Although celebrity chef Jamie Oliver wasn’t planning to launch another restaurant just yet, the gastronomy titan said trusting his instinct and gut was “the right thing to do”.

Jamie Oliver Catherine Street will open in Covent Garden in November. The family restaurant will mark the foodie polymath’s return to the UK restaurant business since his restaurant empire went into administration in 2019.

Housed in a Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, Jamie Oliver Catherine Street will be a provenance-led restaurant using independent suppliers and producers and which showcases Jamie’s ethos of creating accessible, healthy food for families.

The 48-year-old still has franchised restaurants overseas, including in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Europe, but his only new UK foray since 2022 was a Soho pop-up.

The Naked Chef host recently told You magazine that he hadn’t planned to open Catherine Street for a couple more years but had a change of mind.

He said: “I wasn’t planning to do it for a couple of years,” he said.

“But through having probably the best mid-market restaurant group on the planet for seven years, then losing it over four years and everything involved in that, I think trusting my instinct and my gut is the right thing to do.

"The Naked Chef is naked without a restaurant. Without it I'm not fully happy, not fully complete."

And Jamie will do things a little bit differently this time round, adding: “I have become quite philosophical about failure or things that were wrong.

“Often, we don’t learn or evolve until we’ve felt pain; we don’t try to think about things differently until getting it wrong has resulted in pain.”

The restaurant will see Jamie work alongside a high-calibre team, including head chef Chris Shail, who has worked with Oliver for eight years.

Pastry chef Emma Jackson has also joined the project, after working in kitchens at Soho Farmhouse and Petersham Nurseries.

General manager Caezer Cruz has worked with Jamie for 16-years and will head up the front of house team.

When Jamie announced his new restaurant on Instagram, he posted: “I am SO happy to announce my return to the UK restaurant industry that I love so dearly with my new place @jamieolivercatherinest!!

“We’re creating a menu that reflects my love of Britain’s rich & diverse food culture and champions independent producers and suppliers.

“My hope is that Catherine Street will be a wonderfully welcoming, happy place to dine, with great service, and delicious food at its heart. To say I’m excited is an understatement! Hope to see you at Catherine Street later this year.”

Jamie Oliver Catherine Street will open in Covent Garden this November. 

Address: 6 Catherine Street, Covent Garden, WC2B 5JY

Website: jamieolivercatherinestreet.com