Seymourpowell is proud to announce details of its design work for Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, a new restaurant created by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and the Fat Duck Group. The new restaurant is Chef Heston Blumenthal’s first London restaurant, opened at the award winning Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London, with Ashley Palmer-Watts, group executive chef of the Fat Duck, as head of kitchen.
Seymourpowell worked closely with the Dinner by Heston Blumenthal team to create the restaurant name, brand identity and key touch-point items including menus, wine list and corporate stationery. In addition, Seymourpowell co-founder Richard Seymour was also part of the early discussions of the exposed mechanical cooking system over fire in the kitchen, a type of spit to express the traditional roots of the restaurant. A design conceptualised and executed by Adam Tihany that now takes pride of place in the centre of the restaurant.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal takes inspiration from historic British recipes, with highly anticipated menus featuring simple contemporary dishes inspired by Britain’s historic gastronomic past and recipes dating as far back as the 16th century.
This historical reference was the initial inspiration for the name ‘Dinner’. It’s widely recognised that the 16th Century was a period when fine dining was emerging in Britain. Richard Seymour explains, “We proposed the name ‘Dinner’ for Heston when we first began to really understand what he was trying to achieve. The word itself has changed meaning over the centuries, so it was part of the fun to rehabilitate it! Although it originally meant ‘breakfast’ in Middle English, ‘dinner’ rapidly came to mean the main meal of the day (at lunch time or evening). It has overtones of a hearty repast and a true British ritual…which is why it resonated so strongly with Heston’s ideas”
Alice Boardman, designer at Seymourpowell, was responsible for the development of the graphic identity, and design work for all collateral materials. All these design elements are sympathetic to the overall spirit of the restaurant, whilst simultaneously maintaining their own distinct identity.
Key design elements by Seymourpowell include:
Menus
- Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will consist of a special Chefs Table (up to 6 people), a private dining area (up to 12 people), and a main dining area catering for 130 covers in any one sitting (lunchtime or evening). Seymourpowell designed personal menus for each section, as well as dessert, tasting and tea menus.
- Diners at the Chef’s Table and in the private dining area are presented with their menus in a specially designed scroll box. The menu is rolled and held in place with a bespoke metal napkin ring etched with the fork motif, as featured in the Dinner by Heston Blumenthal identity. Given the spontaneous and entirely customised nature of the menu on the Chef’s Table or in private dining, these elements have been designed with quick and easy on-site printing in mind, whist importantly retaining a look and feel of quality and elegance expected with this kind of dining experience.
- Main dining menus arrive in a concertina fold style, encircled by a paper band bearing the restaurant’s identity in silver foil emboss. The bands can be kept by guests as a memento, and feature famous dinner quotes that evoke the sense of occasion.
- As well as creating the 2D designs for all menus, Seymourpowell also carefully selected all materials and finishes to ensure consistency and quality.
- Joanna and Jansen fonts used in the main logo have been used throughout to tie in with themes of heritage, history and elegance, but balanced with a contemporary look.
Wine List
- As with the Fat Duck, of utmost importance at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is the wine list. Seymourpowell has designed a padded, leather case-bound screw post book. The wine list itself is printed in-house on paper that matches all other elements, to allow for updating as required. Important detail includes the use of specially designed internal flaps to conceal the screws used to bind the pages – allowing the outside to be a seamlessly covered hardback book. Careful consideration was given to creating the look and feel of an old, well-worn and loved book, whilst also making it easy to use for diners and restaurant staff.
Bill wallets
- Consistent with the look and feel of the wine list, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal bill wallets have been designed with permanence and quality in mind, and inspired by a gentleman’s wallet, in leather of the same quality and standard as the wine list. This is always the least enjoyable part of a meal, and these bill wallets ensure the utmost discretion.
Order pads and holders
- Similarly, leather holders for order pads have been designed to adhere to this look and feel. Made with a flap cover like a book, the order pads have been designed to open back to front to allow for easier note taking by waiting staff.
Corporate Stationery
- Seymourpowell also designed a bespoke range of stationery for Dinner by Heston Blumenthal including letterheads, envelopes, business cards, comp slips and in-room promotional flyers.
Richard Seymour added, “We were thrilled to be invited to work with the Mandarin Oriental’s interior designers to help convey some of Heston’s delight in the mysterious, ephemeral and mechanical – one reason why elements such as the clockwork rotisserie quickly got traction. It was also enormous fun – the Dinner by Heston Blumenthal team are a joy to work with. I’m very happy with how it all worked out…restrained, with a little twinkle in the eye…formal yet slightly impudent…nice
For further information and/or images contact Tim Duncan at Seymourpowell on tim.duncan@seymourpowell.com
