The Original Boho
Café Royal, on London’s Piccadilly Circus, yoked the free spirits with high society – but only for a night.
Café Royal isn’t a café. And it certainly isn’t a patsy of café culture.
When you step off the feet-heavy Regent Street and into the fane that is Café Royal, a foil of adventure and naughtiness wafts. Posing right in the heart of London, between the elegance of Mayfair and the decadence of Soho, this amusement den for adults has over a century of history under its skirt - and therefore umpteen stories.
Just take your pick. Oscar Wilde had his fill of absinthe here and reportedly met his “Bosie;” Virginia Woolf, Noël Coward and Winston Churchill dined here (probably separately); in later years it was where David Bowie, as “Ziggy Stardust,” smooched Lou Reed, and where Elizabeth Taylor came to show off her jewels to the world. Louis Armstrong was a frequenting guest, and legend has it he would show off some crooning when least expected. Even grumpy celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay had his wedding reception at the legendary Café Royal.
Lest we forget, Café Royal is referenced in the works of both DH Lawrence (waiters often refused to cash his checks here) and Somerset Maugham. Then there were the royals; future Kings Edward VIII and George VI were regulars at lunch. A waiter’s book logged them: “No fuss. Always plain food. Call head waiter at once and notify the manager.” And a few decades later an array of Jaggers came to leave their mark here - in various ways myth has it. But, in those days, it was the grandest of social affairs. The more gilded and plusher the salons were, the better they catered for exactly this clientele’s yearns and madcap desires.
“This was the place where you could see The Rolling Stones becoming close friends with David Bowie - photographic evidence of which hangs today in the hotel’s Café,” says Mr. Karim Bernichi, Head Concierge at Café Royal. “David Bowie himself threw a very memorable party here for the farewell to Ziggy Stardust – the party was called ‘The Last Supper’,” Bernichi smiles. Of course the attendees exalted music royalty; including Barbara Streisand, Paul McCartney, Cat Stevens, Keith Moon and Sonny Bono. Bowie’s then wife, Angie Bowie, reportedly said the night ended as the sun was thinking of rising. And, somewhere in between all the folly and madness, a woman exposed her breasts to Barbra Streisand. Tender is the night, indeed.
Since opening, the space has changed ownerships and aesthetic incantations – but it all started with a French wine merchant coming from Paris and wanting to inject some chicness into an utterly Victorian London back in 1856. After a few years “off the bench” so to say the hotel found its euphony again. Since 2008 the luxury hotel maestros, father and son Alfred and Georgi Akirov, has taken control of the property with their meticulous eye for detail. They created The Set – which includes Café Royal - as a collection of distinguished hotels in landmark buildings across Europe.
But the latest incarnation of Café Royal, however, doesn’t get caught up in much nostalgia. Instead, the parlor that it is rather encourages dreaming of the times of yore whilst forging – and encouraging - fresh exploits. Café Royal, which also renders options for sleeping, feasting and other decadences like spa, is the merit of the architect Sir David Chipperfield – known for his mastery in redoing the Neues Museum in Berlin. And in true Chipperfield fashion, the hotel has become an instant icon in the city – yes for its history, of course, but also now for its design that purposefully won’t date and, even more determinedly, isn’t trying to be global. There are even distinguished suites now; fit for royalty, rock stars and almost everyone in between.
And so it makes sense that a place like Café Royal should be reinstated into its olden glory. After all, Charles Dickens in his “Dictionary of London” described it as a place for those “who know how to order.” His lack of specifying the kinds of orders is exactly what Café Royal was known for, and so will wink into their future.
Bernichi, as a sort of custodian of the hotel, sees all going ons and knows everything about the hotel – including anything on order. The same way Ralph Fiennes character in Wes Anderson’s film “The Grand Budapest Hotel” misses nothing; this Head Concierge misses not a single blink or wink. For Bernichi what really has, as the English say, “stood the test of time,” is, as expected, the famed Oscar Wilde bar (formerly known as the Grill Room) with its authentic Louis XVI detailing. It was here where the action often broke out and never ended. “It’s a hidden London gem together with beloved memories,” he says discreetly. The stories, with some fables mixed in for good measure, include dancing, music and a certain wild international flavor of “dolce vita.”
Today the debauchery might be less contained as the night heads upstairs and into the hotel’s estuaries of suites and wings - which include a penthouse, under the iconic copper domed rotunda, ready for anyone to claim its throne. In a sense Café Royal is just patiently waiting for its new generation of crusaders to take back the night – and day.
And what will you drink whilst you’re there?
“Gin is very popular nowadays: it is quintessentially British, a great drink for both men and women. Champagne is also an evergreen, especially now that Veuve Cliquot has created RICH, which is especially tailored for use in cocktails. We are proud to admit that Café Royal has always been an institution when it came to cocktails: Bill Tarling, Head Bartender of Café Royal in 1937 published the Café Royal Cocktail Book, which is still printed today and offers an excellent reference for bartenders and amateurs alike as well as an overview of what London used to drink back in the day at ‘the Café’.” - Mr. Karim Bernichi, Head Concierge at Hotel Café Royal.
“Once again pass and repass through the portals of the Café Royal everybody who is anybody,” said W. J. Tarling who compiled an anthology of “Mix drinks,” as they were called then, in his famed “Café Royal Cocktail Book.”