One of central London’s oldest surviving French restaurants is building a Provence-inspired beach club this summer, bringing pan bagnats and volleyball to the Thames.
Pont de la Tour, on the river near Tower Bridge, is to open its transformed terrace on May 30 with the view to give Londoners a taste of the Côte d’Azur.
Whether or not that’s possible remains to be seen but the free Mirabeau spritzes will help. These will be available during “Pink Hour”, or 5-6pm on weekdays and 12-1pm each weekend, while other Provencal rosés will be on the menu alongside regular cocktails and champagne.
As for the food, the standout will surely be the pan bagnat, a Nice-born sandwich rarely seen in London, or indeed outside of France. It is one of life’s finest summer pleasures: in short, a salade niçoise inside a crusty French roll, though there are variations with crudites, anchovies and so on.
Also on the menu will be hotdogs with French mustard, lobster rolls and French fries.
Food and drink aside, the beach club will host waterside games such as volleyball, bat-and-ball tournaments and boules. Cocktails while playing are encouraged.
The group has imported five tonnes of sand to build Pont Plage, which will have space for 50 and 20 deckchairs ready, with another bar inside also able to host 50.
There will be an ice cream bike in situ, too, with a changing roster of flavours inspired by the parlours of Marseille, and French popsicles from the nation’s famous Emki Pop.
Come evening, the restaurant will host cinema nights and bring in DJs for evening parties. And so all that is required now is for good weather in London.
Pont Plage runs from May 30 until September at Le Pont de la Tour, 36D Shad Thames, SE1 2YE, lepontdelatour.co.uk
