Neo-Gothic grandeur and decadent martinis await at Hawksmoor St Pancras

If Paris has Le Train Bleu, then London’s answer to the ornate Gare de Lyon restaurant is the dining room at the St Pancras London hotel. Originally designed in 1873 by Sir George Gilbert Scott as the refreshment room of the Midland Grand hotel, it is a fantasy of neo-Gothic Victoriana that recalls the architect’s ecclesiastical commissions, such as the restoration of Lichfield Cathedral.

The restaurant has proved to be a revolving door for big-name chefs, with Marcus Wareing, Patrick Powell and Victor Garvey all having manned the stoves in recent years. Now with Hawksmoor, the British steak chain with restaurants from Manhattan to Manchester, St Pancras International finally has a restaurant with the global profile to match the setting. And while we’re talking about revolving doors: Europe’s first were installed in the restaurant’s Martini Bar.

Wallpaper* dines at Hawksmoor St Pancras

The mood: Neo-Gothic grandeur

‘Our inspiration was the building itself,’ says Hawksmoor’s head of design Mai-yee Ng. ‘There are so many intricate details to appreciate, such as the gilded capitals that top the two-toned marble columns that line the walls. Taking on a space like this is a gift, and our goal was to do it justice.’

Ng worked with Hawksmoor’s long-term interior architects, Macaulay Sinclair, and graphic design partners, Saint Design London, on the furniture, fittings and artwork. Pullman-style booths running along the curved dining room have the sinuous feel of train carriages snaking around the track, while tactile leather, velvet and cord upholstery, and walls drenched in dark gloss colours, reference the riot of decoration on the ceiling of the Martini Bar, where every surface is lavished with gilded stone carvings and intricate paint work.

The food: first-class steak

What to order: Charcoal-grilled, sustainably reared steaks aged for 35 days are Hawksmoor’s calling card, perhaps with some mashed potato and creamed spinach, but there’s more to the menu than meat and two veg: try the native lobster with garlic butter or a veggie Wellington made with Winslade cheese. There’s a cocktail-friendly food menu, too, to pair with drinks in the Martini Bar.

The site-specific menus have been lavished with as much attention as the rest of the space. ‘At St Pancras, it was an obvious choice to lean right into the locomotive world,’ Ng says. ‘Our cocktail cover, for instance, is based on the Jubilee class steam engines that powered St Pancras, but stylised with martini olives billowing out of a martini glass chimney. We spend a huge amount of time on these details, trying to create a coherent world for our customers where food and design speak the same language.’

Don’t forget to pose on the hotel’s staircase on the way to the loo: it’s where the Spice Girls filmed the video for Wannabe. Zig-a-zig-ah!

Hawksmoor St Pancras is located at St. Pancras, Euston Rd., London NW1 2AR, UK