Two of the biggest rivals from the celebrity chef world will be pitted against each other in the Dublin-Wicklow restaurant market.
Property developer Harry Crosbie has signed up London-based chef Marco Pierre White for a restaurant at the new village he is developing next to The Point on the north quays in Dublin.
White's star protege but now bitter rival, Gordon Ramsay, has just opened a new restaurant in the five-star Ritz-Carlton Hotel at Powerscourt outside Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.
White has been in talks with Crosbie about opening a restaurant in Dublin and the two men reached an agreement in London last weekend, Mr Crosbie said. White will run a 300-seat brasserie next to the redeveloped Point music venue, which will open this time next year.
Crosbie said he was planning to call the restaurant Hell's Kitchen after the reality TV show that recently featured White attempting to turn a group of celebrity amateurs into professional chefs.
Crosbie said a large billboard would be erected this weekend advertising White's restaurant. The poster will feature a picture of White and the line: "Ireland, I will feed you,' says smouldering kitchen god."
White was previously Ramsay's boss and the two were friends. However, they had a very public falling-out after Ramsay left their London restaurant, Aubergine, and its reservation book went missing.
Ramsay admitted in an interview earlier this year that he took the book. Relations between the two are still acrimonious.
White's new restaurant is part of an €850 million redevelopment of the Point area, which will include a 39-storey tower and the new 15,000-capacity Point.
