New restaurant, bar & Ping-Pong concept launches in London’s West End

17-Jul-2012 - Last updated on 18-Jul-2012 at 11:14 GMT

PING will have a capacity of 420, including 80 restaurant covers, two bars and three ping-pong tables

PING, a new kitchen, bar and Ping-Pong venue, is set to open in Earls Court Road next month.

The 7,000sq.ft venue aims to provide an innovative alternative to the capital’s existing dining scene and is the brainchild of the team responsible for the success of Love Brunch and the management team behind Bungalow 8 London.

“The concept is developed from the ‘pool bar’ culture,” Alex Potter, one of PING’s owners, told BigHospitality. “The transition between dinner, drinking and dancing seems to have become a bit of a bygone era and it’s now become so disjointed, with people having to go a restaurant, then a bar, then a club.”

Potter and his team, consisting of Jonny Boud, Stevie Thomas and Fraser Shipsides, were inspired to create the London-based Ping-Pong dining experience following a trip to the US.

They now hope to bring the concept to the UK wth a stylised and female-friendly version of the concept. PING will have a capacity of 420, with 80 restaurant covers, two bars and three ping-pong tables available to customers.

Female-friendly

“Anybody can play Ping-Pong and we’ve made sure it’s all very female-friendly as well,” added Potter, who has previously worked for the Morgans Hotel Group as director of nightlife and entertainment.

“The bar and restaurant is female-friendly, with a lot of attention paid to the types of food and drink we serve, with the likes of the sharing salad, full-length mirrors and vanity mirrors - if you create an environment that appeals to women, then men tend to stay.

“We have a very clinical approach to customer feedback and everyone that we've employed understands the level of service we require - We’re doing two weeks of friends and family testing before we open in August.”

PING Restaurant & Bar

The PING restaurant, overseen by Bruno Elias of the Pizza Italian Academy, will serve traditional hand-made pizzas, bruschettas and flatbreads including The Truffle (fior di latte mozzarella, truffle sauce, roast potato and homemade sausage) and The Ceviche (focaccia base, labneh goats cheese, cod ceviche, passion fruit sauce and basil leaves).

The PING bar will serve an extensive cocktail collection from mixologist Cris Cwiek, who worked at Bungalow 8. Signature drinks include The Chandler Ping – a watermelon martini embedded within frozen fruit and a Rhubarb Aperol Spritz.

Speaking of PING’s potential to expand, Potter concluded: “We’ve got a number of conceptual ideas that we’d like to develop. If PING is successful as a concept and as a brand, then it’s something that we would be looking to place in the right areas, and somewhere like Notting Hill would probably be next.”

PING restaurant & bar is located at 180-184 Earls Court Road. The venue's website, which is still under construction, is www.weloveping.com.