Premier Hospitality

Theo Randall InterContinental

InterContinental
Written by Roma Publications

Theo Randall InterContinental – Marking ten years

InterContinental

This year InterContinental London Park Lane marks a fantastic ten years since acclaimed Chef Theo Randall launched his award-winning Italian restaurant, Theo Randall at the InterContinental. To celebrate this milestone, Theo has enhanced his menu of honest, rustic, Italian cuisine with new dishes to complement his popular signatures.

The excitingly fresh menu was available to guests from mid-February, when the restaurant re-opened its doors following a rejuvenation of the interiors, which included a ‘kitchen table’ experience and updated bar with a new menu and extensive drinks assortment. The restaurant has gone from strength-to-strength since it opened to critical acclaim in November 2006, following Theo’s success at Michelin starred The River Café, where he was head chef for 15 years.

Celebrating the simple yet robust flavours of Italian cuisine, Theo’s recent dishes reflect the traditions of Italian cooking, with seasonality at its heart. There is an emphasis on fish and shellfish plus a selection of rare breed cattle and poultry dishes featuring on the menu. Excitingly, an additional daily changing a la carte lunch menu has been created to incorporate a greater choice of dishes, seasonality and varying prices.

Delicious new dishes will include a fresh and vibrant Sogliola: whole roasted dover sole with lemon parsley and capers with carcofi alla Romana and swiss chard; a rich Agnolotti di Piccione: fresh pasta stuffed with slow cooked pigeon with Porcini and Trompette de la Mort mushrooms; and a warming Cervo: loin of venison wrapped in coppa di Parma, roasted with Alatico di Puglia wine with delica squash mash and cavolo nero.

Featuring a more contemporary interior, the restaurant displays a brighter, lighter colour scheme, creating the illusion of more space. Design consultancy SuperFutures were responsible for leading the refreshment scheme, which has also seen the installation of a brand new Kitchen Table seating up to eight guests. In this area, guests can indulge in a tasting menu designed 24 hours prior, guaranteeing a truly sensational and spontaneous dining experience.

Boutique interior design practice, SuperFutures, have experience in delivering a range of services from strategy, spatial and product design. Having produced a number of projects, SuperFutures boasts an extensive portfolio with a variety of developments.

Premier Hospitality caught up with Ben Webb, Director at SuperFutures, to discuss his involvements with Theo Randall at the InterContinental. According to Ben:

“Our brief was essentially to refurbish the existing Theo Randall restaurant, and the issue was that the current design space didn’t represent his food and beverage concept. They wanted to create a space that did reflect Theo’s concept, as well as introducing more of a comfortable and laid back approach to the design.

“The idea was to retain a lot of the existing structural elements such as the bar area and main kitchen entrances, and refurbish the space. In one corner, we created a wine cellar space surrounded by chilled wine displays and cabinets – the idea was to create a sommelier area and allow large groups to experience a class or even just dine with the addition of a sommelier – but more importantly, it gave the restaurant design a bit more soul.”

In addition to the existing private dining room, the interior makeover has also seen the introduction of a second private dining room, connected via sliding door. This will offer another space for guests to have a more exclusive dining experience. The additional room will seat up to 40 guests, with the opportunity for this to be increased to 60 when the sliding doors are opened, creating an open space for a sit down dinner or a drinks reception. The space will also host Theo’s stimulating masterclasses, which run regularly.

InterContinental

Ben said:

“Generally speaking the space felt a bit rigid – part our brief was to open up the space as much as possible; we did this by reducing the amount of fixed banquette seating and replacing it with loose sofa seating. In order to fit in with the 5* hotel, we had to maintain a sense of sophistication despite the laid back approach – refined materials were incorporated such as blackened steel, brass screening and terrazzo flooring.

Steeped in history, the InterContinental London Park Lane hotel was formerly the site of a royal residence. Now the epitome of contemporary elegance, the stunning hotel is situated just moments from Hyde Park and within view of Buckingham Palace. The London hotel boasts chic interiors, a full-service spa and an innovative menu at Theo Randall’s – voted the ‘finest Italian in London’.

Ben summarised with:

“It has been quite humbling as working on the InterContinental Park Lane is a very prestigious hotel in London and working with a celebrity chef – well that is always a great opportunity! Theo himself is a very approachable individual, which is why the interior had to reflect this. It was important that the design reflected Theo and his character for it to work as a whole.”

Craftwood Interiors Ltd.

Craftwood specialise in the design, manufacture and installation of bespoke banquette seating for use within the hospitality and leisure sector. The company – which prides itself on its high quality seating and years of experience – has been in operation for 15 years and within this time has worked on a range of prestigious projects, including Theo Randall at The InterContinental.

Vicki Willisson-Hill, HR & Marketing Manager for Craftwood, said:

“We worked closely alongside the design team at Superfutures to create seating styles to suit the design intent. Once our production drawings and various samples were approved, Craftwood manufactured and installed the custom seating in Theo Randall at The InterContinental. We are really proud of the seating we created for this venue.”

Please Click to read in the Magazine.

About the author

Roma Publications