Café Clement, the all-day restaurant inside Nick Jones’ new St Clement Hotel at 180 The Thames in central London, opened with a bang in June and immediately rocketed to the top of every “sell your grandmother for a terrace table” list in London. Which isn’t that much of a surprise, seeing as Jones, founder of Soho House, is the master of restaurant rumpus.
Within days, Stanley Tucci, Nick Grimshaw and full-length-trouser-phobic heart-throb Paul Mescal were all there, tucking into oeufs mayonnaise and lobster omelettes while politely ignoring the fact that the place was still, in many ways, a building site. The hotel itself isn’t due to open fully until early autumn, when a rooftop restaurant, Lunette, will also arrive with some of London’s most wondrous views and Florence Knight at the helm. Still, Café Clement opened to frothy praise, and I am forever curious as to how these kind of sizzling places feel on a normal Tuesday two months in, when the celebrities are all off sunning their bottoms in Tuscany and, frankly, lunch is not free.
