a cook trained in three classical European kitchens in charge of a menu built on North African spice.

Ormond was most recently head chef at Lita, the Marylebone restaurant known for its own coastal, spice-led cooking. Before that he spent several years as head chef at Murano, Angela Hartnett's Michelin-starred Mayfair dining room, where he worked through a modern Italian repertoire under one of London's most consistent kitchens.

The Barbary built its name on a different register: dishes cooked over charcoal and finished with the spice routes of North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean, served at a horseshoe counter rather than at tables. Ormond's brief is to keep that format while bringing his own technique to it.

A counter this small leaves nowhere for a chef to hide behind plating.

His training spans French, Spanish and Italian classical cooking, a background the restaurant says will sit alongside the Barbary Coast traditions the menu is built around. The combination is less a reinvention than a change of hand on a format that has not needed fixing.

The move adds Ormond to a run of senior kitchen changes across London this October. At TOZI in Victoria, Francesco Vacca was promoted to head chef after more than nine years at the Italian restaurant, taking the role alongside long-serving executive chef Maurilio Molteni.

The Wolseley Hospitality Group also reshuffled three of its kitchens in the same window. Frank Fletcher, formerly of Quo Vadis, became head chef at Fischer's in Marylebone, replacing Jenson Santos, who moved across to lead The Wolseley City. Jai Shaikh, previously of The Ivy Collection, took the kitchen at Colbert in Chelsea.

Notting Hill's dining scene has had a steady run of appointments this year, with young chefs and established names alike taking on rooms that trade on a tight, repeatable format rather than frequent menu overhauls.

A kitchen built on spice, not size

The Barbary seats around twenty at its counter, a format that puts the cooking in full view and leaves little room for a chef to hide behind plating. What changes under Ormond will likely be visible dish by dish rather than through a relaunch.

Same week, three other London kitchens

The cluster of moves — Ormond, Vacca, Fletcher, Santos and Shaikh — points to a London kitchen market still churning through senior roles well into autumn, with restaurant groups promoting from within as often as they hire from outside.