27/11/25 - updated with details about the restaurants.
Promising to be one of 2026's biggest openings, The Admiralty Arch - one of London's truly iconic buildings - is currently being transformed into a new luxury hotel. The Admiralty Arch Waldorf Astoria will enjoy one of London's best views, directly down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace.
The hotel had already revealed who the two "Chef partners" would be - Clare Smyth who has three Michelin Stars for Core in Notting Hill, and French/American chef Daniel Boulud, whose New York restaurants have four stars between them (and who previously ran Bar Boulud at the Mandarin Oriental). Now they've given us a few more details about those restaurants.
First up is Clare Smyth's Coreus, showing that she's still playing with the Core name with, perhaps, mixed results (see also, Corenucopia). This is being billed as a "fine dining celebration of the United Kingdom’s bountiful seas, coastal regions and farms" with a particular focus on lesser-known seafood varieties. She'll also be launching a bar called Potato and Roe, which is both a spin-off of Whiskey and Seaweed bar at Core and a reference to her signature dish (which should be on the menu there).
Coreus will also have the best view, being just over the arches looking down The Mall.
Then there's Daniel Boulud's Café Boulud. That's an all-day dining restaurant that Boulud has opened in the US and Riyadh and makes it his first London restaurant since Bar Boulud closed in 2020. It will be French-styled, kicking off with breakfast and you can probably expect the chef's signature burgers to be making a reappearance in London. This will have a terrace, looking down the mall so again will be in a pretty great position.
We have heard that there will also be a roof terrace, but we're not 100% sure if that's still going ahead, or who has the space, so hopefully, news on that will follow.
As for the Arch itself, it has been a home to the Admiralty, army intelligence and saw everyone from Churchill to Ian Fleming and Lord Mountbatten working there, so there's a lot of history to the space.
We've had some landmark hotel openings in London in recent years that promised big things but somewhat fumbled the actual launch, so hopefully Admiralty Arch will be learning from those. We'll find out in 2026.
More about Admiralty Arch Waldorf Astoria
Where is it? The Mall, London SW1A 2WH
When? 2026
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @admiraltyarch
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