To commemorate its 160th year, the Hotel Café Royal on Regent Street has returned the Oscar Wilde bar — famed for its afternoon tea — to its original guise as a grill restaurant.
Established in 1865, the renowned Café Royal Grill recently reopened to welcome guests for lunch and dinner. Historically, the hotel has hosted the likes of Winston Churchill, David Bowie, Brigitte Bardot and Princess Diana, as well as Wilde, who was something of a regular. Less salubrious guests included the occultist Aleister Crowley.
Inspired by the grand brasseries of Paris, Café Royal Grill offers an elevated continuation of the pervading classic French resurgence, reflected not just in its Midas-touched room, but its menu. The kitchen will be under the veteran watch of the award-winning Kevin Gratton (Hix, La Caprice).
Expect steak tartare, lobster bisque with cider brandy and chive Chantilly, while a rotation of seasonal dishes include sea bass crudo with black Marinda tomatoes and citrus fruits; asparagus salad with soft-boiled quail’s eggs; and baked fillet of Var salmon with honey mustard and dill, served with a shaved raw fennel and cucumber salad.
The house speciality of chicken and bacon pie “Café Royal” with black truffle sauce and mashed potato is made using a recipe that is rumoured to have endured purely through word of mouth since the restaurant’s inception.
A pre-theatre menu will run from Monday to Friday, 5-7pm, £35 and £40 for two or three courses respectively. Lunch is served 12-2pm, afternoon tea 4-6pm and dinner 5-10pm.
The wine list will include a selection of rare vintages as the likes of Krug Clos du Mesnil 2008 and Pétrus 1982, alongside selections from boutique winemakers like Heidi Schröck & Söhne and Federico Graziani.
It’s a similar story with cocktails, with two so-called “hero cocktails” selected from the original 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book. First will be the Grill Martini, made using Café Royal’s own gin, the other a modern take on a traditional Negroni.
Bookings are being taken now.
Café Royal Grill, 68 Regent Street, W1B 4DY, hotelcaferoyal.com
