Angela Hartnett is marking the 20th anniversary of Murano, her Michelin-starred Italian restaurant in Mayfair, with a six-week limited anniversary menu and a fundraising dinner for Hospitality Action — a celebration that the chef describes as "a love letter to the restaurant, the team, and everyone who has ever sat at one of our tables."
Murano opened on Queen Street in March 2006, and has held a Michelin star continuously since 2009 — one of the longest unbroken runs in London dining. Over two decades, the restaurant has trained dozens of chefs who have gone on to lead kitchens across the UK and internationally, and has been credited by many of them as a formative environment: rigorous and technically demanding, but also notably human in its culture.
The anniversary menu, available through the end of April, revisits dishes from across the restaurant's history — a pot-roasted rabbit from the early years, a pasta dish that became a signature in the mid-2010s, and a newer dessert that reflects the current kitchen's more contemporary sensibility. Hartnett has worked closely with current head chef Pip Lacey's successor, Francesco Vento, on the retrospective selection.
Two decades in her own words
Speaking to The Mise, Hartnett was characteristically candid about both the pride and the difficulty of sustaining a restaurant for 20 years.
"People romanticise longevity in restaurants, but the truth is it's brutal," she said. "There have been years where I wasn't sure we'd make it. The financial crash, Brexit staffing, the pandemic — each one was genuinely existential. What has kept us going is the team and the regulars. You build relationships over 20 years that are as deep as any in your life."
She was asked whether she would open another restaurant. "Never say never," she said, "but Murano is where my heart is. I'd rather do one thing brilliantly for another 20 years than spread myself thin."
The Hospitality Action dinner
On 14 April, Murano will host a 60-cover charity dinner with proceeds going to Hospitality Action, the welfare charity that supports current and former hospitality workers in financial or personal crisis. Fellow chefs confirmed as attending include Tom Kerridge, Jeremy Lee and Skye Gyngell, each of whom will cook one course. Tickets are priced at £350 per person and are available via the Hospitality Action website. All proceeds go directly to the charity's emergency fund.
The anniversary menu runs until 30 April. Reservations are open via the Murano website.