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Zoë and Layo Paskin — the owners of two of London’s hardest-to-get-into restaurants, The Palomar and The Barbary — have told Eater London that they are taking over The Blue Posts: a pub and Grade II-listed building on Rupert Street, in Chinatown on Tuesday 5 December.
The ground floor will remain as a pub. “It will be a place where time will slip,” they say. The first floor will become a cocktail bar named The Mulwray — decorated in dark velvets, Connemara marble and satin brass with furnishings in soft pink, plus a wood burning stove; while the basement beer cellar has been lowered to allow for Evelyn’s Table, a ‘modern European’ kitchen counter with approximately 11 covers. “The space is informal, energetic and intimate, with dishes being passed from the range straight to the guest.” The restaurant will be available only with a reservation.
Evelyn’s Table will be led by head chef Nacho Pinilla — executive chef of The Barbary — who will create a daily changing menu alongside a bar menu for the ground floor pub and first floor Mulwray.
“We have always aimed to create the kind of places we would like to go to ourselves,” the operators said.
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“Set on the cusp of Chinatown, a public house has existed on these grounds since at least 1739. It is a rare privilege to be the custodians of a building that has been a place of hospitality for over 275 years. We are proud to continue this long tradition, but also thrilled to be bringing some of our own identity to it,” they said in the announcement.
The operators Michael Cowell and A Yamashita had run The Blue Posts for 12 years before it closed in October last year. The landlord, Shaftesbury, began renovations of the property at that point and during the process evidently found new leaseholders — two of the hottest restaurateurs in town.
Earlier this year Zoë and Layo Paskin launched the English coffee shop and takeaway shop in Seven Dials, Jacob the Angel.