Brasserie Angelica, which opened over the weekend in Fitzrovia’s new Newman hotel, is a restaurant shaped by the neighbourhood’s creative legacy. Drawing on the area’s literary past, it’s particularly inspired by the Bloomsbury Group – the influential circle of bohemian intellectuals, writers and artists who met up in the area, including Virginia Woolf and EM Forster.
It doesn’t feel like a hotel restaurant; the brasserie has its own street entrance and wants to cater to the neighbourhood as much as hotel guests, with locals encouraged to drop in for lunch or prop up at the counter for solo dinners. “The dinner menu is fashionably long so diners won’t get bored, with the hope that they’ll continue to come back and try more,” says the hotel’s head of food and drink, Eder Neto (formerly of The Standard London).
A menu by Australian executive chef Christian Turner (ex-head chef at The Delaunay) incorporates northern European influences without veering too far from classic brasserie territory. “You won’t find burrata or pasta dishes here,” says the hotel’s restaurants and innovations director, Stas Anastasiades. “This is clean cooking.”
Start with conversation-stoppers such as the generously filled goat’s cheese gougères, or rabbit rillettes with sharp mixed vegetable pickles to cut through the richness. Another starter highlight is the winter endive salad, which layers grilled pear with pecans and creamy Danish blue cheese.
If there’s one item on the menu not to miss, it’s the hake tail. “It’s the dish I always come back to,” says Turner. “It’s a really simple plate, but that’s what makes it special. Hake is an underused fish that really deserves more attention, and we treat it with a very classic approach, so the quality of the fish speaks for itself.” It’s served with a glossy brown butter and zingy capers, keeping the focus firmly on flavour and texture.
Turner also subtly nods to his Australian background. “The chicken pie is inspired by the sour-cream pastry popularised by [Australian culinary doyenne] Maggie Beer, who I really admire. It gives the pie a beautiful richness and tenderness, while still feeling comforting and familiar,” he says. For dessert, a staff-favourite lemon and blueberry custard tart provides a gently tangy finish, while a miniature cardamom bun is a preview of the breakfast viennoiserie inspired by Copenhagen’s Hart Bageri.
At weekday lunch, a prix fixe menu offers two courses for £30 or three for £40, and a sandwich trolley travels around the room, delivering Nordic-style open-faced sandwiches directly to tables. Workers can pop in for a half portion of soup with a sandwich and be back at their desks in 30 minutes.
The brasserie, which was designed by London studio Lind & Almond, channels 1920s glamour through the lens of the Swedish Grace movement, an art deco offshoot that integrated folk motifs and more understated colours. Leather bolsters line banquette seats, and grained and curved woods wrap the space. The floor pattern and sculptural staircase leading down to the underground Gambit Bar – which is inspired by classic London hotel bars like The Savoy’s – take inspiration from a Fitzrovian icon, author Nancy Cunard, reinterpreting her signature polka dots and bold bangles into graphic motifs. Elsewhere are references to Virginia Woolf, including private dining rooms named after her Cornish retreat, Talland.
Brasserie Angelica
49 Newman Street, W1T 3DZ
020 3989 8104
Hours:
Daily 7am–10pm
