D&D London to open new site in East India Co warehouses
Restaurant group D&D London has released details of its new restaurant and bar complex, called the Old Bengal Warehouse, close to Bishopsgate in the City.
The new venture, set to open in September, will occupy the oldest surviving warehouses built by the East India Company, and will contain a modern British grill restaurant alongside a cocktail bar, a fish restaurant and a specialist wine shop.
The sites, which are being designed by Conran & Partners, will occupy the ground and basement floors of the Grade II-listed Georgian brick warehouse covering over 10,000sq ft in New Street.
The warehouse, constructed between 1768 and 1771 by the East India Company, once stored spices, tea, cigars and port and was mentioned in a poem by John Masefield that described it as holding "the wealth of the world and London's power".
Dishes at the New Street Grill will include native lobster cocktail and main courses will feature double rib-eye on the bone, cooked on the Josper grill.
Meanwhile, the Fish Market restaurant (pictured) will offer classic English dishes such as cockles and whelks with a daily-changing fish of the day.
Sitting alongside the New Street Grill will be the Old Bengal bar offering cocktails created by the bar's head mixologist, Milos Popovic.
The New Street wine shop will specialise in wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy and the space will be available for wine tastings and dinners. A unique colour spectrum system will ease customers through the process of identifying different styles of wine, while expert sommeliers led by Nicolas Clerc will be on hand to give additional information and advice. Guests will be able to sample wines before purchasing, using the Enomatic wine dispenser.
David Loewi, managing director of D&D London, said: "This is an exceptional building with a fascinating history, being the first of the spice warehouses to be built by the East India Company in the City. The Old Bengal Warehouse will be a beautiful venue, but mostly it will be about food and wine. Our hope is to create places that the founders of the East India Company themselves would have enjoyed frequenting."
D&D London to launch two new restaurants in the City of London in 2012 >>
By Neil Gerrard
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