One might think that the best person to ask for advice on where to eat before going to the theater is a theater critic. Either one would be wrong. “Press nights often start at 7pm, so it’s often unrealistic to fit in a full meal before or after the play,” says Nick Curtis, the Standard’s chief theater critic. “There’s a phone booth next to the Swiss Cottage ferris wheel, where Financial Times critic Sarah Hemming and I found ourselves eating egg mayonnaise sandwiches before a show at the Hampstead Theatre. This, according to many critics, is the reality of dining out.”
And for many theatergoers, if egg mayonnaise was used instead of Big Mac. Tom Harris, who opened the restaurant, says, “As a food culture, we have succumbed to fast snacks.” lasdun (National Theatre, Upper Ground, SE1, lasdunrestaurant.com) at the National Theater last July with business partners John Ogier and Jon Rotheram. “But I think this is nonsense. You don’t need to grab a sandwich and go to bed. What makes Lasdun so special is that there is no need to pack up after the theater and run across the river to get something to eat. The theater is under the stairs.”
Lasdun and its national neighbor Forza Wine are part of a wave of new restaurants opening in London theaters recently that are as interesting as those on stage. Simon Mitchell, managing director of dining hall operator Kerb, which is responsible for meals at the National, approached Harris, Ogier and Rotherham. Mitchell is amazed at what the trio have achieved at The Marksman gastropub in Bethnal Green. There are also Marksman dishes here; brown butter and honey tart; beef and barley buns – but also the cooking that greets National’s customers.
“There aren’t any cocktails named after famous actors,” Harris jokes. But he diplomatically adds: “The audience has a certain age, and we noticed that every menu here for the last 20 years has had smoked salmon, so we built a specially prepared smoked salmon refrigerator. “As we are an English brasserie, the fishcakes had to continue.”
If that sounds unadventurous, that’s exactly the point. The Standard’s chief restaurant critic, Jimi Famurewa, praised the “pubby, nostalgic simplicity of the menu” in his review. And for anyone hungry for the shock of the new, the environment emphasizing Sir Denys Lasdun’s brutalist design (albeit now drowning out the sound of the lobby) still brings the sting of modernism, like stubbing one’s toe on concrete.
Harris’ comments about customers point to the middle-class image problem affecting theater restaurants, but equally there is a privilege to operating in an iconic building. “We come from very humble beginnings as a restaurant business,” says Bash Redford. Forza Wine (National Theatre, Upper Ground, SE1, forzawine.com) is the sequel to Camberwell’s Forza Win restaurant and Peckham’s Forza Wine bar. “The National Theater is one of the most beautiful buildings in London. Being able to open something in that space is not an opportunity to turn down.” South Bank has Forza’s signature low-intervention wine list, as well as cocktails and a menu of mozzarella and melon, onglet steak and shallot and milk soft serve.
But it’s not all about fish cakes and ice cream in cinemas. Paro (21 Wellington Street, WC2E, paroindian.com), a 120-seat restaurant and 30-seat bar, opened in the Lyceum Theater in October. The venture is the brainchild of 23-year-old chef Niaz Caan, who has been cooking at his family’s Brick Lane restaurant City Spice since he was 14 and has brought an updated menu of curry house classics (lamb samosa, butter chicken) to Theatreland. . “I cook the curry in ‘handi’ style; in Hindi, handi means big pot,” says Niaz. “I don’t offer 50 curries on my menu, I only have 15, but each of them is started in the morning and slowly stir-fried throughout the day. In India, curries are cooked at home this way, resulting in richer, more flavorful curries. Slow-cooked curries are also quicker to serve, which is an added bonus for pre-theatre patrons.”
Caan admits that “visitor numbers have been relatively slow outside of the pre-theatre trade”, which is no problem for the actors. The Great Hall at the Theater Royal Drury Lane (Catherine Street, WC2B, thelane.co.uk), where afternoon tea is their specialty.
LW Theaters director Madeleine Lloyd Webber says the idea for the tea came to her when she was wandering around the theater one afternoon and the building was abandoned. “Covent Garden was bustling with activity outside and I thought it was such a waste of a beautiful area to remain empty all day long. “This was the start of the £60 million regeneration project.” Baroness Lloyd-Webber and her husband Andrew reopened the theater in 2021. “The Grade I listed building is incredibly special,” he says. “It is home to some of the most spectacular Regency rooms in the country. We wanted to create new experiences where people can enjoy this amazing setting.”
The National Theater is one of London’s most beautiful buildings. Being able to open something in that space is not an opportunity to turn it down.
Bash Redford
Food is key to these experiences. Curated by East London baker Lily Vanilli, the afternoon tea pairs the camp glamor of the marble-lined and chandelier-lit Grand Saloon with a golden chocolate Cupid atop iced vanilla and passion fruit cake. “And we are the theater [is now] “Jamie Oliver hosts Catherine St,” says Baroness Lloyd-Webber – even as the chef’s spokesman smugly says: “Although the restaurant is next to the theatre, we wouldn’t classify it as part of it.”
So why involve chefs? If anyone knows what works in theatre, it’s an actor. Oliver Milburn sat on the boards of the National, as well as appearing in film and television, before opening Kitty Fisher’s in Mayfair in 2014; but this was from his father’s experience running restaurants at the Globe and Theater Royal Bath rather than his dealings with theater canteens. announcing the launch Cafe Kitty (Walker’s Court, W1F, cafekitty.co.uk), opened on Underbelly Avenue in October.
“Theatre restaurants aren’t about whether your customers are having a good time and whether their wine is refilled,” Milburn says. “It’s about timing, value and excitement. Food is the beginning of the show, so you should give your customers a bit of a show too. There are many playful references to theatricality on Café Kitty’s menu.”
One can follow the boozy plum knickerbocker glory for cheeseburger tartare, fish casserole with croutons and pudding. The environment also has drama. “It’s quite a nice place to sit at Café Kitty, overlooking the sex shops on London’s most famous alley,” says Milburn. “There’s a real buzz in the center of the city. A lot of the post-Covid arts scene has been focused on outer London, but I think there’s going to be a boom in creative energy in the West End. We want to be part of providing that juice.”
Baroness Lloyd-Webber has another explanation for why more people are willing to eat in cinemas. “I think quality food and drink is more important to theatergoers now,” he says. “It’s also about theaters deliberately bringing people who don’t have a ticket to a show into these magnificent and versatile buildings. Theaters can be much more than a stage and auditorium; “It can be a place where people can meet, celebrate, eat and drink, relax, work or just find a moment of peace.”
But if offering to eat in the theater is no longer social death, is it acceptable to eat in the theater itself? “Other than the occasional ice cream, eating in a theater is frowned upon in the same way it’s not in theaters,” says Curtis. “Historically, watching a game and eating were separate and distinct experiences.” As Shakespeare wisely observed in The Comedy of Errors: “uneasy meals disturb the digestion”.