The Westminster restaurant was launched by Sally Abé in 2021 as a modern British dining destination.
Abé parted ways with the restaurant early last year. At the time, it was rumoured that The Pem would rebrand ahead of a new high-profile chef appointment but the restaurants has stayed as is for the past year or so.
According to The Pem’s website, the kitchen is currently overseen by head chef Daniel Wisner.
Originally launched by an all-female leadership team that also included chef Laetizia Keating and restaurant manager Emma Underwood, The Pem is named after suffragette Emily Wilding Davison, whose family knew her as Pem.
The feather, inspired by Davison’s own feather boa, serves as the restaurant’s emblem and symbolises courage, creative expression and the spirit of women who have forged their own path.
The Hilton-owned hotel says that Gill’s appointment ‘marks the next evolution of that story’.
One of Britain’s best-known Indian chefs, Gill is also the author of three cookbooks.
The Pem will be her first permanent restaurant kitchen in six years.
Gill is best known for Romy’s Kitchen, the Punjabi-Bengali restaurant she owned and ran in Thornbury, near Bristol, from 2013 until its closure in 2019.
Her menu at The Pem will explore the diverse regional cuisines of India, from Punjab and Bengal to the coastal flavours of Kerala and the spice traditions of Rajasthan.
There will be ‘rich curries, smoky grills and slow-braised dishes’ alongside ‘newer ideas shaped by her travels across India’.
The result, according to the hotel, will be food that feels ‘generous and unmistakably her own’.
“I want The Pem to feel lively and full of energy,” says Gill of her appointment. “The kind of restaurant where people stay longer than they planned, order another dish because the table next to them had it, and leave already thinking about when they’re coming back. That’s how I love to eat, and that’s what I want to create here.”
Bernadette Gilligan, general manager of Conrad London St. James, adds: “The Pem has always evolved through the people leading it, and each chapter has brought something different to the restaurant. Romy takes it somewhere we’ve never been before. We knew very quickly that she was the right person for this next chapter.”
Conrad Hotels & Resorts is the largest brand within Hilton’s luxury portfolio, with 50 properties across five continents.