Brett Redman and Margaret Crow to open ‘Neptune’ in Bloomsbury on 24th May

Brett Redman and Margaret Crow, the duo behind The Richmond in Hackney, are excited to announce that they will be opening their highly anticipated second restaurant Neptune on Thursday 24th May in the newly opened Principal London hotel in Bloomsbury.

The 102-cover restaurant and 30-seater bar will share the same DNA as the pair’s Hackney restaurant, bringing together Brett’s cooking with Margaret’s warm style and hospitality. They have created a completely new seafood-focused menu for Neptune, based around an informal approach to the classic oyster bar as well as featuring Brett’s signature wood-fired cooking in the extensive a la carte menu.

The oyster bar located the centre of Neptune’s dining room will serve a variety of oysters and shellfish selected from independent growers around the UK. Diners will be able to order towering seafood platters that evolve with the seasons, featuring classic chilled and raw dishes, all spiked with diverse flavours. Examples include:

Wild Cornish mussels with a saffron, orange & bay leaf soffrito

Steamed chowder clams with buttermilk dressing & dill granite

Dived scallop carpaccio with ajo blanc & nori

Alongside this, large sharing dishes will feature on the menu, including their signature steamed-to-order ‘Whole Cornish crab with house spaghetti in a smoked Datterini tomato, Vietnamese basil and long pepper sauce’. Diners can also expect a modern-style British caviar service that swaps out traditional blinis for freshly made potato waffles and sour cream for house-cultured jersey cream, using caviar sourced from the team’s trusted suppliers in Devon.

The bar programme will feature fresh cocktails best paired with oysters and shellfish, including the ‘Green Martian’ a cucumber and absinthe daquiri, as well as lighter takes on classic drinks, such as the ‘Light Side of the Moon’ a gin-based sazerac.

Neptune’s extensive wine list comprised from small-scale, quality producers, is curated by Isabelle Legeron MW, the world’s foremost authority on natural and low-intervention wines. There is a large selection of grower champagnes to pair with raw dishes, as well as a section dedicated to what Neptune calls ‘Island Wines’: fresh, mineral and saline wines from regions such as Corsica, Santorini, Tenerife, Sardinia and Sicily. Classics appear on the list next to less common grape varieties, but Neptune’s approach to wine always mirrors their approach to food: low-intervention and terroir-focussed.

Neptune’s branding and logo, hand-drawn by New York and London-based design duo Craig & Karl, plays on the name’s invocations of the wonder of space and the magic of the oceans. Inspired by album covers and music posters, it also gives a nod to the aesthetic experimentation of 1960s Californian counter-culture. The restaurant’s uniforms were designed with BLOUSE by Geoffrey J Finch, with Brett and Margaret ensuring their design was functional, approachable and stylish.

In designing the restaurant, Margaret worked with Russell Sage Studio to revive the existing Grade II-listed dining room by adding a graphic wooden floor, peach ceiling and a centrally located pewter-top bar, creating a space that is as elegant as it is inviting from breakfast through to late evening. Unexpected colour combinations create a unique and eclectic aesthetic in the true spirit of the Bloomsbury set. The walls will be adorned with artworks curated by Antonia Marsh, which will go on to become a rolling exhibition series in the restaurant. The first artist to display at Neptune will be emerging painter George Rouy, known for his charged, hypnotic paintings of figures, flora and fauna in enigmatic space.

“Brett and I are really excited to be opening a contemporary space within such a wonderful historic building. Our approach has always been to create food based on honest, good quality ingredients and to serve it in thoughtfully designed spaces. We see Neptune at the Principal London as a great embodiment of our ideals,” comments Margaret Crow, co-founder of Neptune.

Neptune will open for dinner on Thursday 24th May at The Principal Hotel in Bloomsbury. Reservations can be made online HERE or by email [email protected]