Yopo to replace Serge et Le Phoque at the Mandrake

The Mandrake hotel in London is replacing its Serge et Le Phoque restaurant with a new European-South American concept.

The hotel opened in Fitzrovia in 2017 with the first London venture from the team behind Hong Kong's Michelin-starred Serge et Le Phoque restaurant (French duo Charles Pelletier and Fred Peneau), offering refined dining using modern French techniques.

A spokesperson for the hotel said: "Following a successful period of trading at Serge et Le Phoque, Fred Peneau has gone on to explore other restaurant projects making way for Yopo."

The original Hong Kong restaurant closed last year.

The new all day dining concept, Yopo, will open on 12 February and, similarly to how the hotel is inspired by the Mandrake plant, it will take inspiration from its namesake, a plant found deep in the jungles of Venezuela.

Yopo will have its own entrance on Newman Street, leading into the bar which will serve grab and go coffees and dishes to take away. The space will also house an open raw kitchen where chefs will prepare bar snacks, with a DJ in place late into the evening.

Dishes will include potato churros, ceviche of seabass, blood orange, red onion and nasturtium; charcoal-grilled octopus with aji panca and avocado; smoked aubergine with sea herbs and lemon itakuja tart.

Desserts will include itakuja chocolate, yoghurt sorbet, salted caramel, fennel pollen and olive oil; and buckwheat, maca and hazelnut cake with smoked whiskey caramel and crème fraîche.

There will be a weekly changing selection of rare bottles from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Italy and Spain; and by night the restaurant will be illuminated by candles.

Mandrake hotel to open next month with Serge et le Phoque restaurant >>

Hotel design: The Mandrake, London >>

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