Wild by name, wild by nature. The first restaurant from chef Richard McLellan picks up where the Typing Room alum left off with his supper clubs by the same name, now reborn as a permanent concept between the walls of the Boundary London hotel. An unexpected hybrid of modern, organic and sustainable design, the subterranean space accurately echoes a menu dominated by seasonal and local ingredients, which are defined by wild accents and showcase the best of the British Isles.
The restaurant’s home in Sir Terence Conran’s enduring Shoreditch stalwart has proved advantageous in more ways than one, with Conran’s Barton Court estate providing Wilder with game, shellfish and vegetables, which are merged with produce harvested from a local allotment to great effect. The result is a dish selection that appears somewhat modest on paper, but ultimately dazzling on the plate. Delicately sliced scallop with turnip, celtuce and kelp offer robust notes of the sea that belie the East London setting, while the tangy punch packed by the Perilla & Pisco, taken from Alan Sherwood’s succinct cocktail menu, is somehow both warming and invigorating.
Mirroring the same theme of wilderness are the sequence of rooms, characterised by high-ceilings, exposed brick and a series of prominent foliage installations by local floral design duo, Worm. The Kirkwood and McCarthy designed basement further communicates Wilder’s overarching reverence for earthy textures and tones via Jan Hendzel’s simple ash wood tables, and tableware by local ceramicist Ned Davies, while marble flooring arranged in a hypnotic cube pattern provides a bold contemporary edge and cuts through the literal chaff for a fully rounded aesthetic.§
