Mixing French cuisine with New York style

London boasts more than 250 new restaurants opening each year – almost one for every weekday. But how do you create a restaurant that becomes a permanent fixture in the city, a favourite venue where customers keep returning?

That was the challenge for 74 Duke, which lies midway between Oxford Street and Grosvenor Square. Taking over a former restaurant and the adjoining property, the space was transformed into a modern brasserie, comfortable yet stylish too. Its menu consists of classic French dishes along with a first-class wine list.

The interiors have been thoughtfully designed to maximise the space. Its corner position means the ground level is filled with light from a double aspect, while natural materials and a muted palette result in an elegant but relaxed aesthetic. The downstairs floor has a more intimate feel, with dim lighting and darker surfaces creating a sophisticated setting for late-evening drinks.

The restaurant has space for 30 covers outside, 30 more downstairs, and 80 diners in the main room. There is also a bar, a private side room, and the possibility of turning downstairs into a private events space.

74 Duke is the work of BVC Hospitality, the team behind such celebrated restaurants as NAC Mayfair (with several outposts in the Middle East), as well as Crème Soho and Notting Hill, and another Soho favourite: Supernova. Established in 2013 by two childhood friends, the company is committed to innovation, giving each venture a unique identity and high-quality service.

NAC stands for North Audley Cantine – the first restaurant created by the company. Mayfair is a location where the founders have both lived and worked, which explains why they wanted to open another venue here. The ambition was simple: creating a place that would cater to every taste, with a friendly and welcoming atmosphere.

The first ever restaurants were found in eighteenth-century Paris, surrounding the new shopping mall of the Palais Royale. In the nineteenth century, the French also developed the rituals and language we associate with fine dining: menu, canapés, entrée, dessert, aperitif, digestif, and of course the Maître D.

The first restaurant to serve French food in London was Kettner’s Townhouse, founded in 1867 by a German chef who had cooked for Napoleon III. By the end of the century, it was attracting the Prince of Wales and his mistress, and later became popular with Oscar Wilde, Winston Churchill, Agatha Christie and Margaret Thatcher.

From the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, French cooking was considered the epitome of good taste. However, in the twenty-first century, a wider range of cuisines and flavours became popular in Britain, making many French dishes seem old-fashioned. But celebrated restaurants like the Wolsey and Balthazar have brought back the opulence of traditional French dining, while new openings like Josephine in West London and Marceline in Canary Wharf have helped to make this cuisine popular once more.

The team at BVC wanted to create somewhere with ‘a lighter touch’, nodding to French recipes and traditions, while adding an international character. So, they chose Sarita Posada Interiors to design the rooms, a Colombian-born designer with a reputation for creating stylish interiors for retail, hospitality and residential projects.

Sarita has worked on hotels in California and New York, as well as global outlets for the international brand Aimé Leon Dore. The owner of 74 Duke describes her as an ‘amazing designer’ who created a ‘stunning space.’

Meanwhile, in the background, the Grosvenor Estate were supportive partners and landlords. Despite the logistical challenges of creating the new restaurant, in particular combining two separate units, the result is a harmonious venue with a serene interior.

Explore 74 Duke.