Update - read our latest Gilbert Scott preview with details of the final menu.
St Pancras has to be our favourite building in London and, like English Heritage, we'd want to come down like a ton of reclaimed bricks on anyone who messed it up. Happily, having seen some of the early drawings for Marcus Wareing's new British brasserie The Gilbert Scott - due to open next month as part of the five-star Renaissance St Pancras Hotel - we have nothing to fear (see gallery below).
Designer David Collins, the man who brought Claridge's beautiful art-deco bar and restaurant into the 21st Century without losing any of its period charms, is the man behind the decor. Looking at these pictures, the Gilbert Scott looks set to rival Galvin La Chapelle as one of London's most beautiful recent restaurant openings. The new brasserie is set in what used to be the entrance hall and Moroccan coffee house of the St Pancras Midland Grand Hotel, designed by one Gilbert Scott back in 1873.
Taking a sneak peek at the menu, it's clear that 2011 is going to be the year where British food history is brought back to the London dining table. Dorset jugged steak, Tweed Kettle - take that Heston and your Salamagundy - which consists of sea trout and a nutmeg, lemon and thyme crust and Pease Pudding will all be on offer.
And while The Dean Street Townhouse may serve High Tea and the soon-to-open St John Hotel is focusing on Elevenses, we're happy to see that The Gilbert Scott is forging new ground with the introduction of 'Threesies' with Eccles cakes.
As ever, Hot Dinners has a more-than-is-healthy interest in the bar food offering which in The Gilbert Scott's case includes bacon floddies (that's potato bacon and herb fritters for the uninitiated), Lancashire mushroom rolls and pork and sage stuffing rolls. There'll also be gourmet popcorn as a bar snack and afternoon punchbowls for those who really, really don't want to go back to the office.
The Gilbert Scott opens on 5 May 2011. Find out more details here.
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