Tag: garrick club

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Design Restaurants Town Houses

Scheltema + Bouillon Bruxelles Restaurants Brussels

Sprouts

You can repeat the past, from croquet to coquetry. Sort of. Fresh from a party across two private rooms in The Garrick Club, London, dining with more titles than a Daunt bookshelf, Lavender’s Blue are off on the next Eurostar to Brussels. After some muscles, time for some mussels (later there will be some truffles). Shock, horror, the longstanding brasserie Scheltema, which we last visited in February 2013, is now history except for its first floor façade sign. Fortunately in December 2023, Bouillon Bruxelles opened in Scheltema’s airspace. Chef de Cuisine, Alexandre Masson, tells the tale,

“Born around 1850 in the heart of Paris in Les Halles district, the concept of Bouillons, created by Baptiste-Adolphe Duval, offered revitalising and quality cuisine. This project encountered a great success with numerous establishments in Paris and throughout the entire country. The Bouillons were renowned for their efficient management and iconic locations. Inspired by the Parisian concept, Bouillon Brussels, the first of its kind in Belgium, naturally established itself in the heart of the Ilôt Sacré, an historic district also known as the ‘Belly of the City’. Bouillon Bruxelles thus perpetuates the rich culinary heritage of Belgium’s poplar cuisine.”

Lavender’s Blue are in a rush (always) so it’s all about the entrées this afternoon. For frois, sardines a l’huite d’olive dans la boite (€9.90) and for chaud ravioles de langoustines (€12.20). A carafe of Côtes de Cascogne Marines 2023 (€10.80) pleasantly hints at deflation. The sinewy Art Nouveau décor has been given a lick of paint and a spray of polish so is still comfortingly familiar. So is the food. Déjà vu, déjà mangé. Chef Francisco strikes a pose by the shellfish. Then it’s a dash to spend cash in Les Galeries Royales Saint Hubert. Still such fun.

Back in time to Scheltema. While the horses for (main) courses saga runs amok across Britain (Shergar has turned up served on a plate), Lavender’s Blue decided it was time to cross the channel to brunch in equestrian mad Brussels. This may sound like the best idea since Patty Hearst thought she’d call by a San Fran bank armed with a semiautomatic, but bear with. Destination known: Scheltema, a seafood brasserie. In the lexicon of dining spaces, this is the Belgian capital’s written answer to London’s J Sheekey. Every cloud, and all that.

Understated frontage along Rue des Dominicains, a five minute stroll from Grand Place, belies its pedigree, the silver lining. More Art Nouveau than nouveau riche, Scheltema has been a favoured dining spot of the Almanach de Gotha and the like for the last 30 years. La Belle Époque never ended – it’s forever la Fin de la Siècle in this discreet part of Ilôt Sacré.

Beyond the awnings, the interior is an indulgence of rich wooden panelling, brass railings, leather seating and rows of green shaded hanging lamps reflected in oval mirrors. At the rear of the restaurant, Thierry and Christian, the ebullient Chefs, create a buzz in the open kitchen overlooked by diners. The service is equally energetic and fun.

The menu combines classic dishes with dancingly delicate dashes of individuality. Highlights include shrimp croquettes with fried parsley (€14); pan sautéed scampi with garlic (€20); and crisp Nobashi shrimps, sesame oil and butter (€19). Washed down with pinot gris Ma der d’Alsace, 2011 (€32). Coffee is served with a box of Biscuits Belges Artisanaux.

Place du Grand Salon, on the far side of Grand Place, provides the perfect setting for an early afternoon walk. At the weekend, stripy antiques stalls spring up under the watchful gothic grandeur of Église Notre-Dame de la Chapelle. Further uphill is its little town planning sibling, Place du Petit Sablon. Narrow streets climb past a wedge shaped garden, statuary framed against a verdant backdrop, up to the neoclassical façade of Palais d’Egmont. Once the seat of the Princes of Arenberg, it now houses the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Such fun.

Categories
Architects Architecture Design People

Carlo Scarpa + Corridors + Stairs

Dinner in The Garrick Beneath the Watchful Eyes of Mrs Bracegirdle

There are Carlo Scarpa corridors and there are corridors. The former enliven the journey. There are stairs and there are Carlo Scarpa stairs. The latter bring you a little closer to heaven.

Categories
Architects Architecture Art People

Sir John Soane’s Museum Holborn London + William Shakespeare

The Cloud Capped Towers Shakespeare in Soane’s Architectural Imagination

Sir John Soane Museum Drawing Room © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Hot on the unclad heels of Sarah Lucas’s show at Sir John Soane’s Museum comes an exhibition marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare. London is awash with Shakespeare festivities from Somerset House to Dr Johnson’s House. The Soanian exhibition is the best, the most intriguing, and is set in a superior interior. The playwright’s connection to the architect is far from tenuous. Quite the opposite in fact.

Sir John Soane Museum Dining Room © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

“Soane comes halfway between Shakespeare’s time and ours,” muses Dr Frances Sands, Curator of Drawings and Books at the museum. Last spotted leading a tour of 20 St James’s Square, Fran is one of a trio of erudite academics on duty. “The bard’s reputation was really only fully established in the 18th century Georgian period. He wasn’t a national hero before then. It kicked off, in part, with the actor David Garrick. And the Shakespeare Ladies Society! Soane, as an educated gentleman, was a collector of Shakespeariana.”

Sir John Soane Museum Passageway © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Professor Alison Shell of University College London, Guest Curator of the exhibition, adds, “Bibliophilia gathered pace as the 19th century progressed. Bibliomania! The madness of books! Soane acquired all four Shakespeare folios, a feat a private collector could never match now. One of the folios belonged to James Boswell. Shakespeare was something of a religion to Soane who venerated great men. Soane was a Romantic with a capital R!”

The exhibition space occupies two first floor galleries in the house to the left of the museum’s famous façade. “It was too tempting not to get out all four folios to make the point! Lovely!” smiles Alison. “It’s a celebration of the imaginations of Soane and Shakespeare.” The patronage of Dr Johnson’s friend Garrick is on display through actors’ portraits and theatre designs. Garrick commissioned both Soane and Robert Adam so another celebrated architect is represented. Indeed, Soane astutely purchased the full set of Adam’s office drawings.

Sir John Soane Museum Mausoleum © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Tying various artistic strands together is Soane’s drawing of George Dance’s front elevation of the Shakespeare Gallery on Pall Mall. Short lived and commercially disastrous, the design of the Shakespeare Gallery nonetheless was inspirational to Soane. Its flying saucer domes would later reappear at the Dulwich Gallery.

Sir John Soane Museum Dome © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Museum Archivist Sue Palmer points to a diary, “Rather charmingly, when Eliza and he went to visit their son studying architecture in Liverpool, Soane noted their visit to plays in Stratford-upon-Avon. So that’s rather fun!” All three academics concur that Soane was the most literary architect Britain has ever had. In 10 out of his 12 Royal Academy lectures he quoted Shakespeare. His interest in theatre, a medium obsessed with illusion, befits the great conjurer of space. Soane promoted Shakespeare as the supreme embodiment of English literature. The architect never knowingly undersold his talent. No doubt Soane was heavily hinting that he was the supreme embodiment of English architecture.

Reflection of Soane's Shakespeare Gallery Drawing © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Categories
Luxury People

Heal’s London + Design Ireland

Shillelaghs and Shenanigans 

Heal's St Patrick's Day Party © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

It’s time to knot the William Evans of St James’s shamrock ties. From St Patrick’s Eve to St Patricks’ Evening, west Britain comes to the West End. Ukuleles tuned, Lavender’s Blue enjoy high church and high jinx. St Patrick’s Church is gleaming, no, really gleaming, seriously gleaming, super gleaming, following a recent restoration. Marble practically flows down the steps onto Soho Square. It’s more Italianate than the Vatican City; more Romanesque than the Sacred City. St Patrick’s was the first church in England dedicated to the Patron Saint of Ireland. Shamrocks are blessed and given out after Mass for the Solemnity of St Patrick. This is the last church in London to carry out the tradition. The principal celebrant is Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, former head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Next stop, dining at the O+C Club to end St Patrick’s Eve. Pumpkin gnocchi with herb cream sauce and parmesan is followed by seared scallops with crab and ginger. And of course the club specials – Saint-Véran 2012 and the pudding trolley. His Eminence is off to The Garrick.

Heal’s lives up to its rep on St Patrick’s Evening as the shop that likes to party, throwing an Irish hooley up there with Finnegans Wake. We’re on it like a car bonnet. Sadly teetering on the edge of living memory, Tottenham Court Road was once lined with smart furniture shops. Heal’s, although missing its original concave shop windows, remains standing tall and proud. It’s the launch party of Design Ireland, a showcase for Irish products. Rathbornes 1488 takes pride of place. It’s the oldest candle company in the world. For over half a millennium, Rathbornes has illuminated the homes, churches and lighthouses of Ireland. As well as Brown Thomas in Dublin, Rathbornes’ products are now stocked in Fortnum + Mason and Heal’s. The DJ ups the beat. Tonight Lavender isn’t blue; Lavender’s green.

Rathbornes 1488 Candles @ Heal's © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley