Surprise as star chef quits Sir David Beckham's favourite eaterie

Offering such essentials as caviar rosti for £35, ribeye steak (for two) for £160 and a wine-list boasting chardonnay [2015 Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru, Coche Dury] at just under £10,000, it was only a matter of time before Notting Hill's restaurant sensation got a Michelin star.

It was also quick to secure the patronage of locals including Sir David and Lady Beckham, plus pop star and former Match of The Day presenter .

But is all well at Dorian, which styles itself a bistro, though the intimacy of its 35 place settings and drum'n'bass beat put some diners in mind of a nightclub?

I ask because its brilliantly inventive chef, Max Coen, has abruptly disclosed his departure – an announcement which has, so far, been greeted by silence from Dorian's usually ebullient owner, Aussie entrepreneur Chris D'Sylva. If that were not disquieting enough for the Beckhams and chums, there's talk that the chef – full name Max Creagh Coen – feels so aggrieved by the way things have turned out that he's consulting lawyers.

'He and D'Sylva had a huge falling-out,' a pal alleges, telling me that Coen is aggrieved because he cannot cash in his stake in the business.

Not that there is the slightest hint of acidity in his farewell note.

'For now, I am sad to leave the team and the place,' he says. 'I have put my heart and soul into Dorian and leave with great memories.

'But the time for my personal and professional growth is now. I wish everyone at Dorian all the best and look forward to seeing its legacy live on.'

Explaining that he's about to turn 30 and get married at the end of the year, Max says: 'There is a lot of travelling I want to do'.

The sort of travelling that puts a fair distance between him and D'Sylva, 51?

Last night, neither responded to requests for comment.

Actor Bill Nighy recalls what prompted him finally to give up biting his nails. 'I was doing a film with Rachel Weisz and had to be slightly romantically involved with her,' he explains.

'I was so ashamed of my nails, I said to the make-up artist, 'What can we do?' She said, 'We'll get a manicure for what's left of them.' They put on some polish. I was so proud of them.'

Bill, 76, cheerfully adds: 'Then somebody suggested that I continue having manicures and I now have pedicures.' Fancy!

Why Pixie's model husband sleeps on floor

Pop star Pixie Lott has

The singer, 35, who married Ollie, 38, four years ago, blames the demands of motherhood. The couple, pictured at Wimbledon this week, have two sons, Bert, two, and an eight-month-old, whose name they have not disclosed. 'I'm co-sleeping with the youngest one and still breastfeeding,' Pixie explains. 'So Ollie sleeps on a mattress on the floor by himself.'

The singer has been in a relationship with Ollie since 2010.

She adds: 'Bert starts off in his own bed, then wakes up and he comes into the cot. So it's all of us in one room, which I quite like.'

Having quit as housing secretary after failing to pay enough stamp duty on her £800,000 flat in Hove, East Sussex, Angela Rayner raised eyebrows when it was reported she would address a property industry event last month. Her talk did not come cheap.

The Labour MP has now disclosed in the Register of Members' Financial Interests that she was paid £20,000 for the two-hour speaking engagement at the Propertymark One conference at Excel London. Perhaps that's how

she was able to resolve her tax affairs with HMRC in May following an investigation, settling £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty.

While she was in Opposition, Rayner attacked 'shameful' Tory MPs having outside interests, declaring: 'Being an MP isn't a second job. It is the job. Labour will put an end to this racket.'

Charlie Higson, who wrote the Young Bond series of books and an adult James Bond novel, has revealed that one of his proposals left the family of 007's creator Ian Fleming shaken and stirred.

'They are members of the Fleming family that run the estate,' Higson says. 'They knew Ian very well, so it was really good. They only had small suggestions of things to change.

'In my first draft I gave Bond a dog. I thought, 'Well, you know, this is an adventure, he should have a dog.'

'They said, 'No. Ian hated dogs.' So I had to shoot the dog!'

Lizzie reveals family fashion faux pas

Turned away from the Royal Enclosure at Ascot last month because her nearly see-through lace midi-dress was , Lizzie Cundy admits even her own son worries about her sartorial choices.

'My son made me do five outfit changes before his wedding – he was afraid I would upstage the bride,' the TV presenter, 58, tells me.

'He wanted to know what I was going to wear. I was on my best behaviour.

'I do abide by the rules, but I think with fashion you've got to have a bit of fun with it.'

Left-wing former BBC presenter Steve Richards, who has been busily posting his appreciation of Andy Burnham, has four younger members of his family who work for the Starmer regime: a son and son-in-law who are MPs, and a daughter and daughter-in-law who are ministerial aides.

The Richards clan is not without its airs. They are said to call themselves 'Britain's answer to the Kennedys'.