Speakeasy style

Quaglino’s hosts a pop-up Gatsby-era bar for the summer

When the doors of Quaglino’s restaurant were flung open in 1929, it became a byword for hedonistic London. Now, with Gatsby fever dancing the Charleston through the summer, Quaglino’s is back in the limelight thanks to the opening of The Hutch Club, a pop-up launching on Saturday June 1 and running until Saturday August 31. Taking over the whole mezzanine bar area, in addition to a Martini Bar and Drinking Den created on the lower floor (which are available for private hire), its atmosphere is that of a glamorous speakeasy. Special events  during the three-month tenure include the secret history of the martini mixology class with Stolichnaya Vodka, blind wine tastings, the history of gin with Number 3 London Dry Gin, and Courvoisier master-class tastings with paired canapés.

The pop-up is named after one of the most celebrated and scandalous cabaret singers of the era, Leslie “Hutch” Hutchinson, who was said to arrive at nightclubs with a white piano secured to his car, decades before Bianca Jagger trotted into Studio 54 astride a white horse. Hutch was not only velvet voiced; he counted Cole Porter, Lady Edwina Mountbatten and the Prince of Wales among his fans (and, in some cases, lovers).  

The Hutch Club also scores a first for a pop-up with its introduction of alcoholic popcorn. Just as many a bootlegger hid his hooch, boozy popcorn is another of alcohol’s clandestine tricks.   The popcorn curators – who knew such a thing existed? –  Joe & Seph have created Caramel and Gin and Tonic for the club. Which begs the question: will a bowl of popcorn lead to guests leaping onto the piano and attempting to channel the legendary Banana Dance of Josephine Baker or the Stair Dance of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson?

The legacy of Quaglino’s is legendary. Giovanni Quaglino’s launch was an attempt to thwart the fortunes of another new Jermyn Street restaurant being opened by a former friend who’d had an affair with his wife (given it is no longer in existence, one can assume he was successful).  Quaglino ran his namesake restaurant until the late 1950s, and his attention to detail was celebrated. He even created a private dining room for the Prince of Wales – officially to avoid the neck-craning in the main restaurant and so he didn’t have to dress in tails, but no doubt also so that he could dine with Wallis Simpson without attracting comment.

Despite Barbara Cartland’s claim to have found a pearl in an oyster there, the restaurant drifted into obscurity as the 20th century progressed. But 20 years ago – another reason to celebrate – it was given some much needed va-va-voom by Sir Terence Conran, who revived its standing.  

If it succeeds in attracting the same bon vivants as in Quaglino’s heyday, Hutch is set to pop.