American brand Brooklyn Bowl to open in London's O2 Arena
An American bowling, dining and live music venue is to open its first European site in London's O2 Arena next week.
This will be the first time that the company has moved outside the USA, and it will herald the opening with a night dedicated to basketball team the Brooklyn Nets.
The site will be managed by Ray Duhaney, restaurateur and former operations director for jazz venue Ronnie Scott's.
The critically-acclaimed menu (New York Eater called it "epic") will reflect the company's "signature" style but use locally-sourced ingredients as much as possible.
Classic choices include "Oyster Po'Boys" (a traditional US dish with fried oysters, Cajun seasoning and salad in a sandwich), Cajun catfish, French bread pizzas, smoked trout salad, pork ribs, Challah French toast, BBQ wings, and a selection of fried chicken. Beer will come from London brewery the Meantime Brewing Company, while cocktails will include the traditional Mimosa, Bloody Mary and Screwdriver.
Launched in 2009, the first Brooklyn Bowl is in New York City, and features 16 bowling lanes. It has played host to a diverse range of music artists including Kanye West, The Gossip, Guns'N'Roses, Adele, Moby, Elvis Costello, Paul Simon and N.E.R.D.
A new 2,000 capacity, 32-lane site is also set to open in Las Vegas, Nevada in spring this year.
Bromberg Bros Blue Ribbon Restaurants was founded in 1992 by brothers Eric and Bruce Bromberg. They trained at the Cordon Bleu in Paris before opening the original Blue Ribbon restaurant in Soho, New York. The brand now stretches to bakeries, bar and grills, sushi and izakaya sites and a fried chicken spin off, operating mainly in New York and Las Vegas.
The first "Brooklyn Bowl" is housed in the former Hecla Iron Works, built in 1882, in Brooklyn New York neighbourhood Williamsburg.
The site will join the O2's many other restaurant choices, including classic brands such as Las Iguanas, Pizza Express, Byron Hamburgers, Gaucho, Wasabi, Zizzi and Union Square.
