By Majella Taylor, New Openings Editor, H&C News: Granger & Co’s fifth outpost opening in Marylebone.
Restaurateur Bill Granger continues to bring his unique take on uplifting, sunny Australian style to London with Granger & Co’s fifth outpost, opening in the heart of Marylebone this August.
Located at the heart of Marylebone High Street, in what was once the much-loved local patisserie Maison Sagne (first opened in 1921 as a bakery and café by Réné Sagne, a Swiss pastry chef), Granger continues to draw on the same design-forward approach to relaxed, stylish all-day dining as he has always done, from his very first bills café in Sydney’s Darlinghurst almost thirty years ago and now with this light, airy 85-seater restaurant boasting a double-height, sky-lit atrium designed with long-term collaborators, Sydney-based designers Jules Meacham and Bruce Nockles.
Classic yet contemporary design has always been Granger’s biggest inspiration. “I’m not drawn to design that dates,” says Granger.
For Granger & Co Marylebone, the emphasis is on marrying tradition with modernity, capturing the welcoming local spirit of the former Maison Sagne and lending it new life through a lens inspired by mid-century Italian design. The great Italian designer Osvaldo Borsani has been an influence here, down to the restaurant featuring a couple of his classic Tecno Modus chair. “I love the way he made every day living beautiful which is actually something I have always tried to do, too,” enthuses the restauranteur who made London his full-time base in 2011 with the opening of the first Granger & Co all-day dining restaurant in Notting Hill.
Utilitarian textures such as terrazzo for flooring, granite for tables and grainy leather detailing offset soothing sunset shades of caramel, beige, and burnt apricot, echoed from walls to banquettes, complemented with vintage lighting by sixties Milanese designer Mario Bellini, Bruno Rey’s iconic seventies ‘Rey’ cafeteria-style dining chairs and abstract artworks by celebrated Sydney photographer Justine Varga.
Marylebone as a destination is the perfect fit for both the restauranteur and his latest restaurant. “I spend half my time in Marylebone – it’s the perfect neighbourhood, with an embracing local feel, where we’ll have wonderful fellow neighbours like La Fromagerie, The Ginger Pig, David Mellor, Daunt Books and The Conran Shop, as well as Caseley-Hayford, Perfumer H, Bella Freud, Trunk and Monocle on Chiltern Street nearby.”
As with all of Granger’s restaurants, Marylebone will reflect the way he likes to spend his days. “I like spaces where I can have a morning coffee, sitting quietly and reading the paper, or meet a friend for lunch or for a drink at the bar before (or for a snack after) a show. I have always wanted to create informal places that feel like an everyday luxury or treat.”
The menu will naturally exude all the freshness and flavours for which Granger’s dishes have become globally renowned, inspired by all corners of his life: from growing up in Melbourne and living in Sydney, his travels around the world, from Sicily to LA, Bangkok to Mexico, and the locations of his restaurants in Sydney, Tokyo, Seoul and London.
The 85-seater restaurant will open at 105 Marylebone High Street in August 2022.
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