Restaurant Supergroup Takes Over Iconic Mayfair Bar

Gridiron will open on Old Park Lane with a restaurant supergroup behind the scenes. The live fire restaurant on the site of the iconic Met Bar will count Richard Turner of Hawksmoor, Nuala founding head chef Colin McSherry, and Max and Noel Venning of Dalston cocktail bar Three Sheets as key staff, according to Hot Dinners. Celebrated wine and food writer Fiona Beckett will be wine consultant to the restaurant.

Turner will be “executive consultant chef,” with McSherry leading the cooking — the live fire grill will, as might be expected, lean heavily on meat, but also on a list of very of-the-moment London ingredients. An initial menu promises wood roast scallops with bone marrow (tick) xo sauce (tick); smoked eel (tick) with braised shin of highland beef; whole roast turbot (tick) with chicken salt (tick) and butter. Cocktails, led by the Vennings, will feature an Old Fashioned made with pandan and clear milk, as well as a White Russian with miso, while Beckett’s list will be long on European and New World classic winemaking.

Turner said: “With charcoal and live-fire cooking, every ingredient becomes a unique encounter. The way the meat, fish or vegetable responds to the flame. We are thrilled to be able to partner with COMO Hotels and Resorts to showcase the techniques inherent in this simple yet flavourful way of cooking at Gridiron.” McSherry’s new restaurant formalises his departure from Nuala, whose founding staff — co-creator Niall Davidson, sommelier Honey Spencer, and chef Anais Ca Dao Van Manen — have all left the Gaelic restaurant on Old Street.

The restaurant will open 30 October. More soon.