London’s longest-standing Michelin-starred restaurant Pied à Terre has welcomed a new head chef, Alberto Cavaliere. The appointment coincides with David Moore and Valerie Woods’ Fitzrovia institution retaining its star for an unbroken 32nd year in the newly-published Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland.
British-born to Italian parents, 35-year-old Alberto was most recently sous-chef at Michelin-starred Spanish restaurant Sabor in London, and previously held the same role at two-starred L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Paris. His CV also includes time spent as a private chef, and as a commis chef at Marcus Wareing’s Marcus at The Berkeley.
Despite both parents working in hospitality – his mother is a restaurant general manager, his father a hotelier – as well as nineteen of his twenty cousins, Alberto did not originally intend to join them. After completing his secondary education in Milan, he returned to the UK and, aged 20, joined the British Army. He served for four years, until a serious injury sustained during training saw him medically discharged.
Realising that he needed to retrain and ‘retrade’, Alberto applied successfully for Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen apprenticeship scheme. He fell in love with the adrenaline, fast pace and discipline of the kitchen, he says, “within five minutes of starting my trial shift.” Part of the apprenticeship was to work in a variety of restaurant kitchens, and it was at Chez Bruce that Alberto realised that he wanted to pursue a career in fine-dining.
Following a stage at Marcus at The Berkeley, he stayed on at the then-two-Michelin-starred restaurant under head chef Jake White for a further eighteen months, and went with his mentor to The Pentonbridge Inn in Cumbria in 2017. Missing city life, he moved to Paris in 2018 where, despite speaking no French, he secured a position at world-renowned two-star L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, where he stayed for two years, attaining the position of sous chef.
After working as a private chef to high-net-worth individuals during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, in January 2024 he joined the brigade at Nieves Barragán Mohacho’s acclaimed Spanish restaurant and asador Sabor, as sous chef. With its completely different style of cooking from anything he had been used to before, at Sabor Alberto learned the importance of thinking on the move, changing dishes on the day – and even à la minute – to make the most of very fresh, often hyper-seasonal ingredients. He greatly admired Nieves’ “360 vision of how a restaurant should be, with an eye seemingly always on every single detail.”
Now in his first head chef role at Pied à Terre, Alberto intends to cook “the kind of food that I get excited about” – namely, dishes which use classical French technique, but with a sense of playfulness and experimentation.
He enjoys introducing Asian flavours and flourishes to his dishes, examples being his ‘Tuna’ crudo – in fact watermelon, compressed and marinaded to give the appearance and texture of tuna sashimi, dressed with cucumber ponzu and pickled black radish – and Sand carrots, served with fermented kumquat, roasted sesame, onion and nori.
Alberto is respectful of Pied à Terre’s reputation and heritage – it has been one of London’s best-loved fine-dining restaurants since it was opened in 1991 by David Moore, who still owns and runs the restaurant with his wife Valerie Woods – while also intending to make the food contemporary and current. This will be achieved through idea-sharing and collaboration with his sous chef Antonis Gkoumis.
Says Alberto Cavaliere,
“It’s the honour of my career to have been appointed head chef of Pied à Terre, one of London’s few truly legendary restaurants. I’m grateful to David and Val for entrusting me with maintaining Pied à Terre’s reputation for excellence, while also giving me the freedom to innovate and explore my own passions.”
David Moore adds, “We’re excited to welcome Alberto as our new head chef at Pied à Terre. He has an outstanding CV including one- and two-star Michelin restaurants in London and Paris, and it’s clear to us that he has what it takes to carry forward our reputation for exceptional quality while taking us in a more contemporary direction.”
Alberto Cavaliere’s menus, including fully plant-based versions, can be viewed here.
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