Aqua Restaurant Group confirms Shard restaurant details

Aqua Restaurant Group has confirmed details of its forthcoming restaurants at London's Shard, which will open in the summer.

The company, which runs 21 restaurants in China as well as Aqua Kyoto and Aqua Nuevo atop the old Dickins & Jones building on London's Regent Street, will run two outlets at the Shard: Chinese restaurant Hutong and modern British restaurant Aqua Shard.

Hutong, set to open in June, will be located on the 33rd floor of the iconic glass building at London Bridge, serving contemporary Northern Chinese cuisine based on the original Hutong restaurant in Hong Kong.

Aqua Shard meanwhile will open in July on the 31st floor offering an all-day menu of contemporary British cuisine. The kitchen will be headed up by executive chef Anthony Garlando, a protégé of three-Michelin-starred chef Pierre Gagnaire, with whom he worked for eight years at various restaurants around the world.

The 220-cover Aqua Shard will be split into two areas, offering panoramic views over the Thames and London. One will be governed by the motif of gin and the other tea, featuring classic British design elements such as Liberty print banquettes.

Linking the two restaurants will be a three-storey high atrium bar, serving British-inspired cocktails with an emphasis on gin and tea.

The Aqua Group's venues form part of three standalone restaurants at the Shard, with Rainer Becker and Arjun Waney's Oblix set to open on the 32nd floor of the building next month. Oblix will be inspired by a New York grill, comprising a 100-seat restaurant and 100-cover bar lounge with live entertainment.

The Shard will also feature a 202-bedroom Shangri-La hotel spread across floors 34 to 52, which will open in late July and feature four food and beverage outlets.

Rainer Becker and Arjun Waney unveil Oblix restaurant details >>

Four food and beverage outlets set for the Shangri-La in the Shard >>