The Olympic Games won't begin for another two years, but the on-site culinary options are set to be temporarily upgraded from builders' bacon butties when a pop-up restaurant opens later this month atop Westfield Stratford.
Studio East Dining will sit on the roof of the under-construction shopping complex from June 16th to July 4th to coincide with the London Festival of Architecture, and offer diners able and willing to pay the £75 flat fee an unrivalled view of the developing 2012 site. The restaurant will be managed by the conveniently local Bistroteque, with a menu from chef Tom Collins that promises a "communal feast... designed to celebrate the best of the English summer". Hopefully that doesn't mean strawberries, cream, and an a cappella performance by Cliff Richard.
The pavilion in which the restaurant will be housed, designed by Carmody Groarke (you might be familiar with their 7/7 memorial in Hyde Park) is to be constructed from materials temporarily purloined from the construction site below. Somewhat presumptuously, the website is already referring to it as an "iconic" structure, though with its location offering a panoramic vista of east London and beyond, diners will be forgiven if they're more interested in the views.
Will it enjoy the popularity that saw the teeming masses flock to a multi-storey car park in Peckham last summer to sup at Franks Cafe and Campari Bar? Probably not, given the price, but for those who can afford it, lunch or dinner at Studio East Dining will provide bragging rights that are hard to beat. For the rest of us, there's always the View Tube
More pictures at Dezeen.
Reservations for Studio East Dining can be made on the website
