Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal is to open his first London restaurant next year, at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park.
Slated to open in autumn 2010, the as-yet unnamed restaurant will replace the existing Foliage and The Park eateries at the hotel, and will include the al fresco Park Terrace area overlooking Hyde Park.
The new restaurant will feature “the chef’s inimitable style of culinary alchemy with a menu heavily influenced by his ongoing research and discovery of historic British gastronomy”.
Mandarin Oriental is working with Blumenthal and designer Adam Tihany on the new interiors for the restaurant, which will be inspired by “historical British style references and Blumenthal’s novel approach to cuisine”, and will feature traditional materials such as wood, leather and iron.
Blumenthal is famous for his experimental cooking at the three Michelin-starred The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, as well as the Hinds Head pub in the same village. His first London foray will serve lunch, dinner and afternoon tea for up to 140 guests, and will be headed by Ashley Palmer Watts, who has been group executive chef at The Fat Duck for the last nine years.
Mandarin Oriental recently released concept images for its forthcoming property in Moscow (see online news May 12), and the group will manage the forthcoming luxury residences currently under development adjacent to its Hyde Park property.
For more information visit mandarinoriental.com.
Report by Mark Caswell