The 200-seater venue, RhodesD7, will be based on the northside of Dublin, off Capel Street, an area that has seen massive redevelopment in recent years. It will be housed in the Capel Building, a mixed-use retail and office building owned by Dublin developer Sean Kelly.

Kelly also owns the Bolands Mills site in Dublin, which he bought for 42m in 2004.

Rhodes, 45, who operates four critically acclaimed restaurants, said he is keen to enter the Dublin restaurant scene and that the new outlet will be open for breakfast as well as lunches and dinners.

Two of Rhodes' restaurants are in London, while one is based on the Caribbean island of Grenada. Another is on the P&O cruise liner Arcadia.

In 2003 Rhodes was forced to close two restaurants in London when a seven-year partnership with French catering giant Sodexho came to an end. Sodexho had suffered from major accounting and management problems the previous year.

Although the Dublin restaurant scene has boomed in recent years, there have also been a number of highprofile closures. Among them were The Commons on St Stephen's Green and Cookes Cafe on South William Street.

The latter was run by chef Johnnie Cooke, who subsequently opened an upmarket deli on the site.