Former NOPI Head Chef to Open Ottolenghi-Backed Debut Next Month

Ramael Scully, the founding head chef of NOPI, is set to open his debut restaurant, Scully, in St James’s Market on 1 March. Malaysian-born Scully — who is of Chinese, Indian, Balinese and Irish descent — trained in kitchens in Sydney, and traveled the Middle East, Russia, and Europe before settling in London and joining the Ottolenghi team nearly fifteen years ago. With his debut restaurant, Scully’s aim is to combine the various cultural and culinary influences of his past with his love of the slow processes of pickling and preservation to create a menu of genre-spanning dishes.

Yotam Ottolenghi — who is backing of Scully’s new restaurant said of the opening:

Chef Scully has an insatiable appetite for bold flavours and irreverent blends of ingredients; his kitchen is an exciting and unexpected place to be and I am thrilled he will be continuing his journey by opening his own restaurant and having full creative reign over his own menu, creating unique and extraordinary dishes.

Those dishes are expected to include combinations like

• Baby beetroot jerky with green cardamom cream
• Crispy pork hock with Brussels sprouts sambal, lime and beer mustard
• Puffed beef tendons, kilpatrick (cheese, Worcestershire sauce and bacon and oyster) mayonnaise

The restaurant will operate around a large open kitchen, and will feature a relaxed, informal combination of communal, counter and banquette seating areas for up to 48 diners. Decoration will come from Scully’s extensive larder; an array of jarred pickles, syrups, preserves and fermentations which will be used not just in the kitchen, but also the bar, where they will feature extensively in a seasonal cocktail menu. The wine list will focus on the natural, low-intervention end of the spectrum, with much of it coming from Newcomer Wines, Dalston’s central-European (largely Austrian) specialists.

Scully will be the latest addition to St James’ Market, which is already home to the much-celebrated West African-inspired Ikoyi, and Michelin-starred NYC import Aquavit.