Like any good businessman, Richard Caring is an expert at multitasking. All the time he has been negotiating the sale of a £200 million stake in his hospitality empire to the Qatari ruling family, the billionaire tycoon has been quietly expanding his Ivy Collection, acquiring three sites from the ashes of Jamie Oliver’s former restaurant empire.
The Jamie’s Italian sites in Cardiff and Victoria and the Barbecoa steakhouse, near St Paul’s Cathedral, will reopen this autumn under the Ivy name, with the latter becoming the second Ivy Asia. The first, which opened in Manchester late last year, serves dishes including flamed wagyu beef with ponzu truffle dressing and crispy tofu bao with miso mayo and yuba bean curd.
