Leopards have played a variety of roles in the history of taste. From the two handsome specimens leading Bacchus’s band of merry revellers in Titian’s painting to a smizing Posh Spice in the most itty-bitty Azzedine Alaïa leopard-print number you ever did see. Whether as hunting trophies or sexy fashionista staples, their application has always stood for danger intermingled with desire, the mix of good and bad taste. Now this savage-cum-cultured creature, replete with all its carousing connotations, lends its name to a new Mayfair restaurant: Il Gattopardo.
Of course, the great cat abounds throughout the interiors: the entrance hall is guarded by painted blue leopards lounging on Byzantine gold; its famous spots pepper the floors and bar stools; and splendidly kitsch ceramic souvenir cats pop up among the diners. Designed by decorating duo Dion & Arles, the interiors are a nod to the glamour of mid-20th-century Italy, a time when Visconti made his lush film about Lampedusa’s Sicilian prince of the same name. ‘At its heart,’ they say, ‘Il Gattopardo is a celebration of the good life.’ Think a beaming Sophia Loren, in that fabulous photo, slurping a strand of spaghetti – come to think of it, she wasn’t averse to a spot of leopard either. La Dolce Vita indeed!
Italian design history has likewise provided inspirational sparks. The private dining area downstairs is a nod to Carlo Mollino’s sculptural home with its contrasting zigzags and tensile swerves of steel. Gio Ponti, meanwhile, has inspired the placement and framing of artworks up above the panelling. The brands that have collaborated on the interiors, likewise, maintain the Italian theme. Plates and serving dishes have been provided by Florentine heritage porcelain makers, Ginori 1735; La Double J, the Milanese fashion brand, has designed the waiters’ uniforms: an effective blend of old and new.
On Albemarle Street, just off Bond Street in the heart of the West End’s busiest shopping district, this restaurant is an inviting portal to another world. Like the interiors, the food is a nod to classic Italy in all its facets: a Crudo Bar shimmers with crustacean pearlescence, reminiscent of the Riviera; and, opening in October as it is, truffles will loom large, nodding to the country’s northern cuisine. With its generous upholstery and dark varnished wood, the restaurant is redolent of warm sunlight, and the afterglow of an older, more decadent era.
American Vogue’s editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland once said she had never met a leopard print she did not like. With its variety of dining spots, from the main restaurant to a trellised hidden terrace as well as a private dining room downstairs, and with a menu overflowing with all that is best in Italian cuisine, it seems likely that Il Gattopardo is guaranteed to be a new favourite.
