Latest opening: The Colony Grill
What: A newly revamped restaurant within Mayfair’s The Beaumont hotel. The Colony Grill retains its clubby 1920s New York feel and corresponding transatlantic food theme but more attention is being paid to sourcing and the menu is now more ambitious and contemporary. The Beaumont was launched by The Wolseley and The Delaunay owners Chris Corbin and Jeremy King in 2014 but the duo severed their ties with the property in 2018.
Who: The overhaul of the The Colony Grill's food is being overseen by The Beaumont’s executive chef Ben Boeynaems, who joined the Brown Hart Gardens hotel just before the first lockdown in February 2020. With a CV that includes Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s and Eric Chavot at The Capital, he certainly knows a thing or two about the upper echelons of London’s hotel dining scene. More recently, he has held head chef roles at The Goring Hotel and The Zetter Group. The Beaumont is now owned by the Barclay brothers, who also own The Ritz.
The vibe: The Colony Grill’s dining room has been ‘refreshed’. Despite its rather timeless look it has the fresh feel of a newly opened place, so clearly management have not skimped. Additions to the 80-cover space include striking large-scale murals and a number of smaller maximalist artworks.
The food: Boeynaems’ menu strikes a balance between simple hotel grill classics that would be conspicuous by their absence - including steak tartare, shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, calf’s liver with onion and bacon and a selection of steaks - with more distinctive options. Dishes from the latter camp include buttermilk-fried spring chicken with roast chicken emulsion; Gigha halibut with buttered Dorset crab, seaweed gnocchi, fennel and crab bisque; and strozzapreti carbonara with smoked eel. Desserts include bananas Foster; Beaumont honey s’more with lemon natural yoghurt and thyme ; and fully-bespoke ice cream sundaes (the latter is ordered via a dedicated tick sheet that appears on the table as mains are cleared).
And another thing: The Beaumont’s Le Magritte bar will relaunch later this month in a new location within the hotel. It will be run by recently appointed bar manager Antonino Lo Iacono (with experience at Rules, Dukes and, most recently, the nearby Mark’s Club he’s well-suited to the role). Inspired by 1920s New York, the bar will specialise in bourbon and other American whiskies. The food is being overseen by Boeynaems and will feature a dedicated oyster and caviar menu plus a selection of light bites that will include French toast, bacon, truffle and jam; and corndogs with stout mustard.
