Becomes culinary director as restaurant plans late summer launch

A design view of the new bar

Top chef Rowley Leigh has been announced as culinary director for Sam Harrison's new Riverside restaurant at Hammersmith.

The 4,000 square foot brasserie to be named Sam's Riverside, will have views of the Thames from every table as well as an outdoor terrace and is due to launch at the end of summer 2019.

Rowley Leigh has joined the team as culinary director, and is currently collaborating with Sam on kitchen design, devising menus, food and drink sourcing, and recruiting a brigade of chefs.

The Head Chef will be Harvey Trollope, who has previously worked at The Ritz Restaurant with John Williams, and as a chef for both corporate and private clients in London and throughout Europe. Previously he was Head Chef at Wheelers of St James with Marco Pierre White, and has broad European experience, including both at Florence at Enoteca Rossini in Florence and Léon de Lyon in Lyon.

The menu style will be modern European, with a focus on Anglo-French dishes, many close to Rowley’s well-loved repertoire.

Situated adjacent to the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith and overlooking the Thames, close to Hammersmith Bridge, Sam’s Riverside will be a 90-seat all-day brasserie and bar, with an integral private dining room and outdoor seating.

DesignLSM are masterminding the interior style which he says will have an 'informal but glamorous mood', capitalising on the riverside location with large windows affording maximum natural light.

Sam's Riverside will be located in the heart of the new development close to Hammersmith Bridge where Riverside Film Studios and Queen's Wharf project is underway.

The restaurant will also feature a cocktail bar and will have a similar footprint to his former Chiswick restaurant, with about 90 covers inside and up to forty outside. He said the interior design would be 'elegant', with a distinctive cocktail bar and open kitchen

A main feature would be large floor-to-ceiling widows to take advantage of the views. Works by local artists will hang on the walls. 'We want it to be the most glamorous restaurant in west London,' he said.

Sam Harrison spent ten years in Chiswick and Balham before deciding to move on. The Chiswick restaurant premises in Barley Mow became a Foxlow steak restaurant but has since closed.

March 12, 2019