Palomar team to take over 278-year-old pub

Layo and Zoë Paskin, the brother and sister duo behind The Palomar and The Barbary restaurants, are to take over a 278-year-old pub in London’s Chinatown.

Leo and Zoë Paskin are taking over The Blue Posts pub on Rupert Street

Called The Blue Posts, the pub, within a grade II listed building, has operated at its Rupert Street address since 1739.

Opening its doors on 5 December, with its high ceilings and large windows, the ground floor of The Blue Posts will be restored as a public house serving beers, wines and spirits from small independent producers.

Meanwhile, the first floor will house cocktail bar The Mulwray decked out in sumptuous dark velvets, soft pink furnishings, Connemara marble and satin brass and boasting a wood burning stove.

Hungry punters can get their food fix at Evelyn’s Table, a kitchen counter located in the pub’s old beer cellar catering for 11.

Headed up by chef Nacho Pinilla, former executive chef of The Barbary, the space will serve a daily changing menu as well as the bar menu for the rest of the pub.

Leo and Zoë describe Evelyn’s Table as “informal, energetic and intimate”, where dishes will be passed from the kitchen straight to the diners.

“We are proud to continue the pub’s long tradition, but are also thrilled to be bringing some of our own identity to it,” the Paskins said.

“We have always aimed to create the kind of places where we would like to go to ourselves,” they added.

Earlier this year the ambitious pair opened a café called Jacob the Angel a stone’s throw from The Barbary in Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden.

Jerusalem-inspired small plates restaurant The Palomar shot to acclaim when it opened in 2014 and was voted best restaurant at the OFM 2015 awards.

The Barbary, inspired by food from the Barbary coast has proved equally popular and was voted the best restaurant in London by Time Out this year.