I’M A CELEBRITY! GET ME INTO HERE
As the Ivy Collection prepares to open its doors in Dublin, here are some memorable moments from the original West End eatery – as told by celebrities
WHEN it comes to A-list eateries, they don’t get much better than The Ivy in London. In fact, you could say that this elegant, unassuming restaurant is the place where it all began. And now Dublin’s Dawson Street is getting a taste of the action with its very own Ivy Collection brasserie.
Doors will open on July 24 and the Dublin spot will be the group’s first ever international eatery. But since the original restaurant in London’s West Street welcomed its first diners in 1917 at the heart of the city’s theatre district, it has fed more legends of stage and screen than possibly any other.
Known for its exclusivity and illustrious clientele – Laurence Olivier, Marlene Dietrich and Noël Coward were regulars – it has become an institution among the well-heeled. A beautifully illustrated coffee table book, The Ivy Now, shares some of the legendary West End restaurant’s fêted recipes – and some well-known names share some salacious details of their most memorable experiences there...
DAWN FRENCH
‘ONCE, I was having lunch in The Ivy with Jennifer [Saunders] and a playwright whose play we were in at the time, Mary Agnes Donoghue. Terry Gilliam came in and said hello to a few folk at various tables, including us. I asked what he was doing there and he said he was having lunch with an actor from a film he had just directed called Twelve Monkeys. This meant zilch to me so we wished him all well and he went to sit at his table and wait for his guest.
Then, Brad Pitt walked in. Angels sang and my ovaries woke up. He walked over to Terry’s table and greeted him with a huge hug.
Throughout lunch I tried to concentrate on our meeting but just couldn’t stop sneaking a peak at the divine Mr P, who is seriously beautiful. More so in the flesh. Beautiful flesh.
I faked a trip to the loo, asked a waiter for a pad and pen, and I wrote a note to Terry which read as follows: ‘Make Brad kiss me as if he adores me or I will kill your family. Fact. Love Dawn of French x.’ I witnessed the note being secretly delivered and Terry shot me a cheeky wink.
I did then concentrate on the meeting in hand and so was utterly shocked when an hour or so later, Brad Pitt’s lips were suddenly on mine. We actually, half on and half off because I was caught mid-turn, to my eternal regret.
He said something like, ‘Hey Dawn, great to see you, God you look gorgeous. I can see you’re busy right now but is there any chance we can hook up again, I would soooo love that, can I call you (makes a phone gesture with fingers to ears) Please?!’ Then he waved and was gone.
I turned back to Jennifer and Mary Agnes to find their jaws on the floor. As were the jaws of most of the diners.
I managed to keep my cool for about a minute and pretended that yeah, Brad and I were involved, but eventually couldn’t suppress my glee, or my wet pants, so I owned up to my lunch buddies that I am a shameless tart.
DAVID WALLIAMS
I HAVE two favourite memories of dinbeautiful ing in The Ivy. The first was when I spotted my childhood hero Roger Moore in the restaurant at a nearby table.
I was eager to meet him, and the late great David Frost, who I knew already, introduced us. Roger invited me to join him and his wife at their table for a drink and it turned out he was a fan of Little Britain. At the end of the evening, the world’s favourite James Bond approached my table and quoted one of my catchphrases back to me. ‘I’m a lady!’ said Roger. It was all the more hilarious as he delivered it in his deadpan style.
From that moment on, Roger and I became friends, and soon after we were back at The Ivy dining together after I had interviewed him on stage at the British Film Institute.
The pride I had felt entering the restaurant with a superstar I had loved for my entire life was immeasurable. We both had the shepherd’s pie and Roger remarked that this particular dish was one of the things he missed most about home now that he lived abroad.
My mother Kathleen was at the dinner too and couldn’t stop flirt- ing with him. ‘I make a lovely shepherd’s pie, Sir Roger! I’d cook for you any day!’ she cooed. It was one of those moments where I had to pinch myself. Here I was in one of the best restaurants in the world with James Bond, and my mother is actually flirting with him. It must have been a dream. Except it wasn’t. It was just another night at The Ivy.
DAMIEN HIRST
I REMEMBER going to The Ivy with Keith Allen and Alex James, and Keith would throw a spider crab on the floor and chase it with his fork, shouting, ‘Call Rentokil! Look at the size of these cockroaches!’ and Alex would be buying Dom Pérignon for tables of girls when he knew I was paying. God knows why they didn’t throw us out, but instead they made us feel at home.
We went to The Ivy often and with a lot of different people. I particularly remember one evening when I was in with Keith and Alex, and Andrew Lloyd Webber was at the table behind us with his kids. When he called Fernando (Fernando Peire, director of The Ivy) over to complain about the noise and foul language from the table behind him, Fernando politely whispered in my ear and pointed out that we weren’t the only famous people there and to keep it down. When Keith looked around and saw Andrew, he realised it was him complaining and leaned over to politely explain that we were Damien Hirst and some young rock stars.
He immediately asked for an introduction and gushed over me, telling me what a huge fan of mine he was! For some insane reason I never understood, The Ivy always welcomed us with open arms. I just hope it’s around for the next
101 years.
SADIE FROST
I had worked with the legendary Lauren Bacall — a fascinating, tough yet woman — and so Jude and I invited her to dinner at The Ivy when she was in London. Smoking had by this time been banned in the restaurant but it didn’t bother the iconic Ms Bacall who lit up a Marlboro Light without missing a beat.
Soon a very nervous waiter was hovering at our table, very politely asking Ms Bacall to please put out her cigarette. F*** off, she replied.
He did. And who in their right mind would argue with her after all? So Ms Bacall sat smoking and telling us stories about Humphrey Bogart while Jude and I sat hooked on her every word about the tales of her life with one of the screen’s most legendary macho men.
But as Ms Bacall started talking about her second husband Jason Robards, she took a huge drag on her cigarette, inhaled deeply and looked at us. Jason? she said in her husky voice. Now he was a real man.
STEPHEN FRY
I WAS once sitting two tables away from Paul Newman who was having a very animated conversation with John Malkovich. As the woman at the table next to them stared openmouthed, Mr Newman leaned over, turned those extraordinary blue eyes on her and said: ‘You can look but you can’t touch.’
On another occasion I was eating with two actors – one British and one American – who were appearing in a play in the West End and Harold Pinter stopped to talk to us as he was leaving.
‘I just wanted to say it was a magnificent performance and thank you for entertaining me,’ he said graciously.
The American – who was known for taking himself extremely seriously – just batted Harold away.
‘Who was that?’ he said as Harold turned to leave. ‘Harold Pinter.’ With that, he got up and ran after him.
‘I’m so sorry,’ the US actor said. ‘I didn’t realise who you were.’
Harold looked him up and down witheringly. ‘It does not matter who I f ****** am,’ he said. ‘I am a member of the audience who enjoyed your f ****** play.’
I am so pleased he said that.
JAMES CORDEN
GROWING up, my biggest treat was going to the Harvester [a chain of family restaurants]. But, aged 17, I’d got my first acting job in the West End and decided to try and book a table at this place called The Ivy that everyone talked about. I wanted to take my mum and dad but couldn’t get in.
A few years later, David Walliams took me for dinner one night at The Ivy and it was absolutely thrilling.
I had imagined that the menu would be all foie gras and cherries but was relieved to see things like shepherd’s pie. It immediately made me relax.
By the time I was in my late 20s, Gavin & Stacey [TV comedy] had become successful and I called up to ask for a table at 8pm on a Saturday night. I got it. That was a big moment.
Extracted from The Ivy Now by Fernando Peire, €42, easons.com. To make a reservation at the Ivy Collection Dublin, call 01 695 0744 or visit theivydublin.ie