AT one point last year there was a Cafe Rouge restaurant opening every 10 days in London. The pace has since slowed down sufficiently to let the very charming Karen Jones, the English co owner of the chain, cast her eye in the Dublin direction and open the first Irish branch in Andrew Street.
It's a real Europudding - a French name, an English owner and an Irish architect. And not just any Irish architect. London based David Collins is the restaurant designer in London apart from the Cafe Rouge and Dome chains, he has also designed The Canteen and La Tante Claire.
This month Vogue carried a profile of him in a glamorous feature that highlighted his close friendship with Madonna. This week David made a flying visit to Dublin for the opening of Cafe Rouge, dining with his family and his Dublin friend, architect Clodagh Nolan.
Of Madonna, he says: "She's dying to visit Ireland because she loved all the Irish people who were working on Evita and she heard that stars can wander around without anyone bothering them."