Grille Hoxton

Theme Magazine - November 2006

Simon Wright fuses Parisian swagger with NY deli life

"I come from a hotel background and I love the buzz of hotels and the dynamic they create," says Simon Wright.

His fixation with operating restaurants within boutique hotels continued this September with the opening of the Hoxton Grille on the ground floor of Sinclair Beecham's new 205-bedroom, four star Hoxton Hotel. While hotel groups such as the Savoy have espoused top chefs like Gordon Ramsay and the Metropolitan has joined forces with Nobu, Simon Wright and partner John Pallagi, who operate Room Restaurants, have deliberately eased back a notch from five-star luxury. Their previous projects include venues in Leeds, Manchester (at the old Reform Club) and Liverpool (at 62 Castle Street) - the last two both in fabulous Grade II listed buildings. They were also incumbent at Glasgow's celebrated One Devonshire Gardens (now Hotel du Vin) - taking over from Gordon Ramsay's Amaryllis before being bought out by Malmaison Hotel Group.

Simon and John have now extended the capital's love affair with the French bistro-inspired New York grill room in a way designed to enfranchise the local Shoreditch villagers without emptying their wallets.

The Room mates, have been friends for 22 years, derived much inspiration from nouveau New York (notably its 'cheap chic' ethic).

Though critics have turned their noses up at the spelling of Grille, it is merely indicative of Room's desire to fuse Parisian swagger with the bustle of New York deli life - keeping the hotel's lobby as energised as a good hotel should be.

Simon knows about this type of hotel engineering, having worked as F&B manager for Schrager Hotels also at the nearby Great Eastern Hotel. Though he claims to "always have been a West End boy", having looked after Mezzo for several years, he is Shoreditch-savvy, and already knew both his restaurant manager Richard Moore and head chef Sydney Aldridge from their respective stints at neighbouring Shish restaurant and Terminus at the Great Eastern.

Simon throws in New York references like punctuation marks. "This is not about five-star luxury, but more like the Hudson Hotel." Add to his list of references Keith McNally's French-inspired Balthazar and Pastis, and Ian Schrager's Gramercy Park Hotel, described as "rock 'n' roll baroque" and you get an idea where he's coming from.

As Philippe Starck continues to develop his vibrant colour palate at places like the Hudson (the bleak Eastern European railway waiting-room ethic of the original Cafe Costes now a distant memory) Simon and John have latched onto the gradual exodus from minimalism into colour. They have not moved entirely away from the industrial warehouse look; for the macro superstructure at Hoxton flaunts its open brickwork, aluminium ducting and showpeice utility kitchen like a cheap hooker. However, this serves to enliven a space that moves seamlessly between its burgeoning breakfast trade - more evidence of post-coffee shop New York culture - and brunch.

The menu has been a co-operative effort between the partners and Sydney Aldridge. "It's steak, club sandwich, New York with a Parisian-style theme and comfort dishes. We are high volume but we want to be consistent with our suppliers."

"I thought it would take nine months to get to this stage," declares Simon, surveying the gathering farrago at front-of-house. The hotel guest trade is the icing on the cake - but they will be well aware of the Grille's culinary delights if they have tried any of the six dishes available on room service.

"The reason we didn't do a Room Restaurant here," he says, "is because this place is about being able to pop in off the street for a glass of wine. At the same time, if you wanted to take someone here for a first date they wouldn't think you had been cheating them. We are not pretending to be the coolest or the edgiest but we believe this is right for Hoxton."

Room Restaurants had been introduced to Hoxton Hotel owner Sinclair Beecham through the property agents. The Pret A Manger co-founder then checked out Room's Manchester operation (at 5pm on a Monday night) and, having given it a clean bill of health, was ready to do business.

Simon Wright says that Hoxton reminds him of Notting Hill - "a different dynamic but with similar Bohemian characters." Yet Hoxton, he believes, is "more of the moment." While this assessment may induce an intake of breath among both East and West Villagers, Room Restaurants and their interior designer Gabriel Murray have read the signs correctly. "Gabriel worked with us on a project four or five years ago which never came off - but I knew he would be perfect for this," says Simon. "He chose the furniture, the banquettes, the wall art (by local artists), the lamp shades, the old spy chairs and the Buffalo armchair from SCP." Mustard is the predominant colour theme. Style Matters is responsible for general furnishing and Simon Wright's longtime sound supplier Sound Division Group has fitted an unobtrusive JBL background music system. The system has a DJ plug-in point for when the venue needs to ramp it up over the hubbub of conversation (notably at weekends, and all day on Sunday, when live DJs are brought in).

Having virtually doubled the size of the company over a six-week period, the smart money would be on Room Restaurants entering a period of consolidation. But, given the current momentum, that seems unlikely. "Sinclair wants to develop other hotels and we need to show him how we can do things differently. We are also in talks with other potential partners and I'd love to do two sites next year," Simon Wright proclaims.

One thing that he does predict is the restaurant world in the UK will continue to take its lead from New York. "They say London is the restaurant capital of the world - and we have certainly come a long way since Quaglino's opened in early 1993. At one point I would have said that New York was probably five years ahead of London but now I would say two."