With his first cookbook in six years and The Big Family Cooking Showdown on BBC2, Britain’s favourite Italian chef is finally getting over the explosion that shut Locanda Locatelli for months
If the 55-year-old chef Giorgio Locatelli suddenly seems everywhere– as a judge on the Bake Off rival, The Big Family Cooking Showdown, which began on BBC2 last week; promoting a new cookbook, Made at Home, his first for six years; the return in the new year of his much-loved travel documentaries with art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon – there’s a reason for that. It has come from a plan he made almost three years ago, with his wife and business partner Plaxy, when he thought his career was over.
In November 2014, Locanda Locatelli, his Michelin-starred restaurant in central London, blew up. There was a gas leak and, on a busy Friday night, a huge explosion. One person was trapped under a collapsed wall, but there were no serious injuries. For months, there was no water and electricity and the restaurant had to stay closed. Locatelli knew that he should probably fold the business, make his staff redundant. But Christmas was coming up, and some of his team had been with him for 12 years, since the restaurant opened.
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