London restaurant L'Etranger is to expand by opening a lounge bar and dining room, located next door to the restaurant.
Housed in the former site of the Opal night club in South Kensington, the new 40-seat space, which will open in January, will be called Mersault, named after the French wine from the Burgundy area.
The brainchild of director Ibi Issolah and chef Jerome Tauvron, Mersault will be divided into a lounge bar and separate dining room.
The lounge bar area will serve a menu of small plates and cocktails next to an extensive selection of 40 desserts, including macaroons, ice-creams and sorbets. The 80-bin wine list will feature a different Mersault each week.
Meanwhile, the dining room will offer a menu similar to that at L'Etranger, which mixes French and Japanese influences in its food. Created by head chef Sang Keun Oh, dishes will include sashimi, tartars, tempura and platters to share. Other options will include a selection of mini burgers or dishes such as scallops and Parmesan curd with truffle foam; sea bass tsukury with shiso sasa and crispy kelp, and abalone and foie gras toban yaki.
L'Etranger first opened in 2002 on Gloucester Road and is named after the novel (The Stranger) by French existentialist Albert Camus.
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By Kerstin Kühn
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