Abé back in the pub with Blue Boar launch
Abé, who built up an incredible reputation at London’s Harwood Arms and regularly featured in the top 10 of the Morning Advertiser’s Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs, is now heading up the food and beverage team as executive chef at the Conrad London St James Hotel.
The Blue Boar is the first of four new openings at the Conrad and will be a modern take on the classic London pub.
Already a much-loved favourite in the Westminster area, Abé will be bring her vast experience from the Harwood arms to refine and elevate the food offer at the newly refurbished Blue Boar.
She said: “I’m cooking the food I want to eat when I go to a pub, so my menu is a traditional pub menu but with my own contemporary twist on much-loved classics. It’s all about quintessentially British dishes – done to their absolute best with a lot of love and care.
“The Sunday roast is going to be amazing, I’ve spent a lot of time working on it so I can’t wait for our first Sunday! I’m really focusing on attention to detail, using the very best British produce available, and just making sure the Blue Boar becomes one of the best pubs for food in London.”
Menu with a twist
She’ll be bringing her love of seasonality into the mix, as well as innovating pub classics, aiming for bar snacks such as a coronation chicken scotch egg with golden raisin chutney, devilled whitebait, and pork scratching with Bramley apple sauce.
That innovation will continue into the main menu, with twists on classic pub grub such as a fallow deer burger, with celeriac and bone marrow remoulade, bread and butter pickles, and onion rings.
Internally, the bar has undergone a major refurb to feel warm, welcoming and characterful, with nods to its political heritage throughout.
Beverly Payne, general manager, Conrad London St James says: “Blue Boar pub is in the same place as its popular predecessor, Blue Boar Bar, and we’re retaining all of the longstanding politics links, like our very own Division Bell, but making it even better.
“There aren’t many top hotels in London with a real pub, so that’s a real draw for our hotel residents, being able to give them an authentic London experience when they stay with us.”
