May Fair hotel launches new ‘building-blocks' restaurant
A new restaurant which offers customers ingredients as building blocks to create their own dishes will officially launch at London's luxury May Fair hotel next week.
The 82-seat May Fair Kitchen will replace Quince, which was headed by Silvena Rowe and featured an eastern Mediterranean menu.
Intended to be a more user-friendly space, with a lighter and brighter interior and floor to ceiling windows, created by Rob Steul of Woods Bagot, the new restaurant is overseen by head chef Matt Downes and general manager Shan Raja. The restaurant at the May Fair - which is owned and operated by the Edwardian Group London as the only hotel in the company which stands apart from 13 properties under the Radission Blu Edwardian brand - is currently operating under the auspices of a short-launch, but will officially open on 27 June.
The menu will revolve around a selection of nine cuts of meat from Oxford-based Aldens butcher and 10 different types of fish and seafood sourced from James Knight of Mayfair. Customers will choose either a main course meat or fish, alongside 20 side dishes and 14 sauces or butters.
Russ Brown, the Edwardian Group London's head of food and beverage, said that with most guests ordering one protein, two sides and one sauce, there are a permutation of more than one million dishes.
"We are focusing on very high quality produce and a massive choice of options," he said.
The price of a main course dish will range from £17.50 for a half roast free range chicken to £40 for a 20oz veal chop, with typical side dishes including Caesar salad (£4/£8), colcannon potatoes (£3) and wilted spinach (£3), and the likes of sauces such as aioli (£2), Jersey blue and port (£4), and Thai hot chilli (£3). Average spend for three courses, without wine, is £60.
The launch of May Fair Kitchen is the latest project overseen by Brown since being appointed group food and beverage director 18 months ago, from his previous position as deputy general manager at the Radisson Blu Edwardian, Manchester.
He has also been involved in launching Scoff & Banter, a British restaurant brand serving the likes of toad in the hole and shepherd's pie, into eight Radission Blu Edwardian hotels, alongside three Steak & Lobster eateries. Meanwhile the Radisson Blu Heathrow has seen the introduction of Trunk, a restaurant serving an eclectic international menu, and an Indian eaterie, Annayu.
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