With the Frieze Art Fair once again bringing hoards of art lovers to Regent's Park, London will soon be teeming with the world's top collectors, curators, advisors, and sundry art professionals—and in such a hothouse environment, they're going to need a drink at the end of the day. And dinner. And perhaps even a chance to take their minds off art for a fleeting moment. So, where should they go?
To consult the London edition of the Wallpaper* City Guide, of course! Filled with up-to-date recommendations for the British capital's most enticing, of-the-moment destinations, it won't lead you astray. See below for a small sampling of these destinations that we've curated specifically for Frieze-goers, and click here to buy a handy app version of the entire guide.
DINING
Beagle
The lower rents and spaces available in East London are allowing younger food entrepreneurs to open up and to develop new ways of doing things. Such is the case with Beagle, which operates out of three railway arches next to Hoxton station (the venue takes its name from a steam locomotive that once thundered along the North London line). It’s owned by the Clancy brothers, Danny and Kieran, who made a name for themselves as DJs. And while the music is top notch, it’s the food taking center stage. Chef James Ferguson, recruited from Rochelle Canteen (T 7729 5677), emphasises local, seasonal fare. The interiors by Fabled Studio feature carefully preserved Victorian brickwork, bespoke furniture, and a striking green marble bar. 397-400 Geffrye Street, E2, T 7613 2967, www.beaglelondon.co.uk
Ametsa with Arzak Instruction
Father-and-daughter team Juan Mari and Elena Arzak arrived at Belgravia’s Halkin hotel with a reputation as the champions of new Basque cooking — their Arzak restaurant in San Sebastian holds three Michelin stars. Indeed, Elena, the third generation of Arzaks to cook in the family’s kitchen, may be the best female chef in the world. And although the day-to-day cooking at Ametsa (Basque for ‘dream’) is to be handled by Sergio Sanz, the Arzaks will make regular visits to their first international outpost. The design of Ametsa with Arzak Instruction — surely one of the oddest restaurant names in years — is the work of Ab Rogers. His new room is all spare elegance, apart from a ceiling of 7,000 spice-filled glass tubes. The Halkin, Halkin Street, SW1, T 7333 1234, www.ametsa.co.uk
Story
Like policemen and chancellors of the exchequer, head chefs are getting younger. Tom Sellers is still in his mid-twenties but has notched up stages with Tom Aikens, Thomas Keller, and René Redzepi. Indeed, the hype surrounding Sellers meant his 2011 pop-up in Bethnal Green, Foreword, was the hottest table in town. The foodie set salivated at the idea of his permanent restaurant, and it arrived in April 2013 on the site of an old Victorian toilet block. The new, wood-clad structure is by Space Craft Architects, and the interiors courtesy of Shoreditch firm Raven. Story offers two set menus, of six and 10 courses. Both include the beef-dripping candle (served with bread), a dish that epitomises Sellers’ ambitious take on British cooking. 201 Tooley Street, SE1, T 7183 2117, www.restaurant.story.co.uk
Polpo
This is the kind of bar/restaurant they do so effortlessly in Brooklyn or on the Lower East Side (bare bricks, tin ceiling, smallish square tables, and no dinner reservations), but it so often feels laboured when done in London. However, Polpo has pulled the trick off so well that it’s become one of the most fashionable joints in the city. The concept is a relocated bacaro: a Venetian bar serving Italianate tapas, installed in an 18th-century Soho house that was once home to Canaletto. Such has been its success that versions have opened in Clerkenwell (T 7250 0034) and Covent Garden (T 7836 8448). Although every second restaurant seems to serve tapas now, to our mind Polpo is up there with Morito (T 7278 7007) in terms of quality. 41 Beak Street, W1, T 7734 4479, with new versions open in versions have opened in Clerkenwell (T 7250 0034), Notting Hill (T 7229 3283), and Covent Garden (T 7836 8448), www.polpo.co.uk
DRINKS
The Clove Club
If there is one opening that got London’s food bloggerati all of a quiver, it is The Clove Club. Indeed, cynical commentators have suggested that the cooking here is designed more to be Instagrammed than eaten and savoured. Isaac McHale’s dishes are certainly beautiful — as is potter Owen Wall’s tableware — but they also deliver taste-wise. McHale, latterly of Upstairs at The Ten Bells (T 07530 492 986) in Spitafields, serves a local, seasonal tasting menu. The restaurant is housed in Shoreditch Town Hall, an Edwardian building that is being converted into an arts complex. Working with architects Mango, the founding trio kept the interiors stark, with an open kitchen as the centre of attention. A bar area offers lighter bites that are a step up from the standard Anglo tapas. Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, EC1, T 7729 6496, www.thecloveclub.com
Experimental Cocktail Club
A rare cross-channel transfer, ECC’s first outpost opened in Paris in 2007, before Romée de Goriainoff, Olivier Bon, Pierre-Charles Cros and Xavier Padovani brought the concept to London’s Chinatown. The interior, by Parisian designer Dorothée Meilichzon, is in a neo-speakeasy style, all the rage in New York but slower to catch on here. There are plump love seats, a tin ceiling, and a wooden bar with built-in piano. Some staff wear sleeve garters and will serve vintage spirits in vintage glasses on request. Despite being laid out over two floors, the place can cater for no more than 120 cocktail hounds, so bonhomie is guaranteed. Settle in and try a Havana: an Old Fashioned made using a cigar-infused bourbon. 13a Gerrard Street, W1, T 7434 3559, www.experimentalcocktailclublondon.com
ARCHITECTURE
30 St Mary Axe
Completed in 2004, the ‘Gherkin’ or, more properly, 30 St Mary Axe, is still a defining marker of the City. Designed by Foster + Partners, whose team then included Ken Shuttleworth (the man behind Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok Airport), the structure swells at its mid-point, tapering to a glass dome. The dome houses one of the world’s most covetable staff canteens, part of which has been opened as a members’ bar. The tower’s cigar shape means that the public spaces at the base are not blighted by the street-level hurricanes produced by more traditional high-rises. Inside, it’s divided into a series of coiling atriums and gardens, which work to open up the building and link the 40 floors, which are far more than a series of stacked shelves for worker ants. 30 St Mary Axe, EC3, www.30stmaryaxe.com
The Shard
It can seem as if the London skyline is being devised by a seven-year-old boy, with its wheels, pyramids, and rockets. Rising 310m above the low-rise Victorian red brick of Borough High Street, Renzo Piano’s glazed spire is an astonishing sight. It has 72 storeys, 44 lifts and houses a Shangri-La hotel (T 7234 8000), offices, penthouses, and restaurants such as Oblix (T 7268 6700). It is not without its critics, however. It interrupts many supposedly protected views; it is, in essence, a giant glass tower when giant glass towers have a bad rap (20 per cent of the steelwork used, though, was recycled, as were 95 percent of the other materials). Dubai-style horror or not, the structure has an elegance and ambition most locals admire. 32 London Bridge Street, SE1, www.the-shard.com
Laban Building
Built for £22m, the 2002 Laban Building at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is one of the largest and most expensive contemporary dance centres in the world. It was designed by Herzog & de Meuron and is, many would say, their most important contribution to London’s landscape to date (even if Laban’s position on a former rubbish tip in Deptford means not enough people get to see it). Conceived in collaboration with artist Michael Craig-Martin, the building is a polycarbonate-coated box that allows shadowy views of the student dancers during the day. At night, it becomes a giant lantern, lit up in lime, turquoise and magenta. The interior is no less successful, with a Pilates studio, health suite, 300-seat theatre, and café. Creekside, SE8, T 8691 8600, www.trinitylaban.ac.uk
SHOPPING
Gallery Fumi
Tate Modern, is the world’s most visited contemporary art museum, and every major international gallerist now has a presence in London. But the design gallery scene still doesn’t hold a candle to that in, say, Paris. There are bright lights, though, and Fumi, set up by Valerio Capo and Sam Pratt, is one of the brightest. Launching in 2008 wasn’t great timing, of course, but Fumi has weathered the economic storm, moving from its original Shoreditch home to a large, light-filled space in Hoxton. Focusing on one-off and limited-edition pieces, it has commissioned and shown works by locals Glithero, Paul Cocksedge, and Max Lamb, and global names Raw Edges, Nacho Carbonell, and Pieke Bergmans. Visits are by appointment. 16 Hoxton Square, N1, T 7490 2366, www.galleryfumi.com
Jasper Morrison Shop
The British designer Jasper Morrison is enjoying a moment, a serious moment. After a period of time in which certain elements of the design world became overelaborate and overexcited at being told they were artists, and were paid accordingly, Morrison held steady with his quietly militant dedication to "everyday useful objects," the "Super Normal," as he called it. Together with Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa, Morrison put together an exhibition of the Super Normal, and this shop, a small, unused area of his studio in Shoreditch, continues that project. It stocks his own designs, those by other members of the Super Normal crew, and further anonymous examples of the elegantly practical. Closed at weekends. 24b Kingsland Road, E2, www.jaspermorrisonshop.com
Alexander McQueen
The late Alexander McQueen’s Savile Row apprenticeship is central to his story, informing the sharp, often sculptural tailoring of his collections, so it’s fitting the label should open a flagship menswear store here. It was, says creative director Sarah Burton, an ambition of McQueen’s. The space, though, is more airy gallery than dark salon privé of the traditional tailoring house. It even has a large glass vitrine to hold artworks curated by Sadie Coles. Burton worked with David Collins on the design, which has a wit McQueen would have enjoyed. The shop also offers a tailoring service. The brand’s new outlet on Dover Street (T 7318 2220), another David Collins collaboration, stocks mens and womenswear from the McQ label. 9 Savile Row, W1, T 7494 8840, www.alexandermcqueen.com
Hostem
Shoreditch may have been forsaken by the hipsters, who have headed north and east for their late-night clubbing thrills, but, by day, its retail scene gets more interesting. This store presents a smart array of international labels, from Ann Demeulemeester to Visvim, and has a startlingly spare interior by rising design duo James Russell and Hannah Plumb, collectively JamesPlumb. Here, they have created hybrid pieces, reusing old furniture and materials, infusing them with wit and charm. The space is split into several areas. There’s one section for menswear, above which a dedicated womenswear floor opened in 2013. As a whole, the shop seems to summon the Victorian spirits said to haunt the area. 41-43 Redchurch Street, E2, T 7739 9733, www.hostem.co.uk
