Oblix Restaurant and Oblix Bar and Lounge opened in May at The Shard. Located over the entire 32nd floor, Oblix, the latest creation by Rainer Becker, offers views over the Thames with the Restaurant taking in the Houses of Parliament to Battersea Power Station, and the Bar and Lounge from Tower Bridge to the Thames Barrier.
Oblix Bar and Lounge
Is inspired by the classic days of New York and New Orleans cocktail bars, where flawless service and premium quality drinks and mixes were the backbone of the operation. Oblix splices this classic stateside style and London’s signature charm together with Rainer Becker’s impeccable eye for detail to create its own style.
James Shearer, Group Bar Manager for Becker’s restaurants and bars, explains his thought process behind the challenge of delivering a new addition to the London bar scene, “I was inspired by the stories of the origins of the cocktail. I love them, from the stripped back bare classic cocktail ingredients to the garnish of these mixed spirit drinks, and I wanted to give Oblix Bar a feel of that old school Americana, not just on the drink offering but in the service, too.”
On entering Oblix, guests will be directed either to the Restaurant, which is open normal lunch and dinner hours, or to the Bar and Lounge. In the Bar and Lounge, a plethora of options await. With weekend brunch, all day menus, as well as full a la carte selection, guests can dine in the Lounge or seated at the long bar itself.
Evening and weekends showcase live music in the relaxed, sophisticated ambience of the Lounge. Service at the bar is friendly but ‘old school’ aiming to acknowledge but also remembered the guest’s individual preferences.
Guests can also create their own bespoke spirit based cocktails and store them in Oblix’s cocktail library, only to be taken to the table upon request. These drinks will be served in engraved crystal decanters.
And the ice will be hand carved from the blast chilled ice block that Rainer first introduced to London in 2002 with the opening of Shochu Lounge in Charlotte Street. The ice is frozen so quickly it becomes glass-like in appearance and takes much longer to melt, chilling but not diluting the drink!
Oblix Restaurant
Ten years ago Rainer Becker brought his modern Japanese cuisine, based on the informal izakaya style of dining, to London and introduced the robata grill to Europe. His Zuma and Roka restaurants have grown into a global success story with locations from South East Asia to the United States.
Influenced by Rainer Becker’s time in New York, Oblix will offer a New York grill inspired menu in both the restaurant and Oblix Bar and Lounge, with dishes delivered in the Becker signature style of upscale, sophisticated, urban dining. Rainer explains, “Oblix offers a broad selection of dishes. The menu at its core will be a mixture of grilled and classics, offering a light tasty cuisine that guests can enjoy daily.”
To head up the kitchen at Oblix, which will service both the 100-seat restaurant and 100 cover lounge and bar, Becker chose chef Fabien Beaufour. Beaufour began working in a professional kitchen at the age of 14 in his native Grenoble, France. Having worked and staged in some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the world, amongst them The French Laundry and Eleven Madison Park, Beaufour has developed a philosophy of cooking that mirrors Becker’s: quality, precision, and consistency.
Rainer’s success is in the detail, and his creative energy runs through all aspects of Oblix. For the interiors, he teamed up with architect Claudio Silvestrin, the talent behind the Armani Store in Sloane Street and the Princi café in Soho. Together they created an interior that frames and “delivers” the view to guests whilst creating a sleek dining style and low-key sophistication. The cool, calm and elegant interiors created by Rainer and Claudio’s vision are integral to the experience.
The aim was to deliver a dining and bar environment that offers permanence and timeless luxury using warm earth tones and decisive geometric forms, bonding the elements of this exciting new London iconic building with the interiors.
Oblix, Level 32, The Shard, 31 St Thomas Street, London, SE1 9RY
020 7268 6700
info@oblixrestaurant.com