Daniel Boulud to open restaurant in London’s Mandarin Oriental hotel
Three-Michelin starred chef Daniel Boulud is to open a French-inspired bistro and wine bar at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park early next year.
Bar Boulud, which takes its name and style from Boulud’s acclaimed New York restaurant, will serve a French bistro menu that includes the chef’s signature terrines and pates, all of which will be made on site under the direction of acclaimed French chef Gilles Verot.
Adam Tihany will design the 165-cover restaurant with ‘contemporary references’ to French wine making culture, which includes wine barrel-inspired oak floors and deep burgundy leather banquettes.
As in Boulud’s New York restaurant, diners can choose to dine at the glass-fronted charcuterie bar, or in the restaurant that will feature an open kitchen.
Boulud, whose New York restaurant Daniel earlier this month received three Michelin stars, said the prospect of partnering with Mandarin Oriental in London was ‘irresistible.’
“I have been visiting family in London for decades and often thought about what kind of place I would open there,” he said. “As a French Chef who has made New York City my home for over 25 years, I have my own cross cultural approach. Bar Boulud was first conceived for New York City. This new restaurant will have New York’s energy and spirit, a little French soul and tradition - and - a touch of London style.”
Trained in France under legendary chefs Georges Blanc and Michel Guerard, Boulud and his restaurant company the Dinex Group currently operate ten restaurants in New York, Flordia, Las Vegas, Beijing and Vancouver.
Just months after Bar Boulud launches at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in Spring 2010, Heston Blumenthal will open an as yet unnamed offering within the same hotel, with current Fat Duck executive chef Ashley Palmer-Watts at the helm. It will serve Blumenthal’s signature ‘culinary alchemy’ inspired by ‘ongoing research and discovery of historic British gastronomy’.
