Michelin French Restaurant Design

Back to the design process, after consultation with the designer about the concept, the development and arrival of the mood boards happens, something we all look forward to, because once it is revealed, there in front of you, the restaurant starts to take life and becomes real. You can begin to use all the senses to imagine what it might look like. You then need to go out to tender and receive the quotes, the painful bit, forever spending way above your budget, this is where you need a high degree of negotiation skills and honesty! What goes and what stays, all I can say is that we have taken a lot of risks and held our breath praying that we will be busy enough to pay the money back, but in seriousness, we learnt early on that less is more, insomuch as quality lasts, and the one thing you don’t want to have to do in a busy restaurant, is to keep closing because items of furniture or designed pieces fail and need to be replaced.

London Restaurant Design

Another project I remember that stands out in my mind to have been be involved with, was The Wolseley, working with Chris Corbin and Jeremy King was one of my most fortunate periods in my career, like Terence Conran, they allowed me to share their vision and even travel through eastern Europe to look at Café culture first hand, their attention to detail was staggering, Chris and Jeremy’s mantra was “to create a restaurant we want to go in” and I shall never forget their immortal words “that everything in their restaurants must bear scrutiny” which if you get chance to visit any of their properties, you will see for yourself. Something else that Jeremy and Chris taught me was that you needed to make the guest feel like the owner of the restaurant, so they have their favourite tables, chairs and know the layout intimately, it took me a while to realise this gem of advice.

I fondly remember visiting the late great David Collins Studio with Chris and Jeremy to see the mood board he had prepared for The Wolseley. After much discussion about the design, we walked into a huge studio in Chelsea, and there in front of us was The Wolseley on a board…..just a breathtaking translation from their minds to the mood board. There was of course much tweaking and change over the course of the next few months, but I shall never forget that moment.

La Chapelle gave us another exciting challenge. This time we had found a stunning building 130 years old in Spitalfields, and wanted a De Luxe Brasserie, or as Jeff put it so well, a fine dining restaurant with the edges knocked off! This time because of the incredible architecture, Steve La Bouchardiere suggested it was more what we left out, than what put into it.

La Chapelle was a labour of love and many times after the design and site meetings I left seriously exhausted, it was also Grade 2 listed, so lots of ideas would take time to be honed before presenting for planning. Our brief was for a classic look, with a mix of leather banquettes and luxury chairs, antique mirrors and good eye lines across the room. All natural materials, stone, marble, zinc and quality woods, and above all, letting the room speak for itself.

The lights that we settled with were inspired from All Saints church in Brixton. The vicar kindly allowed our lighting designer, Into Lighting, in to sketch them. Because of the chapel feel to the building, we felt it needed something reverent which didn’t steal the show, but rather allowed the viewer to see through the “Halo” effect to see the full scale of the 90ft ceiling.

Galvin Green Man pub was another challenge. A 700 year old Essex pub that had been badly damaged in the past including a big fire, it was boarded up, derelict awaiting its uncertain fate. We vowed to the locals we would bring it back to life, and add a restaurant, built completely sympathetically to the original feel, using materials as similar to the originals as possible. We also promised to keep the “pub a pub”, and the restaurant as an elegant country addition. I have to say Steve and his team at DesignLSM yet again produced something that is so beautiful and will be for generations to come, I am also thrilled that along the way Steve and his team won multiple national design awards for each and every site for their design. Most importantly we receive warm approval from our amazing customers who each make them their own, visiting us time after time, we have been extraordinarily fortunate.

To conclude for I must, once the main design has gone in, another fun part is the soft design: curtains, cushions, pictures, posters, object d’art, the DNA that makes a restaurant so personal, a restaurant and never stops evolving, just like the food, wines and service, making it a living art.

Which is my favourite restaurant design? Far too many favourite restaurants to list. but if there is to be one, check out for sheer voluptuous design: Train Bleu Gare de Lyon Paris.