Neil Rankin's third restaurant to open in Covent Garden next month
Neil Rankin's third restaurant, Temper Covent Garden, in central London, will open for business on 14 May, serving "stateside inspired" cured meat pizza, ragù, vermouth and fine wines.
Designed by architects Gundry and Ducker, the new venue centres around a zinc-clad kitchen counter with a combined bar, grill section and pizza island oven. The kitchen sits in front of a blue tiled pavilion that holds booth seating and a bespoke steel staircase leading down to the basement seating area. The basement is divided into booth seating within a steel-framed structure surrounding a central group dining area where customers can view the dough proving room.
The central counter kitchen at temper Covent Garden will be the "visual and theatrical focus", with a large wood-fired oven at one end and a bar at the other, offering a diverse vermouth menu featuring brands such as Cocchi, Lillet, Belsazar, Regal Rose and Asterly Bros.
The restaurant will seat 144 diners inside and a further 20 on its heated patio area.
Temper Covent Garden will offer two types of pizza, the rectangular Detroit pizza, which has a focaccia-style bottom and cheese crust, and the bar pizza, which has an almost cracker-like thin base. In addition, it will serve a range of game, goat and pork ragùs and pasta dishes with vegetarian and vegan options.
Temper Covent Garden joins Rankin's other London restaurants in Soho and Angel, which specialise in tacos and curry respectively.
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