Kāio has had the pleasure of collaborating with some of the finest chefs and concepts from around the world. That continues this September, when acclaimed Michelin-starred chef Ollie Dabbous takes the kitchen for eight dinners over a fortnight.
A restaurant that hosts other kitchens
A guest chef residency is a different proposition from a one-off collaboration dinner. The visiting chef takes the kitchen for a run of services rather than an evening, and the host restaurant has to be built to accommodate someone else's way of cooking without losing its own.
That is the position Kāio has taken since it opened: a kitchen open enough to be handed over, and a room that reads the same whether its own head chef or a guest is on the pass.
The residency this September
Two blocks of four nights, 16–19 September and 23–26 September 2026. Dabbous brings his signature minimalist approach to six courses, built on seasonal ingredients and considered flavours.
All of it is cooked on Kāio's own fire, with Ollie's organic approach running through it. Neither half of that is decorative. A residency only works if the visiting method and the host method hold together over the same heat.
Diners he has not cooked for since Hide
Part of what Dabbous has said he is looking forward to is reconnecting with a lot of diners he has not cooked for since departing from Hide, the Piccadilly restaurant he co-founded and led.
For those guests, the residency is the first opportunity in some time to eat his cooking. For Kāio, it is eight nights of a kitchen that belongs to someone else.
The residency’s own page has the dates, the full six-course menu and booking.
