Fancy dining with Batman? Park Row, a DC Comics Universe restaurant is coming to London

: Written by Gavin Hanly; Created: 13 February 2020

What: Park Row

In a nutshell: Dining with Batman

Summing it all up: Taking over the space where Mash restaurant was, this is a huge DC Comics experience - with a big lean towards Batman in particular. Expect a multi-room experience that's inspired by Gotham City.

The low-down

It looks like theme restaurants are going to be a thing again, because what's being planned to replace MASH in London sounds like a theme restaurant to the max.

The space is being converted into an immersive DC Comics experience. Yes, that means it's a home for food based on Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman - a frankly huge list of superheroes to draw from. Although looking at their plans, it's really all about Batman.

It's called Park Row - also known as Crime Alley in the comics and where - spoiler alert - little Bruce Wayne's parents were shot (let's hope the Soho streets outside this restaurant are a little safer..!). Another spoiler alert - Bruce didn't exactly react to this incident in a particularly healthy manner, what with the cape and all.

There's quite a lot to the restaurant - split into loads of parts - but here's the rundown:

They're keeping the art deco feel which, to be fair, matches the classic animated series.
The entrance will be similar to MASH, with a hidden way into the main dining area, the entrance of which is modelled on the Batcave. We're assuming that a piano might come in handy here.
First off is a lounge bar called Pennyworth's (that's Batman's butler's surname. Hey, and he's got his own series). British snacks here, of course.
One dining room will be the Iceberg Lounge (that's where the Penguin hangs out) with "an international menu and live entertainment"
Another is a Harley Quinn-inspired omakase counter dining experience.
There's Old Gotham City, a hidden speakeasy with cocktails and sharing plates
And finally The Monarch Theatre - described as "a multi-sensory tasting menu experience with 360-degree projection mapping technology to explore the psychology of heroism through food."

It's hard to know what to think of this. On one hand, it's a theme restaurant and they don't have the best of track records. On the other, there seems to be quite the attention to detail. The chefs involved include Cláudio Cardoso (Sushisamba) and two chefs with impressive backgrounds - Mike Bagale (who worked at Alinea, Chicago) and Mark Garston (who was at The Fat Duck).

But this particular writer, who has the unfortunate ability to know about all this DC stuff a little too well for his own good, has to admit to looking forward to this one quite a bit. We're quite interested to see how this one turns out.