Full of western
The night it opened, there was precious little space to notice the decor between glamorous babes in black, strappy dresses and Michelob-swilling young gents. But Kensington's latest eaterie, Belamy, seems to have struck the right balance between its classic restaurant upstairs and "groovy drinking den" downstairs.
The originator of its look is design consultancy Mettle, using the specific talents of designers Gordon McAteer (creator of Soho brasserie Café Bohäme) and Stuart Everard, who produced all the striking bespoke lighting dotted around the place. They had a budget of around £140,000 to play with.
Upstairs - which is actually the ground floor - is classically understated: wood-panelled partitions, plain green upholstered banquettes, Lloyd Loom chairs, a copper-topped wooden bar and original maple flooring, which was rescued from decades of grime and vinyl left by restaurant predecessor Dino's.
McAteer made the most of a potentially gloomy back room by installing a pyramid ceiling with a flat, circular window to let in daylight. The lighting features blue and white glass shades.
Downstairs, the atmosphere changes. Most distinctive is a wavy wall to the right, covered in a green-tinged Italian marble plaster finish - an artful way to cover up ugly tanks, which had to be installed to cure a damp problem.
A platform area immediately adjacent provides seating and table space for around 25, and is cordoned off by a wrought-iron banister, with two access points so that no one has to squeeze around the back of the seats.
The light shades for downstairs were created from the sawn-off ribbed glass bases of Habitat wine carafes. "It would have cost us a fortune to buy the off-the-peg equivalents," says McAteer.
Belamy, named after the French phrase "bel ami" (beautiful friend), is the brainchild of established restaurateurs Vik Lakshman, Brian Muir and Mycal Tupper.They want to use it as a showcase for the cooking talents of chef Louie Fallourd, formerly of the Hyde Park Hotel.
With no advertising planned, it is hoped that through word of mouth it will become a neighbourhood hang-out, rather than a Kensington tourist trap.
