The open-fire restaurant trend is hardly new, but Fire & Wine by Boxcar has found a way to make it feel at home in Marylebone. On June 17, the former Boxcar Bar & Grill reopened with a new name, a new chef and a new direction, putting wood-fired cooking, seasonal produce and natural wine at the centre of the experience. It still feels like the sort of neighbourhood restaurant you could drop into without making an occasion of it, only now there is a little more smoke in the air and considerably more happening behind the grill.
Update:
Fire & Wine by Boxcar has now permanently closed, but for a short time the Marylebone restaurant brought open-fire cooking, seasonal produce and natural wine to the former Boxcar Bar & Grill site. We visited during its brief run to try the menu, from cocktails and small plates to a 56-day-aged ribeye and the restaurant's grilled croissant tiramisu.
At the heart of the change is Zisis Gkalmpenis, whose background includes Pied à Terre, Cord by Le Cordon Bleu and The Greyhound in Beaconsfield. His approach is straightforward: start with good produce, cook it properly and let the ingredients do most of the talking. “We work with the best seasonal produce, and cook in a way that’s straightforward but deeply respectful,” he says. That philosophy runs through the new menu, where the fire is less of a gimmick than a method of cooking that gives everything from meat and fish to vegetables and even dessert its own character. It is a more relaxed take on the kind of food you might associate with a serious kitchen, without turning the restaurant into somewhere that takes itself too seriously.
The drinks programme has been given just as much attention. Fire & Wine works with small and sustainable producers, with a focus on natural and low-intervention wines, and its own-label rosé, Tinted Glasses, was created with Château Saint-Maur in Provence. The fact that many of the wines are available by the glass or carafe makes the list feel genuinely approachable rather than something to admire from a distance. It also fits the restaurant's broader idea: good food, interesting wine and very little ceremony required.
The transformation comes from Boxcar Group founders Ankur Wishart and Barry Hirst, whose portfolio also includes Open House London and The Italian Greyhound. For Wishart, the new restaurant is about creating “an ingredient-led destination in a warm neighbourhood setting”, with the cooking and wine doing most of the work. The space has been updated accordingly, bringing in raw wood, rustic textures and warmer finishes while keeping the room intimate and distinctly neighbourhood in character. The open kitchen is visible without dominating the room, and the tables are close enough to give the restaurant a sense of energy without making dinner feel like a communal event.
What makes Fire & Wine by Boxcar interesting is that the concept doesn't depend on the fire doing all the talking. There is a wider shift happening here, from a familiar Marylebone restaurant into somewhere more focused on produce, cooking and wine, while retaining the easy-going atmosphere that made the original Boxcar work. The result is a restaurant that feels designed for repeat visits rather than a one-off night out: somewhere to settle in for dinner, order another glass of wine and let someone else worry about what's coming off the grill.