Unashamed luxury

Just when you thought it had to be all stark white walls, and guests playing that well-known hotel party game called "hunt the reception desk" or worrying whether the minimalist sofa is designed to be sat on or just admired, think again. There's no mistaking the function or purpose of anything in the Bentley, a brand new 64-bedroom property aimed at the five-star market, designed to woo the rich and famous from the rich and famous London borough of Kensington & Chelsea.

The gold doors give you a taste of things to come, and lead into a lobby with five enormous crystal chandeliers. The whole place is dripping with gold leaf, lined with marble and swathed with heavy fabrics. You'd be forgiven for thinking that it's another project from Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, or the Sultan of Brunei. But it's not, although the opulence is reminiscent of luxury hotels in both the Far and Middle East. It's more in keeping with the Dorchester or the Lanesborough, and there's a connection here, too.

Heading up the "in excess of £40m" project as general manager is David Cowdery, who until July this year was manager at the Lanesborough, a position he held for eight years. Cowdery proclaims the death of minimalism, and confidently states that the opulence which characterises both the Dorchester and the Lanesborough is back. As the opening general manager of Ian Schrager's Royalton in New York coupled with his stint at the Lanesborough, he has at least experienced both sides of the argument.

"People want to be comfortable and cosy and they can't do this in a minimalist property," he asserts. So it's spend, spend, spend time, and only the best will do. Linens at the Bentley have been supplied by Frette, toiletries by Penhaligan's and china by Ginori in Italy.

If this is the first you've heard of the Bentley, you're probably in good company - it's been a well-kept secret until now. The project began life in 1993 when a Turkish developer decided to build a hotel, retaining the Victorian facades of the area. For a while it was going to be a Kempinski, but the deal fell through at the last minute when the developer insisted on an exclusivity clause which would have prevented Kempinski from opening other hotels in London. It was eventually sold in September 2001 to International Luxury Hotels, owned by the Sanger family. The company also owns the four-star Washington Mayfair hotel in London and is opening the Court House hotel in London's Marylebone next year.

Market conditions
The delay between purchase and opening is put down to market conditions by Cowdery, but the time is now right, he says. "Having worked in London for some time I can see a pattern in trade. The market falls off from time to time, but it usually comes back. We're beginning to see it come back now, hence our decision to open."

Despite his background Cowdery refutes any suggestion that the Bentley is a Lanesborough or Dorchester me-too. "The Bentley is the Bentley part one and not a follow-on to any other hotel in London," he says. "Of course you take ideas from other places where you've worked, but the Bentley stands on its own."

But it may be a little while, if ever, before Cowdery can pull off a repeat performance of the Lanesborough's enviable feat of holding the highest average achieved room rate in London. At the Bentley Cowdery is hoping for £280, (the Lanesborough consistently achieves a rate close on the £400 mark).

The high ratio of suites to rooms - there are 12 of them in the overall inventory of 64, including a presidential suite with a rack rate of £4,000 a night - will help to boost rate. At the lower end of the spectrum a de luxe king will go for £425 a night, although there's an introductory rate of £250 on this. There will, however, be no discounting, Cowdery says. "I know people won't believe this, but it's true." Cowdery errs on the cautious side as far as occupancy is concerned, but when pushed says that between 60% and 70% is hoped for.

One element that Cowdery admits he has taken from the Lanesborough is a high staffing ratio. When fully operational the Bentley will have 120 staff for its 64 rooms.

And there's some high-profile names among them, including executive chef Andrew Turner, who recently left Brown's for the fledgling Bentley (see below). High staffing ratios should mean lots of pampering, too.

Guests will receive complimentary Champagne, fresh fruit and hand-made chocolates, and a butler's tray with crystal decanters of gin, whisky and vodka in their rooms.

Food at the Bentley

While the interior of the Bentley is undoubtedly a lavish affair and willl be a main draw for customers, a culinary profile will also be crucial to the hotel's success.

Enter Andrew Turner. He's spent the past few years building a reputation most chefs would be proud of. He's the master of networking (his little black book reads like a who's who of the chef world). He's had more than his 15 minutes of fame (not least with his role in the TV series Yes Chef!, a 10-part docusoap aired on ITV earlier this year). But, more importantly, he's also been strutting his stuff, gastronomically speaking of course, in the dining room of 1837 at Brown's hotel in London's Albemarle Street.

The 40-year-old chef has spent the past four years developing and honing his grazing menu concept. But having decided to leave Brown's this summer, following the hotel's takeover by Rocco Forte Hotels and its subsequent decision to turn the dining room into a grill-like operation, Turner decided to take his concept elsewhere - to the Bentley.

Turner will be responsible for the entire food and beverage operation at the Bentley - which includes the Peridot brasserie (named after a semiprecious olive-green stone), three private dining rooms (one named after WS Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, who apparently lived two doors down from the hotel) and room service. But it will be in the dinner-only, fine-dining restaurant that diners will find his best work.

Restaurant 1880 (no doubt christened with a touch of irony) is wall-to-wall regal splendour, and if you don't feel special sitting in this room, there's something wrong with you. The design might not be everyone's cup of tea - like the rest of the hotel, it flies in the face of the less-is-more philosophy - but the generously spaced, 50-seat room gives a sense of occasion.

Which sits perfectly with Turner's sense-of-occasion menus. Not for Turner a set-price menu and tasting menu, but alongside his competitively priced main menu (£45 for three courses) are no fewer than seven grazing menus. So, in addition to six-course (£38), seven-course (£42), eight-course (£44), and nine-course (£46) menus, are a £60 chef's menu ("I'll select dishes for the customer there and then"), a £90 sommelier's menu ("the sommelier - ex-Connaught man Patrick Sallas - will choose the wines he would like to serve the client and then match dishes to the wines accordingly") and a £60 pastry chef's menu ("a starter, main and cheese course will be followed by a selection of carefully balanced desserts").

Menus will, of course, feature Turner signature dishes such as starters of rabbit velout‚, confit pork, onion and tarragon pithivier; and salad of langoustines, leeks and garlic, parsley and seaweed; main courses of seared Celtic sea scallops, cauliflower and courgette, white sultanas and capers; fillet of line-caught turbot, artichokes, lobster potatoes (pur‚ed potatoes with diced lobster) and lardons, essence of lie de vin; and desserts including warm Creole banana and coconut ice-cream and emphasis on chocolate (a hot and cold affair of chocolate tart, chocolate soup, chocolate fondant and chocolate sorbet).

"All the dishes in 1837 were my creation," Turner says. "Since leaving there I've evolved the food because I now have a kitchen and restaurant which are far more compatible than those I had at Brown's." The kitchen at the Bentley is on the same level as 1880, while the kitchen at Brown's sprawls several floors. "This kitchen is modern and functional and it gives me the first chance in my life to express my food in the way I want to," says Turner, who before his spell at Brown's, was executive chef of the warren-like kitchens at the Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge.

Behind every great chef is a great team, and Turner has been flattered by the fact that so many of his team from Brown's (25 chefs and waiting staff) have chosen to follow him to the Bentley. Two such examples are head chef Tony Joseph, who has been with Turner "on and off" for seven years, and Darren Purchese, who worked at Brown's for just over two years and will head up the pastry section.

While 1880 will be open for dinner only, Monday to Friday, the Peridot on the ground floor of the hotel will be open daily for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. "We're a boutique hotel so we want to offer the finest experiences in all things," Turner says. "Having a fine-dining operation open for lunch doesn't necessarily mean good business. People want to come in for lunch and have a good cassoulet, a great Dover sole, a choice of salads.

"So rather than muck around with the menu in 1880, we'll concentrate on dinner in there. If we feel there's a demand for that sort of meal at lunch then obviously we'll reconsider it, but I don't think people are out for the gastro experience at lunchtime. It's got to be quick."

Turner wants to make afternoon tea a big feature in Peridot. "We've looked at other hotels that do a great job serving afternoon tea, but they don't necessarily do great volumes. So we're going to serve the finest ingredients but make it great value for money," he says.

Finally, in contrast to the tea-and-scones market, the Bentley wants to create a destination bar in its Malachite concept, which is on the lower ground floor, opposite 1880. Named after the bright green form of hydrous copper carbonate - yes, there's a mineral theme going on here - Turner says he hopes it will become as legendary as the Blue Bar at the Berkeley.

1880 NINE-COURSE MENU

• Lobster bisque "1880"
• Smoked royal fillet of Scottish salmon, horseradish and celeriac
• Pot au feu of foie gras, beetroot, cucumber and spring onion
• Poached Dover sole, trompette mushrooms, cucumber and native oyster
• French pigeon, creamed Savoy cabbage, grapes and onions
• Fillet of Angus beef, salsify, wild mushrooms and a sweet meat red sauce
• Predessert
• Selection of French cheeses
• Crème brûlée