The fifth Hawksmoor
restaurant has launched in Knightsbridge, joining branches in Spitalfields, the City, Covent
Garden and Mayfair.
While Hawksmoor’s famous steaks once again take centre stage, the menu here also offers a new selection of Asian-inspired fish dishes, such as Singapore-style devilled Brixham lobster;
Vietnamese-style oysters and raw scallops with citrus, chilli and ginger.
‘Huw and I have been travelling a lot in Asia and have come back with lots of inspiration that’s found its way onto the Knightsbridge menu,’ co-founder Will Beckett (pictured below on the right,
with co-founder Huw Gott on the left) tells us. Huw, whose wife is Japanese, adds: ‘I’ve been a little obsessed with Asian culture and food for a long time and have travelled to Japan many times. Adding that experience to our recent Asia
trips gave me the confidence to try a few new things at Hawksmoor Knightsbridge'.
Beckett also confirms that seafood chef Mitch Tonks (The Seahorse, Dartmouth) is again working with the
team to source fish and seafood and develop dishes to show it off, as he does at the Air Street branch. ‘When we first started working with Mitch Tonks we realised that our fish offering could be
better across the board, and we’ve now upped our game in that department,’ he says.
Highlights from the dessert menu include pastry chef Carla Henriques’s homages to childhood sweet shop favourites. The salted caramel ‘Rolos’ which are on other Hawksmoor menus are also available
in 
passion fruit, bourbon and pecan flavours at the new
branch, along with a pudding-sized Ferrero Rocher.
The restaurant has a glamorous look that’s inspired by 1930s London, the period in which the building that holds the restaurant was built. Striking brass arched windows in grey and amber glass are
one of the main features, while wood-panelled walls and reclaimed oak flooring complete the theme. ‘We want each restaurant to be unique and have its own character’, says co-founder Huw Gott. ‘The
idea is that it doesn’t feel out of place alongside the other restaurants, but that it’s quite different, too.’
As in previous Hawksmoors, there is a stand-alone bar area serving a regularly changing selection of cocktails. Sunday roasts will also be served, and on Mondays diners are allowed to bring their
own wine for just £5 corkage per bottle.
See our Hawksmoor Knightsbridge listing here
Read our recent interview with Hawksmoor founders Will and Huw here
Published 3 July 2014