Entre’Act - 2
Sholto Crawford-Smith is an internationalist who is blissfully happy in London as General Manager of the 447-room Intercontinental London Park Lane. He's worked all over, he's lived all over, which adds to management skills in dealing with employees from 69 nationalities. The hotel is owned by Qatar’s Constellation Group, which also has Maybourne, but honestly, with the logistics of a business hotel and no unnecessary fluff, the return on investment in this one must make the owners smile.
The GM and his dinner guest dined in Theo Randall at the Intercontinental – Theo’s been here for a considerable time after working with River Cafe and Chez Panisse. His credentials are superlative and his cooking is simply super.
Since it was celebrating Puglia cuisine that night, Girlahead had dishes from the tasting menu of Burrata Pugliese framed in greenery and lightly dotted with shaved Caciocavallo cheese. Then a roasted lamb rump with slow-cooked peas, artichokes, little potatoes, mixed greens with red wine juice. There was an impressive number of people dining - it seems as though locals use this as a nearly-every-night cafe.
Cleverly, Sholto Crawford-Smith has embellished what was already an outside terrace on the pavement by making it light and bright and colourful, reminiscent of a jousting tent in olden days. See below. This definitely catches people's eyes. It's always a tricky business maintaining status quo and thus pleasing regulars who do not like change, and creating something that one feels is just right for today's market.
It does feel as though here the balance is just right. There's the buzz, for instance, of the main hotel and the calm of the seventh-floor executive lounge, which has breathtaking views over Hyde Park Corner and its famous Quadriga, the largest bronze in England. Apparently, when the Quadriga was put up, by the way, in 1910, eight people dined actually within the hollow sculpture. It would be a bit claustrophobic, one has to say. Girlahead would stick with Theo, any time.
