The smart set’s talking about... Luccio, the new Pierre White

FIERY Marco Pierre White became the first Briton to be awarded three Michelin stars, and now his younger son, Luciano (right and below with Marco), is cooking up his own recipe for success.

I can reveal the 26-year- old is defying the economic crisis by opening his first restaurant next week: Luccio’s, in Dorchester, Dorset.

‘It’s classic Italian at affordable prices with friendly service,’ Luciano tells me. The £5.50 meatballs will be named after his paternal grandmother, Maria Rosa.

‘I worked with Pierre Koffmann ffmann in London, the Adria brothers in Barcelona, and [Marco’s] The English House in Singapore,’ he says. He spent countless hours in the kitchen with his dad, who taught Gordon Ramsay before starring in such hit programmes as Hell’s Kitchen.

Straight- talking Marco says: ‘ He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke, and he’s very y good with money.’

FANCY owning one of London’s most spectacular party pads? I hear that PR supremo Matthew Freud, who inspired Matthew Macfadyen’s character Tom in acclaimed U.S. drama Succession, is looking to sell his Primrose Hill home. Everyone from Tony Blair to Hollywood stars has been entertained at the property, which includes a courtyard patio that, at the press of a button, opens up to become a swimming pool. The house is likely to be valued at more than £20 million, but Freud, who was married to Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth, insists he’s in no rush to sell, telling me he’s ‘not very actively’ marketing it. Perhaps Macfadyen might put in an offer?