Flexible addition to City restaurant scene

Banker-turned-restaurateur Soren Jessen will feed demand for flexible dining with the official launch of his latest venture, 1776, later this month.

Taking its name from the earliest record of the Grade II listed former bank next door, 1776 is located behind Jessen’s original restaurant, 1 Lombard Street, but has its own entrance from Mansion House Place.

The venue claims links with writer Charles Dickens, who is said to have made frequent dawn visits to Lombard Street in longing for one of his earliest love interests, Maria Beadnell, whose father ran the bank and lived with his family next door.

The menu at 1776 is described by head chef Juri Ravagli as “modern British with international influences.” Designed with flexibility in mind, dishes will be prepared at the table and in accordance to customers’ preferences. Options include oysters with orange and ponzu; steak tartare with carasau bread and quail eggs; and roasted fallow deer cutlets with figs.

Other distinctive features of the restaurant will be the hot carving trolley, serving a daily changing selection of seasonal meat, as well as the iPad drinks menu format, which allows space for detailed descriptions of each listing.

Setting out his ambitions for 1776, which opens on 22 October, Jessen explained: “My desire is to create an intimate and relaxed atmosphere where customers come to be spoilt.

“The emphasis will be on elegance and simplicity but most of all flexibility – the London restaurant scene has changed remarkably in recent years and customers now expect innovation without sacrificing on quality. My aim is for 1776 to embrace this.”