The new 16” West Brasserie is located within the £35m new wing of the National Maritime Museum, but targets the Greenwich population at large.
Named after its exact location – 16 seconds west of the Greenwich Meridian line – the brasserie focuses on high-quality ingredients served in an unpretentious way, explained Darren Elliott, senior general manager of Elior UK, who set the concept for the brasserie.
Menu
Head chef Julian Jenkins, formerly of the Savoy, has divided the menu into three main sections: coast, farm and field, which provides a selection of seafood, meat and vegetarian options respectively.
Dishes include grilled fish, fennel salad and tapenade crostini, boneless baby poussin roasted with turmeric, garlic and lemon or chicory and pink grapefruit with bean shoot salad and watercress.
“We try to give quite an ‘English’ balance across fish, meat and vegetarian dishes,” explained Elliott. “We have so many influences in our cooking anyway, we’re not trying to be quintessentially English. It’s about good produce and simple dishes. We want it to be fast and all about flavour.”
Eating in Greenwich
“There’s nothing really like it in Greenwich. With the odd exception, all the restaurants here are quite ‘average’; there aren’t many options for a nice setting, with nice choices.
“We’re one of the few to offer that here, and we are hoping it will be well received by both museum guests but also by the people of Greenwich,” he told BigHospitality.
Museum Cafe
Elior UK also runs the museum café on the ground floor, which aims to provide food of an equal quality but at much more “accessible” prices (around £8 for a meal) that target a broader range of people.
With a food hall atmosphere, the café includes displays of freshly prepared dishes, a salad bar and a juice bar. Fresh fruit and vegetables are on display, and a free piece of fruit is provided with each sandwich served.
“I wanted it to be all about fruit and vegetables,” explained Elliott, who used to run Bill’s Produce in Brighton.
“It’s fast and colourful, and all about making sure you get one of your five-a-day. The concept of being surrounded by fruit and vegetables affected me so much from Bill’s Produce, and I knew it would work here as well as it’s the same kind of market that we’re appealing to.”
Olympics trade?
The 16” West Brasserie and Café are located next to the Olympic Equestrian Course in Greenwich Park.
However, whether the brasserie will be in a position to benefit from the additional Olympic trade will depend on the outcome of security discussions, which will determine the level of accessibility to the area.