The Wolseley Hospitality Group makes international debut in Bangkok
The restaurant residency will run within the Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel for the next three months and will feature an all-day menu that includes Wolseley staples such as the omelette Arnold Bennett, a parmesan glazed flat omelette with smoked haddock and cream; and the soufflé Suisse, a twice-cooked cheese soufflé with mushroom and parmesan cream sauce and chives.
David Stevens, group executive chef at The Wolseley Hospitality Group and former head chef at The Wolseley in London’s Piccadilly, will lead the kitchen.
The launch of the Café Wolseley in Bangkok comes after TWHG recently revealed its intention to open offshoots of its eponymous restaurant brand across the UK, Asia and the Middle East under plans to more than double its estate.
The group, which was previously known as Corbin & King, was acquired by its majority shareholder Minor International in April last year following a prolonged and very public battle for ownership with the group's co-founder Jeremy King, who was ousted in the process.
At the time, Dillip Rajakarier, chief executive officer of Minor International, made clear his ambitions to grow the group's portfolio internationally, but dismissed suggestions that Minor wanted to roll out its different concepts on a mass scale.
“Our intention is not to dilute any of the brands,” he told Restaurant.
“Because we have invested in them and the people, the last thing we want to do is dilute that.”
Since then, Rajakarier has said he envisages The Wolseley restaurants in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai.
Colbert, another of the group’s concepts, has also been previously singled out as having legs for international expansion.
Later this year, a second The Wolseley restaurant will open in King William Street in the City of London. The 260-cover venue will have two private dining rooms and three sweeping bar spaces, and will reflect an investment by the group of between £12m and £15m.
The group will also open Manzi's in Soho in the spring, the group's long-awaited pescatarian-focused restaurant that's been in development since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking at Restaurant’s R200 Conference last month, TWHG CEO Baton Berisha said Manzi’s would see the group look to evolve the business and appeal to a younger clientele.
“Upstairs, it will be the first restaurant in the group to have a DJ, I think it’s needed. We need to be brave to evolve the business and move forward,” he said.
“I would never put a DJ in The Wolseley, but Manzi’s has a very different demographic of clientele and location so we can go a little bit crazy and be brave.”
