Peking duck takes pole position

Bites

Following the $60m sale of his stake in Hakkasan and Yauatcha to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Alan Yau (pictured) has plans for an ambitious new modern Chinese called Hakka Berkeley. With a menu that will focus on northern China and make use of wood-fired Peking duck ovens, it's slated to open in late 2009 on the Mayfair site that was previously the home of the spectacularly expensive Monaco investor-backed, Formula One-themed turkey, Cafe Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, Gordon Ramsay seems determined to reposition himself as a champion of female culinary talent. He has appointed Gemma Tuley to run the kitchen at his latest opening, Foxtrot Oscar, a re- tooling of the famously Sloane-infested Chelsea canteen. Tuley, at 25 also Ramsay's youngest ever head chef, joins Clare Smyth (at Ramsay's eponymous three Michelin-starred flagship) and his long- term cohort Angela Hartnett as the third female to run a Ramsay kitchen. Just call him Gordon Greer.

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