Updated 18/4/18 with menu and opening date
What: Cora Pearl
In a nutshell: Kitty Fisher's team open a second restaurant
Summing it all up: Following on the success of their Shepherd Market restaurant the team behind Kitty Fisher's have announced that their second restaurant will be on Covent Garden's Henrietta Street
The low-down
Exciting news for fans of Kitty Fisher's - the team behind the Shepherd Market restaurant (Tom Mullion, Tim Steel and Oliver Milburn) are opening a second restaurant. Cora Pearl will open in Covent Garden in the spring of 2018 on Henrietta Street. If you're wondering who on earth Cora Pearl was - well, she was, like Kitty Fisher, a well-known courtesan (aka working girl) - but in Paris rather than London - who numbered many French noblemen among her paramours. Interesting fact - there's even a Cora Pearl suite at The Grosvenor.
George Barson, who joined Kitty Fisher’s as head chef in January 2017 will lead the kitchen teams at both restaurants, while Tom Fogg, currently restaurant manager at Kitty Fisher’s, will oversee front of house at Cora Pearl. On the menu will be:
- Snacks including Shrimp Newburg and a Pig Jowl & Montgomery Cheese Toastie
- Leek Heart with Smoked Eel
- Quail with Baby Gem & Coolea
- Fish Stew
- Confit Pork Belly with Smoked Quince
- Brill & Devilled Crab
On top of that, desserts will be Wild Strawberry, Earl Grey Ice Cream & Frozen Sablé and Coffee, Cardamom Cake & Milk Sorbet.
Drinks-wise, there will be
- Chaine d’Or - Gin, Quinquina, Chartreuse and lime ("named after the four men of significant wealth that contributed to Cora’s fame and notoriety" her "Chain of Gold")
- French Pearl - pastis and gin
- The rum-based Full Fathom Five, which uses seaweed botanicals.
Martinis will be "served ice cold in antique French glasses", something which pleases us greatly. And they'll have an Old World wine list as well as reserve-list wines available by Coravin (that's the machine that keeps the bottles fresh when opened).
The room will seat 60 over two floors, and we're promised "parquet flooring, dark textiles, ferns, upholstered wall-panels, tarnished mirrors and vintage lights." The ground floor will be the restaurant, while the lower ground will have the cocktail bar (with a late licence) and the open kitchen.
We'll leave the last words to George Barson - "We have been creating our vision for Cora Pearl for some time now and we can’t wait to see it come to fruition. The menu, cocktails and interiors have all been designed to encapsulate her slightly decadent era and we hope the spirit of Cora Pearl herself will bring something that is totally unique and theatrically fitting to Covent Garden."
More about Cora Pearl
Where is it? 30 Henrietta Street, London WC2E 8NA
When does it open? 10 July 2018
How to book: E-mail bookings@corapearl.
Find out more: Follow them on Instagram @corapearlcg
Kitty Fisher’s was opened in December 2014 by three friends, Tom Mullion, Tim Steel and Oliver Milburn.
