Claridge’s has opened the doors to its first-ever café, in a move designed to add a more relaxed dining concept to the five-star hotel.
The ArtSpace Café, which has its own dedicated entrance on Brook’s Mews, will be open daily for breakfast and lunch. With interiors by British designer John Pawson, the café features a patisserie counter, marble communal tables and entry down to Claridge’s ArtSpace — a vast gallery with rotating exhibitions, free for all to view.
Claridge’s ArtSpace Café is the first opening under the hotel’s new Culinary Director Dmitri Magi. He says: “This is a new kind of dining for Claridge’s — an informal style which will focus on building community, both locally and in the art world. [The café] is our contribution to making Brook’s Mews a London destination of the future.”
Freshly made in front of guests, in a variety of sweet and savoury guises, crêpes are the menu’s staple. Options range from lemon and sugar to Claridge’s popular seafood cocktail in pancake form, featuring native lobster, white crab meat, and Marie-Rose sauce topped with lashings of caviar.
A central glass counter showcases rows of Executive Pastry Chef Thibault Hauchard’s patisserie, with options ranging from caramel Saint Honoré to pistachio Paris-Brest. A highlight is Claridge’s Crest Cake — a chocolatey replica of the hotel’s historical coat of arms. For those looking for a decadent but hearty lunch, the vibrant menu offers roasted brie and wild mushrooms on toast, croissant sandwiches and Claridge’s classic croque madame. Everything — even champagne — is available to takeaway for those on the move, allowing Claridge’s food to be eaten alfresco for the very first time.
The ArtSpace Café also stocks Cornish Origin Coffee, turmeric chai lattes and blocks of chocolate emblazoned with Claridge’s crest, designed to dunked into hot milk to make the café’s signature hot chocolate. With juices, smoothies and kombuchas aplenty, champagne is also on the menu, served in to-go coffee cups, café-style.
Inside, Pawson has recreated a minimalist aesthetic with contemporary white walls and a grey terrazzo floor. Custom furniture in ash wood, brass hardware, and black and white photographs taken by Pawson himself accent the space. In line with Claridge’s long-term commitment to the capital’s arts community, ceramics full of Sharpies, pencils and paper pads are dotted around the space for those who wish to sit and sketch.
The opening coincides with New Frontiers: Movements in Contemporary Art, an exhibition presented by Ben Brown Fine Arts at Claridge’s ArtSpace. Celebrating the unique visions and powerful messages of great contemporary artists, works exhibited include pieces by Gavin Turk, Miquel Barceló, Vik Muniz, Candida Höfer, José Parlá and Ron Arad.
Open Monday-Friday 8am-6pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am-4pm at Claridge’s, Brook Street, W1K 4HR. Visit claridges.co.uk.
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