Chiltern Firehouse
André Balazs and Chef’s Nuno Mendes Dale Osborne’s latest venture made waves all over London and across the pond for their modern American hotel housed inside an old firehouse in Marylebone.
Chiltern Firehouse is a new kind of London hotel and stems from the very man who brought The Mercer, Chateau Marmont and Standard Hotels on to the scene. Prior to their 2014 opening, the Chiltern Firehouse got a feel for the neighborhood – and encouraged guests to do the same – by first opening their restaurant for business. It’s since become the place to dine in London, offering hungry bellies everything from crab-stuffed doughnuts and slow-roasted short rib with hazelnut purée and bone marrow to frozen apple panna cotta with herb granite and dried meringue and fillets of squab breast with grains, chicory and a trio of redcurrants.
But Chiltern is more than just its restaurant (which is surely saying something). Balazs kept the original features from the firehouse, finessing the large doors, high ceilings, filament lighting, brick tiles and hardwood floors with chic features and jewel-toned velvet benches to give the whole place a modern makeover.
To put it plainly, Balazs first London home may be his most fabulous creation yet.
