Art Meets Gastronomy in This London Bar

In addition to representing such blue-chip painters as Mary Heilmann, Glenn Ligon, and Amy Sherald, Hauser & Wirth stands out for its art-adjacent initiatives. One such was the Roth Bar, a liquor and coffee bar made from salvaged materials by late artist Dieter Roth’s relatives that had been installed at the gallery’s New York location. It was an early project of Artfarm, the hospitality arm of Iwan and Manuela Wirth’s company that bridges art with gastronomy and community. Other properties include Manuela restaurant in Los Angeles and the Fife Arms, a hotel in Braemar, Scotland.

The latest in the Artfarm portfolio is also its first in London: Mount St., a restaurant showcasing over 200 artworks—from paintings and sculptures to chandeliers and dining chairs—amid a series of gallery-esque rooms by Luis Laplace, who worked at Selldorf Architects on Hauser & Wirth outposts before cofounding his firm with Christophe Comoy in Paris in 2004. Naturally, some installations are by H&W artists, a standout being the floor, a magnificent mosaic by Rashid Johnson, but there are also pieces by Lucian Freud, Henry Matisse, and Andy Warhol. “Our hope,” CEO Ewan Venters says, “is that people come away feeling they’ve experienced something special”—food and drink, craftsmanship and culture, and, of course, world-class contemporary art.