New Developments Pull Double-Duty as Gastronomic Destinations

In Wandsworth, South London, Sambrook’s Brewery is relocating down the road. Plenty of London breweries move to nearby sites for more brewing capacity. But in this case, something different is going on; Sambrook’s is joining Ram Quarter, a new condominium development set in a historic riverside area.

Accompanied by a slew of artisanal restaurants, street food stalls, coffee shops and bars, Ram Quarter is proving how a new generation of residential developments are becoming gastronomic destinations in their own right—ones that cater to neighborhood locals, tourists and many others beyond those who call them home. 

Residences linked to luxury hotels chains have launched culinary destinations with savvy and aplomb. Take Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, where permanent residents around the world enjoy superlative dining options. Residents at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles can dine on healthy poke bowls and tuna salads at Cabana Restaurant, or the signature Swiss chard flan with seasonal black truffle and quail egg at Culina Ristorante. The Four Seasons in Jakarta, Indonesia, offers six onsite bars and restaurants—including a 20th-floor Italian restaurant serving up black truffle lasagna alongside equally delicious views. 

NOBU—the global chain of Japanese hotels and restaurants—has launched (and sold out) its first set of residences, which, along with the hotel, will tuck into a sleek, modernist design perched above a historic brick building in Toronto. Residents will be able to take the elevator to their apartments to feast on sushi and wagyu steak.

But hotels are hardly a prerequisite. In Newcastle, in northeast England, the newly launched Hadrian’s Tower complex is topped by 3Sixty, a panoramic cocktail lounge where residents and locals can clink glasses of Laurent Perrier. At Waterline Square, in New York City, a Cipriani food hall and restaurant occupy the ground floor. Deansgate Square in Manchester, England will have a “front room” in the form of The Square—a public piazza featuring casual neighbourhood style eateries, prosecco vans and live events. On the doorstep of the condominiums at 35 Hudson Yards in New York City, there are no fewer than 25 restaurants—a veritable foodie mecca curated by chef Thomas Keller and restaurateur Kenneth Himmel.