Situated on Buckingham Palace Road in London Victoria, Shan Shui Social will be an offshoot of the Shan Shui brand, which has sites in Bicester Village and Heathrow Airport Terminal 2, and serve a diverse menu of Chinese dishes ranging from Cantonese dim sum and roast meats to the spicy and sour flavours of Sichuan cooking.
“Our existing sites for Shan Shui have both successfully catered to the demands of tourists, travellers and shoppers,” says Chew, whose Chew On This restaurant group also encompasses Singapulah on Shaftesbury Avenue, Rasa Sayang in Chinatown, and Mrs Chew’s Chinese Kitchen, which has sites in Westfield White City and Birmingham.
“With Shan Shui Social, we can serve city dwellers, theatre-goers and appeal to the working crowd.”
Restaurant revealed in early 2021 that Chew planned to open a Shan Shui restaurant in London Victoria. However, the project has faced various delays in the intervening years.
Speaking to Restaurant last year, Chew said there had been ‘a few setbacks in terms of the planning’.
“It’s a listed building, so there are challenges with the design, which is inspired by 1920s Shanghai,” she added.
Spread across two floors, the 74-cover Shan Shui Social will contrast interiors of traditional wood panelling, neon signage, reflective materials, art deco elements and colourways of blush, mustard and wood.
Chew has worked with interior architect firm Macaulay Sinclair on the design, which is described as ‘a speakeasy with a casual yet atmospheric ambience’.
“Our goal for the interiors was to seamlessly blend the brand’s elegant 1920s Shanghainese art deco aesthetic with a more intimate and casual ambience,” says Mike Sinclair, director at Macaulay Sinclair.
“This can be seen in everything from the subtle art deco forms and showstopping elements like the beautiful main bar and porcelain mosaic floor, to the more ‘dive bar’ stylings of the basement rooms and private vaults.”
