The walls are covered with hand-made silver and gold leaf paper, the stone floor has mother of pearl ground into it and customers drink from Riedel glasses. Where are we? In a café, of course. But no ordinary caf‚. This is Boxwood Café, the latest creation from the House of Gordon Ramsay.
You might think the opening of Boxwood Café, a 120-seat restaurant on the ground floor of London's Berkeley hotel (the space occupied until recently by Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Vong) is a departure for Ramsay, who to date has amassed six Michelin stars within his restaurant group. But in reality, Ramsay has come full circle.
Ten years ago Ramsay's first restaurant served great food at amazingly low prices. Lunch at Aubergine, which opened in the autumn of 1993, was £14 and dinner £18. At the time, you couldn't have eaten better anywhere in the capital.
Once again Ramsay is aiming to pull in the crowds with accessible food at reasonable prices. But this time you can eat even more cheaply. If you want, you can opt for one course and a drink for under £10. They'll be no service or cover charge added either.
"We've done so much in the premier division of restaurants and we managed to open the Connaught and Claridge's while maintaining our identity. The café allows us to diversify," says Ramsay, who has installed a British management team front and back of house. Former Teatro executive chef Stuart Gillies is head chef and Michael West, who was involved in the opening of Claridge's and the Connaught, is restaurant manager.
"I knew I didn't want to do a brasserie - the French can do those so much better," Ramsay says. "I wanted to emulate the vibrancy of the cafés of New York. It's New York coming to London."
While Ramsay is always tremendously excited about his restaurants, Boxwood seems to push a different button for him. "It's quite eerie," he says with a trace of nervousness, "but fascinating at the same time. If it takes off it will be the first concept we've done with high-turnover food."
While the rest of the restaurant business has been hit by the economic downturn, Ramsay has remained largely unaffected. His flagship restaurant in London's Royal Hospital Road attracts diners for special occasions. But he's hoping that the café, open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, will appeal to customers once, twice, or even three times a week.
It's that economic downturn, though, that meant Stuart Gillies was available for the head chef's job. Up until Christmas of last year, he was set to do his own thing, having found a partner to help him launch a no-frills restaurant in London's Clerkenwell. But with the economy faltering, his business partner opted out, leaving him to review his future. "This popped up about the same time - Gordon called me in January," Gillies says. "It all came about very quickly."
For the 36-year-old chef, whose career includes periods at London's Le Caprice and New York's restaurant Daniel, Boxwood presents the ideal working environment. "I'm really excited," he says. "It's the sort of place that I've personally wanted to do for a long time and Gordon has given me the opportunity to do it. We've come up with a product that people can enjoy three or four times a week and won't get tired of."
Central to the Boxwood Café theme is seasonal, British produce. When they can, they intend to source local ingredients. "I think a lot of what Boxwood is about is having the confidence to serve food that isn't trying to make a statement," Gillies says. "We are paying a huge amount of attention to sourcing quality products and we're trying to stay predominantly English as much as we can - local, seasonal produce served in a simple manner.
"To me, the whole thing about the café should be food that you would eat at home but with the finest produce. It has that relaxed nature about it. It's less contrived, not trying to be anything it's not - there's enough good produce out there to do that."
The menu is divided into three main sections - starters, mains and desserts - but with a daily-changing sandwich, such as suckling pig on sourdough bread with fresh coleslaw and rocket, or lobster roll with Thousand Island dressing. Gillies has teamed up with English master baker Marcus Miller to design baked and par-baked breads for the restaurant. "For me, people like Marcus are testament to the quality that can be found in England," Gillies says.
Gordon Ramsay has found the construction of the menu at Boxwood particularly enthralling. "I'm so food-orientated, it's exciting for me to be delving back to dishes like Black Forest gâteau and knickerbocker glory. It's the sort of food I haven't touched as a chef in over 10 years," he says.
Dishes such as these are bound to make an impression on the young audience Ramsay is hoping to attract. And despite rumours that children aren't welcome in his restaurants, the father of four will be actively encouraging them to Boxwood. "We've got party packs on arrival," Gillies interjects. "I've got two kids and I don't go anywhere with them to eat because it's just a nightmare."
Boxwood will offer a daily children's menu, minus the ubiquitous chicken nuggets and chips. Children will eat the same carefully sourced produce as their parents - for example, roast chicken with mash or roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables.
Another element that makes Boxwood different from other Ramsay restaurants is that the caf‚ is not deliberately chasing accolades. It will run with Ramsay's exacting standards and the service will no doubt be flawless, but the staff won't feel the pressure of pursuing stars. "I've never chased an accolade, it has never been important to me," says Gillies. Having known Ramsay since they were both 19, he is more than capable of making this stand. "I've always cooked what I thought was good."
Gillies's attitude, according to Ramsay, will bring different qualities to the Gordon Ramsay restaurant group. "He doesn't want to be the next Gordon Ramsay. He has a huge amount of respect in the industry and has a phenomenal talent - he is a dream to work with and the ideal business partner - but he's not chasing the Good Food Guide or Michelin. He comes with a different mentality."
So, despite the luxurious look of Barbara Barry-designed restaurant and that million-pound makeover, Boxwood Café will strive to be simple. "Where you've got the Gordon Ramsay name attached there has to be a little bit of luxury for those who want it," Gillies says. "But a lot of cooking in London, when it reaches a certain level, becomes quite formal - which I think is a terrible shame."
What's on the menu
Starters
Chilled melon and basil soup with Parma ham, £5.50
Roasted shallot and tomato tatin, £6.50
Soft-boiled duck egg with Cambridge asparagus, £6.50
Mains
Smoked salmon croque monsieur with sevruga caviar and apple salad, £15
Warm roast chicken salad with Jerusalem artichokes, shallots and baby spinach, £13.50
Chargrilled calves' liver with wilted cos lettuce, spring onion mashed potato and black pepper sauce, £13.50
Desserts (all £5)
Black Forest gâteau
Sugared doughnuts with vanilla yogurt
Home-made cornetto
Sides (all £3.50)
Thin-cut chips
Mixed leaf salad
Baked vine tomatoes with wild asparagus vinaigrette
Boxwood CaféThe Berkeley, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7RL
Tel: 020 7235 1010
Head chef: Stuart Gillies
Restaurant manager: Michael West
Breakfast: 6.30am to 10.30am
Lunch: 12 noon to 3pm
Dinner: 6pm to 11pm
Recipes from the Boxwood café
Rhubarb fool
Valrhona chocolate fondueAsparagus, pea and leek tart