Savvy impresarios have long realised that few things lift the mood more than the prospect of an evening of bubbles, supper, music and dancing. All the more reason to applaud the arrival of Leo’s at London’s The Arts Club. Over the years, the hallowed institution has unfurled various new services and facilities, the better to lure a new generation of members, but we wager it will be some time before anything will top its new supperclub and nightclub.
The Milan-based designers Dimore Studio have orchestrated a fantasist lair – apparently inspired by the Riviera clubs of the 60s – swatched with greens, purples, pinks and reds; finished with brass, brushed steel, leather, Guatemalan marble, pink velvets and floral prints; and styled throughout with a Orient-lite touch by way of Wong Kar Wai’s Shanghai noir classic In the Mood for Love.
The bar, in particular, is a bona fide set-piece. The counter, manned by mixologist Raffaele Marino, practically blazes with spot-lit harlequin triangles. This leads onto the nightclub, whose parquet floor is set off by a shimmering curtain of bamboo beads hand-painted with white and pink lotus flowers, black-lacquered Knoll Saarinen chairs and, curling sinuously along the wall is a set of capacious brass-trimmed booths lit by lantern lamps.
For revellers recovering between sets on the dance-floor and big-band numbers on-stage, chef Jean-Luc Mongodin sends out Italian-influenced plates, alongside the obligatory round of oysters and caviar. Consider our mood duly lifted.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
The Arts Club
40 Dover Street
-
Seven designers rethinking wood at London Design FestivalAt this year’s London Design Festival, wood proves itself anything but static. We highlight seven designers shaping, colouring, and engineering it in surprising ways
-
Inside Kazakhstan’s brutalist Tselinny cinema – now a hub for contemporary cultureTselinny Center of Contemporary Culture, a modernist landmark redesigned for its new purpose by Asif Khan, gears up for its grand opening in Kazakhstan
-
Oliver Spencer’s orbiting installation offers a meditative shopping experience during London Design FestivalAt Oliver Spencer’s Shoreditch store, a sensory light installation by Studio Rhythmics offers a calming moment during LDF
-
A first look inside Kudu Marylebone, where South African dining meets contemporary designA beloved South-African restaurant relocates to central London, featuring Fabled Studio-designed interiors that thread in African tones and textures
-
Carmela’s joins London’s pizza renaissanceA Little Italy-inspired pizzeria lands in Islington with 13-inch pies, pepperoni heat and big flavour energy
-
Has the ice cream parlour come of age?A global wave of architecture studios is treating the scoop as spectacle, turning parlours into immersive social spaces
-
Legado brings a bold Spanish legacy to ShoreditchMichelin-starred chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho’s second venture marries design-led interiors with regional Spanish flavours rarely found in London
-
The Macbeth, an icon of indie sleaze, goes from grotty to gastroAn East End legend meets Portuguese small plates in Jamie Allan’s ambitious revival of a beloved Hackney watering hole
-
A complete collection of Phaidon’s ‘Contemporary Artists Series’ is on display in LondonA 30-year project reaching 100 volumes is being celebrated with an exhibition at the 45 Park Lane hotel, including limited-edition works by Kaws and Dana Schutz
-
London’s best pizza restaurant gets a new home in MayfairSecure a slice of New York-style pizza in central London as Crisp Pizza teams up with the Devonshire pub to set up shop in the relaunched The Marlborough
-
At this east London listening bar, mezcal-fuelled cocktails hit as hard as the basslinesIn Bethnal Green, Little Fires pairs vinyl grooves with mezcal margaritas and Oaxacan sharing plates
