Hawksmoor to open in World Trade Center

Popular London steakhouse chain Hawksmoor is to open a site in Tower 3 of the World Trade Center in New York designed by British architect Richard Rogers.

Hawksmoor founders Huw Gott and Will Beckett

Due to open at the end of next year, the restaurant will occupy a 14,000-square-foot floor to ceiling glass space in Tower 3 in Lower Manhattan.

The retail and restaurant district has been described by The New York Times as possessing, “gold-dust ardour… as if the island’s center of gravity has shifted”.

Hawksmoor owners Will Beckett and Huw Gott were approached about the project, reflecting a shift in attitudes towards the London dining scene, which is now widely considered to be the culinary capital of the world.

Hawksmoor will open in Tower 3 of the new World Trade Center

“I hope this is a small recognition of how exciting the London restaurant industry is. I think the two cities are now on a par in terms of quality, variety and excitement,” said Gott.

“We’ve been travelling to New York for over 10 years, finding inspiration on how to run our company, so the idea of being invited to open a restaurant in such an iconic location in the city is thrilling and humbling,” said Beckett.

“It’s the biggest challenge we’ve ever had, but we hope that if we can bring our passion for sourcing, standards, ethics and hospitality to the restaurant we can become a long-lasting part of New York’s amazing restaurant scene,” he added.

Founded in 2006, Hawksmoor was built on a childhood memory of how good steak could taste and was one of the first of London’s new wave of steakhouses to champion sustainably sourced British beef alongside killer craft cocktails.

Steaks for its World Trade Center site will be sourced from farms across America and the menu will pay homage to British classics like potted beef and bacon with Yorkshire puddings; beef dripping chips; and clams and braised trotters.

Beckett and Gott aren’t the first Brits to crack the Big Apple – last year Jason Atherton opened Social on Madison in Ian Schrager’s Edition hotel on Madison Avenue. Meanwhile, Bethnal Green-born Keith McNally has long enjoyed success in the city with his neighbourhood brasseries like Balthazar, Pastis and Odeon.

Birmingham-born April Bloomfield has also hit a home run in New York with The Spotted Pig and The Breslin, having cut her teeth at The River Café.