London & South East Premier Hospitality

Famous Paris brasserie opens new London venue

Les 110 Taillevent, Taillevent London, Cavendish Square
Written by Roma Publications

 Les 110 Taillevent, Taillevent London, Cavendish Square

Taillevent Paris – the Gardinier family-owned group behind the iconic two-Michelin starred Le Taillevent – is shortly set to open a unique 70 cover wine and food matching brasserie, Les 110 de Taillevent London, in Cavendish Square.

Situated within a listed building and featuring 110 wines by the glass, paired with contemporary and seasonal French dishes, Le Taillevent offers a relaxed brasserie style setting.

The brasserie is headed up by General Manager Giuseppe Dewilde, who brings with him a wealth of experience having worked at some of London’s most prestigious restaurants and hotels. “We have a beautiful restaurant and a lovely environment to welcome our guests into,” he said.

The interiors, designed by the legendary Pierre-Yves Rochon, who created the decor at the Paris Les 110 de Taillevent and redesigned The Savoy in London, takes inspiration from the brasserie’s concept and pays homage to wine production.

 Les 110 Taillevent, Taillevent London, Cavendish Square

Main Contractors for the fit out of the scheme were Conamar.

“The building is Georgian, dating back to the 18th century and was until recently a bank. It is a very beautiful building with approximately 15 ft high ceilings, and is typical of the Marylebone area,” said Giuseppe de Wilde.

“The design is a nice combination of old world Britishness combined with a contemporary French flair,” he added.

Creating a chic and warm setting, the venue is on ground and basement levels, with the dining area on the ground floor.

The design draws on the green of the vine, rich earth tones and oak-barrelled wine casks. Wooden finishes are a therefore a significant element of the interior, with plush green velvet curtains adding a Parisienne feel.

 Les 110 Taillevent, Taillevent London, Cavendish Square

The dramatic back bar, featuring a huge, almost ceiling height display of 700 individually backlit wine bottles, is another significant design feature.

Incorporating the colours and materials of viticulture into all elements of the design, Pierre-Yves Rochon honours the theme at every turn. This includes oak flooring continuing the wine barrel colour theme, and specially commissioned wine-themed black and gold coloured artworks on the walls, with the walls themselves having been expertly painted with a wood effect panelling, creating a look described by Giuseppe Dewilde as ‘absolutely stunning.’

A further dramatic feature of the impressive interior is a huge green glass and copper chandelier measuring 2 m by 2 m.

 Les 110 Taillevent, Taillevent London, Cavendish Square

Banquette seating and armchairs, together will all other furniture in the venue have been made by Roselo in Paris, with all the curtains and draperies having being made by Paris artist Phillipe Coudray.

To the right of the main dining space is a curtained-off private dining area known as the Lamennais  Room, named after the Paris street where the first Les 110 de Taillevent restaurant originated in 1946.

Maintaining the stylish yet ‘approachable’ brasserie feel of the venue, Giuseppe Dewilde said: “We decided not to have tablecloths as we felt this might be slightly intimidating for diners.”

A French-designed full catering kitchen was installed on the basement level, and the works also included the installation of new building services throughout.

Making the French form of art-de-vivre accessible to Londoners, the wine list features rare and singular wines, curated over three years by Pierre Bérot, Cellar Director of Taillevent Paris.

 Les 110 Taillevent, Taillevent London, Cavendish Square

Pierre’s vast experience managing the myriad bottles of the house cellars has resulted in a list that evokes the richness of the collection and introduces some of its greatest treasures.

Guests are offered the choice of four wines, in 70ml or 125ml measures, exactingly matched with their choice of four starters, fish, meat, desserts or cheese dishes.

The dynamic à la carte menu, developed by Alain Solivérès, Executive Chef Director of Taillevent Paris, has been designed to showcase each product, selected for its quality and seasonality.

Executed with precision, each dish will enhance the qualities of the wines on offer.

Taking the art of pairing to new heights, Les 110 de Taillevent London presents this innovative concept beginning at breakfast when light and hearty dishes are matched with cold and hot drinks.

 Les 110 Taillevent, Taillevent London, Cavendish Square

Gardinier & Fils is the holding company of Taillevent Paris. Founded in the early 1980s by Xavier Gardinier, owner of orange plantations in Florida, Château Phélan Ségur in Bordeaux and the Relais & Châteaux hotel Domaine les Crayères in Champagne.

Gardinier & Fils acquired Taillevent Paris in 2011. Under the management of directors Thierry, Laurent and Stéphane Gardinier, in addition to Le Taillevent, the group also owns and operates Les Caves de Taillevent and Les 110 de Taillevent Paris.

 

Conamar

Established in 1984, Conamar is a family owned construction company specialising in re-fit, refurbishment, fit out, new build and conversion projects, ranging in value from £100k to £5m. The company currently has a repeat business and referral rate of 80% and over the past 31 years has built up many valuable working relationships which have helped Conamar deliver projects that meet the exact requirements of their clients.

Past projects for Conamar include work for Howard De Walden Estates, Café Nero, Costa Coffee, Selfridges and Kuoni. The company has also developed a 20-year working relationship with the John Lewis Partnership. On a recent project Conamar was the main contractor on Les 110 de Taillevent.

Conamar Managing Director, Neil Dower, said:

“As the main contractor on Les 110 de Taillevent we managed the construction work on this very confined city centre site, and coordinated all the necessary trades to result in a high quality finish, befitting of such a highly regarded gastronomic team. The building was an old Coutts bank, so initially we had to remove the old safe and vaults from the basement. Once this was completed the installation of the complex mechanical and electrical services commenced, followed by the fit-out of the professional kitchen equipment.

“The kitchens are in the building’s basement, with the restaurant being on the ground floor. Two dumb waiters were put through the floor plate to facilitate ease of service. The final phase was the fit-out of the front of house area, resulting in a high quality finish for this prestigious restaurant.”

As the restaurant is located within Central London, with busy roads as well as neighbouring businesses and residential buildings to facilitate, the site provided a number of challenges for Conamar. However, the company worked hard to ensure minimum disruption and delivered the project as required, in order to meet their clients’ needs.

Neil said:

“We have a long track record of working in city centres, with a reputation for successfully completed projects on challenging sites. This project has allowed us to prove once again that our staff have the ability and experience to bring a complex project to fruition.”

Neil added:

“We deliver high quality contracting work, whatever the sector, whoever the client, whatever the budget. Our standards are high and our business is backed up by a strong family ethos. What makes us stand out more than anything else is our team’s approachability and commitment to getting the job done, without conflict, from the start to the end of every project.”

Specialist Commercial Joinery

Special Commercial Joinery produces high class bespoke joinery for repeat clients for the commercial sector of the building industry, either for end users or main contracting companies. The establishment believes in forming relationships with their client base, as well as ensuring high quality fit out projects that are completed within the deadline.

The company worked on the les 110 de Taillevent project, which unfolded via the client Conamar and a meeting with the restaurant’s Director, Frantz Beauchemin, who immediately brought Specialist Commercial Joinery into the project. The scheme consisted of working drawings involving various materials from steel, glass, hardwoods and veneers combined with a number of finishes including ebonising, powder coating spray and hand polishing.

Premier Hospitality spoke to Neil Carter, Director at Specialist Commercial Joinery, to find out some information on the developments. Neil said:

“The project to fit out the specialist joinery for les 110 de Taillevent sums up exactly what our company is about.

“It was a testing project due to the confines and sometimes unknown and unforeseen challenges of an old but beautiful building, coupled with English Heritage values and demands. However we revel in this environment and coupled with a pro-active Main Contractor and professional client, it has been a pleasure to have been involved and we are proud to be associated with les 110 de Taillevent London.”

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