The luxury Raffles Hotel at the Old War Office in Whitehall has quietly opened an all-day café in its grand courtyard, replacing the smart Café Lapérouse which closed earlier this year after a two-year stint in a newly installed glass pavilion.
The new Café Ciel specialises in pastries, sweet treats and brunch, with cocktails and light bites served in the evening.
Café Ciel is from the team behind Miel bakery in Warren Street, Fitzrovia, founded six years ago by Shaheen Peerbhai, a pastry chef, cookbook author and cookery teacher who trained in France at Le Cordon Bleu and Alain Ducasse’s school and has subsequently worked in Paris, Mumbai and London.
Raffles lists nine restaurants and three bars on its website, including venues from star chefs Mauro Colagreco and Endo Kazutoshi, and promised that “a remarkable new dining destination is on its way to the Grand Courtyard” when Paris-based Café Lapérouse departed. However, the website makes no mention of Café Ciel.