Tom Conran converts Notting Hill restaurant
The restaurant will open this spring as a complete revamp of the existing venue, with head chef Tom Straker devising new menus and Conran’s father helping with the interior design.
“Tom Straker and I are doing something pioneering here at New Tom’s,” said Conran. “We’re taking sophisticated modern cuisine out of the usual formal restaurant environment and placing it in a fresh friendly and relaxed setting.
“Our kitchen will use honed techniques, craft and artistry to create exquisite modern renditions of timeless classics. We’ve done it all with a real sense of fun and hope that the neighbourhood takes it to its heart.”
Straker, who trained at the Dorchester and with Heston Blumenthal at Dinner, will use ‘ultra-modern cooking techniques’, with many ingredients sourced from his family farm in Herefordshire for the breakfast, brunch and lunch menus.
On the menu
Breakfasts dishes include scrambled hens eggs, treacle cured bacon, cavolo nero and grilled sourdough; and lunch items include white onion soup with crispy onions, basil and ricotta, and veal short rib ravioli with root vegetable and pancetta broth.
Desserts include silver dollar doughnuts with salted caramel cream and rhubarb compote; and chocolate mousse with lemon gel and honeycomb. Healthy juices and smoothies change on a daily basis, with signature drinks such as the Green Giant - a blend of spinach, kale, cucumber, apple, romaine lettuce and spirulina.
Sweet shop
The design of New Tom’s includes floor-to-ceiling windows to provide natural light, and a long bar with blue leather padded diner stools and a series of 1930s Parisian Metro booth seats running along the wall on the upper level. Sir Terence Conran has loaned his son original works by British pop artists to adorn the walls.
In homage to the old shop, New Tom’s retains a traditional British sweet shop theme, above which a raised rotunda features a renaissance mural that depicts an Italian Madonna.
New Tom’s will operate as a 12-month pop-up before returning under the Tom’s Deli format. Conran has operated the site on Westbourne Grove for 24 years and has lived in Notting Hill for over thirty years. He also owns three restaurants and bars on Westbourne Park Road - The Cow, Crazy Homies and Lucky 7.
