Hidden Gem: Brasserie Zedel

I love it when London surprises me. I love it even more when it makes we think how many other surprises it has lurking in its underbelly waiting to be unearthed.

On Friday night myself and Hanson had a date night. My sister forwarded me a link to a new restaurant her friend recommended and thought I might like. She wasn't wrong. Brasserie Zedel is spectacular. Quoting Architecture Today magazine, it says on their website that Brasserie Zedel has

 “probably the best and most authentic series of 1930s 

interiors in this country"

On street level there is a small Parisian style cafe , but it's what you find down the stairs that takes your breath away.  

When you step inside the Brasserie it's the size that first makes you gasp. Whenever you go somewhere underground in a big city, it's always surprising to find such a vast space, (and that's coming from someone who works in an underground bunker) but finding somewhere so beautifully ornate and preserved is extremely special. It didn't surprise me to read that the original owners were Lyons, the company that ran Lyon's Corner Houses. The layout of Brasserie Zedel is exactly how I imagine a Lyon's Corner House would have been. Vast, with many tables (to seat more than 200) and attentive staff nipping between them. The menu itself was very cheap and seemed to still be in accordance with the original ethos making  ''the luxuries usually available to the very rich open to the less well-off”. We ordered from the prix fixe menu with 2 courses for around £9, and 3 courses for around £13. The food was simple, superbly French and delicious and the waiting staff were wonderful, leaving us feeling that good old fashioned service is still alive in a city where we love to complain about customer service.   

 After dinner we moved into the Bar Americain for cocktails. The original pillars and bar create the perfect period atmosphere and it was difficult to know what details were authentic and what are reproduced, because the attention to detail is second to none. The only thing missing was a jazz band. As we sat in the bar, we could see a glimpse of the most incredible art deco wallpaper through a half open door, as we left we went to have a look, but a barman chased after us and said we couldn't go through there because it was a fire exit, before adding 'which is a shame, as it's one of the areas that we are most proud of, because the wallpaper took 6 weeks to hand paint.'

 The Crazy Coqs Bar and Cabaret looked amazing from outside the window, and I can't help thinking it would make a great venue for a vintage club night. The only way I can imagine the elegant venue looking any better is teaming it with the sartorial style of London's vintage community, a great match indeed.

Here is some history from the website:

Brasserie Zédel was once part of The Regent Palace Hotel, which was built by ‘T Lyons & Co. Ltd’ on Crown land, and was designed in the Beaux Arts style by Messrs. Henry Tanner, F.R.I.B.A, F.J. Wills and W.J. Ancell. It opened on Wednesday, May 16, 1915; the largest hotel in Europe at the time, with 1,028 bedrooms.

The early 20th century was the architectural heyday of grand hotels and The Regent Palace Hotel had the opulence and scale of a transatlantic liner, with a marble entrance vestibule, a Winter Garden decorated with palms and rattan chairs, and a large Rotunda Court for afternoon tea. It was run by Joe Lyons as a more democratic version of the Ritz, “to make the luxuries usually available to the very rich open to the less well-off”. Maids served tea, ran baths for guests and cleaned rooms by plugging tubes into a vacuum system built inside the walls.

The interiors Bernard designed in the basement of The Regent Palace Hotel were quite astonishing and were described by Building magazine in May 1935 as "just a trifle dissipated and naughty, but not sufficiently so to be vulgar". The “incredibly mannered” ‘Chez Cup Bar’ under the entrance rotunda, was created in 1934 out of the former billiard room, and is now the Crazy Coqs Cabaret & Bar, which has been immaculately recreated from the original architectural drawings. The hallway of tobacco-coloured travertine is retained in today’s foyer, and most impressive of all is Dick’s Bar (now Bar Américain), an extraordinary survival with its broad, horizontal stripes of stained birch veneers and jazz age columns.

After the Second World War, the hotel fell on hard times and it gradually declined in reputation until, in 2004, the Crown Estate decided to redevelop the building as part of its long-term strategy to upgrade Regent Street. Initial proposals caused concern amongst  various conservation societies, worried about the potential loss of these historic interiors.

Dixon Jones were selected as architects by the Crown Estate, precisely because of their expertise in the adaptation of historic buildings, and they worked with Donald Insall Associates to restore the building’s significant 1930s art deco bars and restaurants. 

I can not urge you enough to visit this amazing place. Beautiful decor, amazing ambience, great price and tasty food. Zedel has a way of making you feel like you should be paying more, just for being there.

We were lucky to get a table, but I would suggest you book first.

Photography by Hanson Leatherby Photography