Hotel Café Royal in London’s Piccadilly has unveiled a revamped lobby area and new restaurant by French chef Laurent Tourondel.
The Regent Street hotel opened in late 2012 following the conversion of the iconic Café Royal, which itself was famous as a meeting place for the likes of Oscar Wilde, Elizabeth Taylor, Winston Churchill and Princess Diana. Business Traveller reviewed the hotel shortly after it opened in 2013.
A £5 million project has now revamped the property’s main entrance on Air Street, adding a redesigned double height lobby and reception, along with a new restaurant concept above the lobby.
Both spaces have been designed by Italian architect and designer Piero Lissoni, with the lobby featuring double height revolving doors, taking guests through to a centerpiece bespoke Murano glass chandelier hanging above a table displaying flowers by the hotels in-house florist Jamie Aston.
Reception is located at the back of the lobby, flanked by large bookshelves, and the waiting area features furniture by the likes of Paolo Castelli, Poltrona Frau, Cassina and Living Divani.
The new 110-cover restaurant Laurent at Café Royal (which replaces the Ten Room) offers a “refined all-day dining” menu by Laurent Tourondel, with an open kitchen serving grilled meat and fish dishes, as well as sushi and sashimi.
Tourondel is known for his BLT (Bistro Laurent Tourondel) group of restaurants in the US, Puerto Rico and Hong Kong.
Hotel Café Royal is part of The Set collection of hotels, which also includes the Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam, and the soon-to-reopen Hotel Lutetia in Paris.
