Food feedback
Published: 04 December, 2008
Another month, another new landmark shopping centre opening. Following hot on the heels of Highcross, Leicester, Cabot Circus, Bristol, and Liverpool One, the end of October saw the doors open in the much-publicised Westfield London development in Shepherd's Bush. At 1.6 million sq ft, the development represents the largest in-city shopping centre in Europe, with foodservice accounting for a significant proportion of prime space.
It's not often that I'm stuck for choice for eating out in a shopping centre, but the quantity, quality and variety of foodservice, with more units to open, made the decision extremely difficult. Westfield has again been incredibly innovative in the design of its foodservice spaces as well as attracting restaurant and cafe tenants new to a shopping centre environment, resulting in a quandary of where to eat lunch.
The Southern Terrace, external to the centre, is casual dining territory, and introduces new brands such as Wahaca, Tibits and Meat & Wine Co, with 'old timers' such as Wagamama and the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Each of the 13 offers has an external seating area, so important to foodservice operators, with each terrace design intrinsically different but 'controlled' - a great touch.
Along the malls, foodservice offers such as Apostrophe, Sacred and M&S Kitchen occupy purposely designed low level kiosk units, allowing unobstructed views from one end of the mall to the other - more difficult to design to hide equipment, but a great end result.
Then upstairs to The Balcony - a deconstructed food court offering 13 choices of cooked-to-order food, from Vietnamese street food to freshly cooked risottos, Lebanese delights and wok-cooked Chinese dishes served in bamboo baskets. It was here I finally decided to eat and selected the French 'fast food' offer Croque Gascon, operated by Michelin-starred Club Gascon owners Pascal Aussignac and Vincent Labeyrie. A Toulouse cassoulade, combining duck confit, pork belly and braised beans, was ordered and served in under three minutes and was simply superb. At £7.50 it's not your normal 'food court' price, but then this in not a traditional food court. The quality of food, operator and environment has again raised the benchmark - whether this alienates some footfall looking for a less expensive, more traditional offer, only time will tell.
My view: go along for yourself and see the small touches that make the foodservice offer at Westfield London the best in Europe.
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