The Soho institution Kettner’s Townhouse, once Oscar Wilde’s favourite restaurant and where dough balls were born, has opened to the public for the first time in four years.
A French brasserie since 1867, it was bought by the members’ club Soho House in 2016 and soon closed for a lengthy refurbishment. It relaunched in 2018, but only club members and hotel guests were permitted to dine in the famous ground floor restaurant. The upstairs champagne bar remained open to all.
Today, Soho House confirmed to the Standard that this decision has been reversed: “The champagne bar and restaurant are open to the public and non-members can also book bedrooms by purchasing a Soho Friends membership for £100 a year,” said a spokeswoman.
No longer a traditional French brasserie, Kettner’s, in its current iteration, is run in partnership with the Stoke Newington pub The Clarence Tavern and serves seasonal British food “with a Mediterranean accent”.
On the menu are snacks such as oysters, arancini, and smoked salmon with hash browns; starters might include ox cheek croquettes or artichoke fritters, while regular main courses of twice-baked soufflé and halibut with mussels provide dutiful nods to days gone by.
The public reopening of Kettner’s should prove a welcome move in the name of London egalitarianism. The restaurant has a grand and chequered history, having been founded 156-years-ago by the German chef Auguste Kettner, once in the service of Napoleon III.
The story goes that business was a little tepid to begin with, until a favourable letter in a newspaper sparked a surge in customers. But a buzz truly took hold in 1890 when it was discovered that King Edward VII courted his mistress, the actress Lillie Langtry, at the restaurant, apparently going so far as to order a secret tunnel be built between the restaurant and the Palace Theatre where she performed.
Since then, Kettner’s has been straddled with something of a risque reputation and has long enjoyed a celebrity clientele. Agatha Christie was a regular guest, Wilde noted the venue as his venue of choice, and the likes of Winston Churchill, Bing Crosby, and Margaret Thatcher used to dine there.
When 1980 swung around, Pizza Express founder Peter Boizot bought the place and it became a bejewelled extension of the chain. The menu featured more luxurious pizzas at higher prices. It was at Kettner’s that dough balls were first served.
Though Boizot left Pizza Express in 1996, he held onto the building before selling it to his former company for £1.95 million in 2002, and it continued in the same vein. It was then the first floor champagne bar was opened.
By 2008, Kettner’s had become a French brasserie once more, its status arguably dimmed. Its public reopening in 2023 might yet prove invigorating.
