MARLON ABELA keeps a mental list of Michelin-starred eateries around the world that he wants to visit.

At the moment, it extends to about half a dozen restaurants, including one in Italy and a couple apiece in France and Spain.

This is no idle wish list; if anything, it counts as research. Abela, 32, has been road-testing the world’s finest restaurants for some time. When he was 19, he clocked up visits to 40 Michelin-starred venues in a year.

Abela, who grew up in London and the south of France, does not have to move far from his Mayfair office if he wants to eat in an establishment endorsed by the tyre company — he owns two of London’s finest restaurants, The Greenhouse and Umu, both of which have Michelin stars, as well as the exclusive private-members’ club Morton’s.

He also owns A Voce, a Michelin-starred Italian restaurant on Madison Avenue in New York, and an organic place in Greenwich, Connecticut. Fans of his establishments include Madonna, Jade Jagger and Orlando Bloom.

Abela said the two London flagship restaurants in his Marc operation (which stands for the Marlon Abela Restaurant Corporation) were just the start, and he was drawing up plans to expand around the world.

Soon he will open a second branch of A Voce at the Time Warner complex in Manhattan. Following that, he is looking at openings as far afield as Las Vegas, Miami and Dubai, although finding suitable sites remains the biggest barrier to more rapid expansion.

There is also more competition in the US from other European operators trying to crack America.

Lynne Jacoby, a restaurant specialist in the New York office of Price Waterhouse Coopers, said: “We are really seeing a fair amount of investors and companies from all over the world starting to open in New York.

“We are going to see more and more of that, partly because of the strength of the euro.”

Expansion does not stop there. Abela said Marc was also looking at plans to open smaller-scale branches of Umu inside smart hotels, after being approached by one hotel group, though he declined to say which one.

Money to fund this growth does not appear to be an impediment, with funding coming from internal resources and Abela’s own not inconsiderable wealth. He has a fortune worth £400m, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

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