Award-winning chef to open new restaurant at Chouet
Vraic is spreading from Chouet Bay to the former Roc Salt restaurant over the next few months.
A new restaurant is set to open there in the summer.
The building, overlooking Chouet Bay, has been empty since popular eatery Roc Salt unexpectedly shut in December 2023.
The site was sold in December 2024 for £800,000, after being originally advertised at £950,000.
Vraic, named after the Guernesiais word for seaweed, is the brainchild of award-winning Welsh chef Nathan Davies who was previously head chef at the Michelin star restaurant ‘SY23’ in Aberystwyth, at the time one of the top restaurants in Wales.
‘It was always going to take something very special for me and my family to leave Wales, but this new project is exactly that,’ he said.
‘Vraic represents a new opportunity to create something exciting on the island of Guernsey, a truly unique and beautiful part of the world. This restaurant will be a progression of our journey, building on the principles we established at SY23. I can’t wait to share this new chapter with everyone.’
SY23 shut down within a week of Roc Salt 14 months ago, with its owners blaming ‘unprecedented challenges of the current financial climate’.
The 25-cover restaurant will offer a tasting menu for both lunch and dinner and has said it will champion the finest local and British produce.
Promotional material for the restaurant said the restaurant would look to represent a celebration of the island’s heritage.
Mr Davies is renowned for cooking over an open fire and a Basque-inspired, custom-built, fire-driven grill is said to be at the heart of an open kitchen in the new establishment. He appeared in the Great British Menu on TV and has also worked as a private chef in France.
