Ranjitkumar Sukumaran named chef at Hyde & Seek

Ranjitkumar Sukumaran has been named executive head chef of Hyde & Seek, a new Tribute Portfolio hotel opening this month opposite Hyde Park in London.

Sukumaran joins after four years at The Londoner, where he rose to executive head chef. Before that he held senior kitchen roles at Corinthia London, the Royal Garden Hotel, Jumeirah Carlton Tower and Wentbridge House Hotel, more than 23 years across some of the city's larger hotel kitchens.

At Hyde & Seek he inherits two kitchens rather than one. Seekers Restaurant & Bar is billed as contemporary British, with a dining room that looks directly onto the park. HydeOut, the hotel's second outlet, is described as a more informal, all-day space built around drinks and small plates.

Two kitchens, one chef, and a dining room that looks straight onto Hyde Park.

Two menus under one chef

Running two distinct concepts from a single hotel kitchen has become standard practice in London's newer hotel openings, where the food and beverage budget increasingly has to justify itself across breakfast, lunch and a bar trade that outlasts the dining room. Sukumaran's brief covers both: the seasonal, ingredient-led cooking expected of Seekers, and whatever HydeOut needs to keep a bar crowd fed once the kitchen upstairs has closed for the night.

The appointment was announced in early August, more than a month ahead of the hotel's opening, giving Sukumaran time to build a team before the first covers go out. That lead time is unusual for London hotel launches, where kitchen leadership is often confirmed within days of opening.

A crowded corner near Mayfair

Hyde & Seek opens into a stretch of London that has not gone quiet this year. Pearl, the Beaumont's second restaurant, opened a few streets away this month, and Beefbar's new Soho flagship has added another name to the list of hotel groups betting on food to carry a property's reputation, not just its rooms.

Sukumaran's résumé is built for that kind of scrutiny: two decades moving between five-star hotel kitchens rather than one signature restaurant of his own. Whether Hyde & Seek becomes known for its rooms or its restaurant will depend less on his CV than on what Seekers looks like once the opening reviews are in.