Southam Street restaurant, Notting Hill

We can barely believe the audacious speed with which 108 Garage duo chef Chris Denney and Luca Longobardi (the money man) are expanding. The converted garage has proven such a huge hit that the same chef-owner duo are opening a three storey Victorian pub less than a year later, also in Notting Hill. This is record success even in the fast-moving world of restaurant openings.

World-renowned chef Heston Blumenthal has raved about Denney as ‘a breath of fresh air’ and the former Sunday Times critic AA Gill referred to him as ‘the kind of chef who only comes along once in a lifetime.’ Denney is clearly on a roll. Downstairs in the Victorian pub expect a rather different approach to experimental cooking showing what can be done with flame, open fire and smoking. A Japanese robata grill will reveal what can be done to fish, meat and vegetables using different charcoals. A Big Green Egg, universally acknowledged as the best ceramic charcoal grill and smoker on the planet, will provide big, bold barbecue flavours.

Upstairs will be a raw bar overseen by a Japanese sushi master. We are intrigued by the Nikkei menu mixing Peruvian and Japanese styles. Like Nobu on speed we anticipate. As for drink, there will be a separate sake room on the first floor too. That’s not all, the second floor will be a Champagne bar – mixing Grandes Marques and small producers. It sounds better and better.

And, the name is clever too. They’ve rechristened the pub Southam Street, after the historic thoroughfare - immortalised on the front cover of Colin MacInnes’ cult classic Absolute Beginners - that joins Golborne Road where the new venture stands.

Nothing if not ambitious, they are planning Home Noir too, which will have a members’ club, 20 loft apartments, a restaurant and clubhouse. They seem unstoppable.