St Pancras’ Booking Office to relaunch under Patrick Powell’s culinary direction

The Booking Office bar and restaurant at the St Pancras Renaissance hotel in London is to relaunch in October following a redesign and under the culinary direction of chef Patrick Powell.

The venue will relaunch as Booking Office 1869, having been redesigned by French architect Hugo Toro. The opening will mark the 10th anniversary of the opening of the 245-bedroom hotel in 2011 following a £150m renovation of the former Midland Grand hotel.

Toro has worked alongside owner and developer Harry Handelsman on the new look, inspired by the patterns and colours of the property's grand staircase. The room, which can seat 120, will have eight eight-metre-tall palm trees and three pendant lights made up of 267 brass leaves each, with a 22-metre-long bar surrounding the original ticket office.

Powell, who is head chef at Allegra restaurant at Handelsman’s Stratford hotel, has designed an all-day à la carte menu with snacks and starters including fried chicken, yogurt and lime; and barbecued carrots, braised grains, yogurt, pistachio and dukkah. For mains there will be a fried fish sandwich with spicy tartar sauce; slow roasted lamb shoulder cooked in chermoula spices for two to share; and monkfish and potato curry with spinach, spring onion and lime. Desserts will include a brioche doughnut with caramelised apple and burnt cinnamon cream and a blackberry trifle. There will also be a raw bar serving oysters and sashimi-style tuna skewers.

The drinks offering will be overseen by bar manager Jack Porter, previously head bartender at the Mezzanine at the Stratford, who has designed a menu inspired by the architecture of the building.

An alfresco garden called the Roof Garden will open at a later date.

Illustration: Hugo Toro