This week's openings: the Donovan Bar, the Pie Room, Titu and more

All the restaurant and hotel openings from this week's issue

The Donovan Bar
Brown's hotel in London's Mayfair will be reopening its Donovan bar soon following a complete redesign. The move has seen a separate entrance added onto Albemarle Street, and drinks consultant Salvatore Calabrese will take up residency.

From 9 April the bar will offer a new menu from Calabrese, including a list of 16 original cocktails divided into four sections: bright and refreshing ‘high exposure'; dark and mellow ‘low exposure'; strong and bold ‘high contrast'; and soft and delicate ‘low contrast'. Guests will also have the opportunity to sample a selection of Calabrese's personal collection of rare spirits and the bar will play host to live music events.

As well as an extensive refit of the interiors, the main bar has doubled in size to seat eight people, while the colour palette combines ‘racing green' with the bar's signature white and grey with touches of gold.

The walls of the bar are decorated with the largest private collection of its namesake fashion photographer, Terence Donovan, and will include a photograph of Lady Forte.

Reopening 9 April
Covers 100
Design Olga Polizzi and Inge Moore
Typical drink
Website www.roccofortehotels.com

De Vere Selsdon Estate After a £5m refurbishment De Vere Selsdon Estate in Croydon has unveiled a new restaurant, Burr & Co coffee shop, an orangery and reception area, and the renovation of 54 bedrooms and six meeting rooms. The investment includes the creation of a new presidential suite, with a further 96 bedrooms to be refurbished later.

Owner/operator Principal Hotel Company
General manager Matthew Brierley
Website www.devere.com/DeVereSelsdonEstate

The Castle Inn The 16th-century Castle Inn near Lulworth Cove in Dorset has reopened after a three-month renovation of its rooms and restaurant. Butcombe Brewery, part of the Liberation Group, acquired the site last year, which is being overseen by chef Ashley Walcott and general manager David Putt.

Bedrooms 12
Design Concorde BGW
Starting room rate £89 B&B
Website www.butcombe.com

The Pie Room

Chef Calum Franklin has opened the Pie Room at the Rosewood London’s Holborn Dining Room. The site serves more than 200 pork pies, pâtés en croûte and pithiviers daily, and the Pie Room is an open extension where customers can watch the chefs. Takeaway pies will be available via a street-side hatch in April, and pie-making classes will launch in the summer.

Executive head chef Calum Franklin
Website www.holborndiningroom.com/thepieroom

Thomas Carr Seafood & Grill

Chef Thomas Carr has opened his second restaurant in Ilfracombe, Devon, following a successful crowdfunding campaign. The site on the town’s high street has a pub feel on the ground floor, where a grill menu is served, and a dining room upstairs with an à la carte offering.

Covers 30
Typical dishes Hake and prawns with potato fondant; whole lemon sole with brown shrimp; and Brie-stuffed arancini with cauliflower velouté
Website www.thomascarrdining.co.uk

Bar Three

The second venue from the brothers behind Dalston’s Three Sheets, Bar Three has opened in the basement of Blixen restaurant in London’s Spitalfields. The site is a joint venture with Blixen’s owners Clive Watson and Justin Gilbert. The menu is split into threes, with cocktails categorised by flavour rather than spirit: light-, medium-, or full-bodied. A concise food menu is also presented in threes.

Founders Max and Noel Venning
Website www.bar-three.com

Titu

Titu has opened in Shepherd Market in London’s Mayfair, offering handmade gyozas, colourful salads and snacks. Gyoza fillings include wagyu beef and black pepper and spicy prawn. Snacks include crispy chicken wings and baby squid, while the breakfast offering features green tea pancakes and oeuf à la coque, asparagus soldiers and watercress.

Covers 15
Head chef Jeff Tyler
Website www.titurestaurant.com

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