I ate at the Wolseley on Thursday night. My very great friend Meghan Ridsdale booked us in. She knows every eatery in London and is a reliable source of recommendation for anyone’s budget, taste, styling, and expectations.
A fabulous building, incredibly busy, great service, and with a modestly priced ‘something for everyone’s taste’ menu.
Anyway, the building was designed as a car showroom for Wolseley in 1921 and is very ‘Agatha Christie’. It then became a Chinese restaurant, then Barclays Bank. There is much history in its walls and it has a story to tell. When I asked the team member if he knew its history, he bought over a well-thumbed, plastic pocket binder of photocopied A4 pages showing photos and articles throughout its transformations. This was both kind and informative, but its thrown togetherness was somewhat incongruent to our surroundings.
I always wonder why restaurants and venues, that have a story to tell, don’t do so unsolicited, and with some flair: A little commentary on the menu, a QR code, or a table talker? In a time when the industry is struggling to pull in enough trade to cover its rising costs, anything that can engage your customers in a way that is a little less transactional can make a difference.
The other notable difference was their takeaway boxes. Sturdy and branded, not only do they look great, but isn’t it about time we encouraged a reduction in food wastage? I’m not suggesting soup or oysters should be encouraged as travel companions but there is much that would be better eaten than thrown.
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