The restaurant group formerly known as D&D London will open its first concept in almost five years following a rebrand and overhaul of the business.
The Standard can also reveal Launceston Place in Kensington, one of D&D’s most-loved restaurants and formerly under the charge of chef Ben Murphy, is to reopen after it closed in 2024.
Now called the Evolv Collection, a new team will launch Liverpool St. Chop House & Tavern on September 17, “marking a pivotal moment in the group’s evolution”.
Hospitality veteran Martin Williams was appointed CEO of Evolv late last year and began in his new role six months ago.
He told the Standard the new concept marks a return “to the founding vision of Sir Terence Conran”, who founded D&D as Conran Restaurants in 1991 and went on to launch the likes of Bluebird and Le Point de la Tour.
“This comes after a year of consolidation and a reworking of the brand vision,” said Williams. “We have ambitious plans. We’ll also be reopening Launceston Place and have a bold vision there.
“At Chop House & Tavern, we want to honour London’s historic restaurants, using recipes from the 1600s and celebrating East London’s meat and fish traders who have supplied chefs for centuries.
“We’ve had a historian involved to get it right. We’re using the original logo typeface from a chop house that stood here. The building is magnificent — it’s an old warehouse and dates back to the East India Company.”
Liverpool St. Chop House & Tavern has been designed with the old in mind, with dark wood, hues of red and blue, “crisp white linen” and brass and gold detailing. The same concept will also be rolled out at Butler’s Wharf and Paternoster, two other Evolv sites (the latter was famously used for Channel 4 show First Dates).
Williams said the restaurant is a nod to London’s trade guild heritage, including the Cutlers — a now defunct Worshipful Cutlery whose members produced items with a cutting edge — while the food will be overseen by the chef Mike Reid, who was the culinary director at Rare Restaurants (Gaucho and M).
The menu will include the likes of “pea soope”, made to a 1669 recipe, Barnsley chops, beef shin and oyster suet pudding, a whole pig’s head, and ray wing with butter, lemon and capers.
The restaurant will also offer an oyster selection ranging from classic preparations to those less charted — dressed with the likes of beef consommé and horseradish — while steaks will come from the highly rated Ethical Butcher and fish will be sourced from Wright Brothers. Guinness will come in pewter tankards and wines will be mostly English and French.
Williams told the Standard: “We’re going back to basics with oysters, whelks, Welsh rarebit, pies, chops and steaks. We’re sourcing the best produce we can but staying affordable — steaks will start at £27, the chicken pie for two is going to be £38, and oysters will be a fiver each.
“We’ve spent a lot of time training up staff and creating something experiential. Hospitality has changed and we’ve adapted. This is a reinterpretation and something that will work at restaurants across the City of London and beyond.”
Williams was brought in to help reshape D&D after the business underwent a difficult few years. He has pedigree in turning restaurant group fortunes around, having returned in 2018 to Gaucho Steakhouse following a five-year hiatus, returning it to financial viability.
He told the Standard Launceston Place, a favourite of Princess Diana and once the holder of a Michelin star, is set to reopen next year. More to come on that story.
Liverpool Street Chop House & Tavern will launch on September 17 at 16A New Street, EC2M 4TR, liverpoolstchophouse.co.uk
