The Magazine is a newish restaurant that is housed in an extension of the classically-proportioned Serpentine Sackler Gallery in Kensington Gardens, central London. I(Chris) was staying in Lancaster Gate. JL came over to meet me and we wandered into the park and stopped there for an iced latte in a sunny afternoon.

The contrast between the gallery and the restaurant is beyond words.

It looked to me like a jelly fish made of space-age material and glass has landed and is hugging the 19th century brown-bricked building.

The restaurant is so named because it is “attached” to the gallery which used to be a weapons storage.

The female Iraqi architect, Zaha Hadid, is responsible for this creation which opened in 2013.

The interior suggested to me the inside of a white tent (I reckon the matt finish of the ceiling has something to do with it).

Five stiletto-shaped columns support the “roof” and channels natural light into the restaurant.

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The only fixed structure is a kitchen island and a long bar.

The bar faces what used to the exterior wall of the gallery.

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The columns are lit from its base, giving it shape and lightness, and act as a diffuser to lit the dining room in the evening. Just don’t sit too close to the spotlights.

The columns looked like chinese-style soup spoons to me.

 

We did not have a chance to eat there.  Reviews of the food have been mixed.

I also liked the polygonal-shaped tables and the logo on their door.

This place may look very dramatic at dusk. Have to come back to see it and taste the food.