Top London restaurants in deal to takeover Downpatrick gourmet foods
Downpatrick gourmet food producer Lecale Harvest, a FoodNI member, has been
sold to respected London restaurateur and premium meat importer Nemanja
Borjanovic.
Trading as Mr Txuleta, Borjanovic is widely known for introducing high-end Basque
ex-dairy and Galician Blond beef to the UK restaurant scene. He runs three
acclaimed and Basque inspired restaurants in central London: Donostia, Lurra, and
Iba.
Announcing the acquisition, Borjanovic, who is originally from Serbia, said: “We have
always loved the confit duck and pork belly from Lecale, so when we heard Patrice
Bonnargent, the owner, was retiring we decided to visit him in Ireland and see if
there was a way to continue the Lecale story.”
A family run business founded by Patrice, originally founded in France, and supported
by his wife Joy and daughter Perrine, Lecale Harvest has produced restaurant level
quality confit duck and pork belly over the past six years. The small artisan company
has won a host of quality awards including UK Great Taste recognition.
“We intend to continue running Lecale Harvest exactly how Patrice has run it and will
fish him out of retirement every now and then to check on our work,” continues the
new owner.
“We plan to reach out to existing customers and hope to introduce these unique
products to many more,” he adds.
Mr Txuleta is a specialty UK meat supplier and wholesale business run by Borjanovic
that imports and distributes high-end Basque-style beef. The name refers to
“txuleta”, a traditional thick, bone-in Basque rib-steak sourced from older, mature
cattle.
The restaurants, Basque Grills, use beef from older, retired dairy or working cattle
(often 8 to 16 years old) from regions like Galicia in Spain and select local UK
conservation herds. Long lives and natural grazing create deep marbling, high
yellow-fat content, and a robust, savoury flavour.
Ibai, for example, is regarded as one of London’s best steak restaurants. Donostia
specialises in pintxos influenced by San Sebastian, the internationally in northern
Spain.
Mr Borjanovia runs the restaurants with business partners chef Richard Foster and
wine specialist William Sheard.
