First Look: The new-look Le Pont de la Tour

D&D London's Thameside restaurant Le Pont de La Tour re-opened its doors this week after a two month refurbishment and BigHospitality was one of the first to see it. 

The French restaurant, which has been given a new look by Russell Sage Studios, also has a new head chef - National Chef of the Year 2011 winner Frederick Forster. 

Forster, who has worked at Le Gavroche, Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, The Ritz and The Boundary, has created new menus for the restaurant and bar which draw inspiration from classic French cuisine but with 'unusual and thoughtful twists'. 

Dishes served in the restaurant include starters of Roasted Orkney scallops with violet artichokes and Golden beetroots, pears, turnips, cobnuts and wild wood sorrel and mains of Roast Challans duck and the Escoffier-inspired Lobster Thermidor, which you can see him create here.

Bar dishes include a selection of hors d’oeuvres and sharing plates including the Niçoise Pan-Bagnat inspired burger served with Provençal vegetables and warm goat’s cheese. 

As you can see from our exclusive 'first look' video, the restaurant, which first opened in 1991, has been given 'darker, sleeker and more vivid' interiors. The look has been inspired by the French cruise liner SS Normandie with a nautical element found throughout.

Other changes include a revamped terrace area which has been split into two distinct area - a lounge bar terrace and an outdoor dining space for the restaurant.