Gilgamesh (restaurant)

Gilgamesh Restaurant Bar & Lounge was a restaurant and bar in Stables Market, Camden, London, opened in June 2006. Despite its Mesopotamian name and theme, the restaurant typically served South East Asian, Chinese and Japanese-inspired eclectic cuisine.[1] The restaurant closed in January 2018.[2]

Gilgamesh
Location in Camden
Restaurant information
EstablishedJune 2006 (June 2006)
Head chefDean Light
Food typeAsian cuisine
Street addressChalk Farm Road, Stables Market
CityCamden, London
CountryUnited Kingdom
Coordinates51°32′32″N 0°8′53″W
WebsiteGilgameshBar.com

Theme

As the name might suggest, the restaurant is inspired by the Sumerian king Gilgamesh.[3] Furnished with dark wood and heavy furnishings, its owners claim its reliefs and carvings are the work of over 10,000 workers from Northern India.[4] It contains a range of exotic imagery, and is intended to evoke the mystique of the Babylonian era. Its interior is said to be an "ostentatious replica of a Babylonian palace".[5] The tables and chairs are also supposed to be reminiscent of those of the palaces of Ancient Babylon. The London Restaurant Guide describes its bar as being like a theme park, and says, "This is one of those restaurants that sets great store by glitz and it certainly seems to strike a chord with a clientele that isn't too "bovvered" about the food, preferring cocktails, champagne and celebrity."[6]

Celebrity connection
Girugamesh chefs preparing Asian dishes

The restaurant is popular with celebrities, such as Johnny Vaughan, Lisa Snowden, Sarah Harding, David Gest and Carol McGiffin, who has cited it was her favourite restaurant in London.[7] In April 2011, chef Gino D'Acampo allegedly requested to be seated in a section of the restaurant in Camden that was not being used, but lost his temper when staff would not let him sit where he liked and left.[7] He later launched an attack on Twitter on the quality of the restaurant's food, despite not having been served a meal, although fellow chef Andrew Nutter joined D'Acampo in denouncing the restaurant, remarking, "I have actually paid double just to make sure I will never return to the restaurant again."[7]

References
  1. "Dining". Girugamesh Restaurant Bar & Lounge. Retrieved 17 May 2011. ... influenced by the cuisine of South East Asia, China and Japan ...
  2. Carrier, Dan (6 February 2018). "Celebrity hotspot Gilgamesh closes". Camden New Journal.
  3. Metzelthin, Pearl Violette Newfield (2007). Gourmet. Condé Nast Publications. p. 46.
  4. Rahim, Ali; Jamelle, Hina (2007). Elegance. John Wiley. ISBN 978-0-470-02968-8.
  5. The New Yorker. F-R Pub. Corp. 2006.
  6. Campion, Charles (2008). London Restaurant Guide 2009. Profile Books Limited. p. 263. ISBN 978-1-84668-143-1.
  7. "Celebrity chef 'storms out' of restaurant after table row". The Telegraph. 14 April 2011.
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