From the indomitable Jason Atherton stable comes a new wine shop offering counter and table service tapas, opening today (9 June). Probably this country’s most consistent celebrity chef – from Pollen Street Social to City Social – Atherton’s restaurants are always a safe bet for “flavour popping” cuisine and “incredibly attentive” service, as far as our 2015 survey reporters are concerned.
The chef-turned-restaurateur’s group The Social Company and executive sommelier, Laure Patry, will open Social Wine & Tapas on James Street, Marylebone. The 70-cover bar and restaurant, with open kitchen and wine tasting table, will offer fine wines alongside a tapas and snacks menu, created by head chef Frankie Van Loo (formerly Social Eating House). The venture will also incorporate a sizeable wine shop.
The Social Wine Shop on the ground floor will have trained sommeliers on hand at all times to offer tastings and guide the buyer. In addition, the shop will also stock glassware, Coravin wine systems and wine accessories.
Atherton also opened his first restaurant in New York this year at the Edition hotel on Madison Avenue. The Clocktower is a joint project with restaurateur Stephen Starr, who owns high-end Japanese Morimoto in West Chelsea and the jaw dropping (if cavernous) Chinese Buddakan in Chelsea, NYC. He is also planning a Japanese restaurant Sosharu in Clerkenwell later this year.
