The Red Farm Team Is Looking to Expand to London

Ed Schoenfeld and the team from dim sum hit Red Farm are trying to lock down a space in London. Schoenfeld declined to give specifics since nothing has been signed yet, but his expansion plan has been in the works for a while now, Schoenfeld says. They've also looked at spaces in Miami, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Dubai, and Toronto, going as far as having a lease to sign but deciding against it at the last minute. "There's been a great deal of exploration. And very, very serious exploration," Schoenfeld says. "But, you know, until you get the marriage license and you both sign, you're not married."

Word is already getting around about a London location. Food critic Marina O'Loughlin  — tweeted about it yesterday. London makes sense for Red Farm, Schoenfeld says. "There’s a tradition of people being interested in Chinese cooking [in London]," he says. "It’s a cosmopolitan place." Investor Jeffrey Chodorow also already has experience with opening restaurants in London, and the city has the talent resources to staff a kitchen to be trained by chef Joe Ng, Schoenfeld adds.

Red Farm, which opened in the West Village about five years ago and now has an Upper West Side location, is still busy and doing well in New York, Schoenfeld says. Even though they've been continuously looking at new locations, they won't do it unless the situation makes sense, he says. "We're not wildly ambitious in that sense," he says. "We're looking around."