Header: Gianluca Schembri
Le GV is a fine-dining restaurant on the 11th-floor rooftop of the 1926 Le Soleil Hotel & Spa in Sliema, Malta, a hotel that brings you back in time to the glamorous 1920s clubs of Paris, France. The space was designed by Carlo Schembri and Ryan Calleja, alongside &Bold studio, having won a LIV Hospitality Design Award in the Architectural Design category for Fine Dining Restaurant. Within six months of opening, the restaurant also received a Michelin star.
Dreaming of old-school glamour
The interior is thoroughly inspired by 1920s Art Deco and the Orient Express, two of the client’s obsessions. Furthermore, the wider 1926 Collection is tied to that decade through the founder’s birth year. The name, “Le GV”, is also symbolic, as it references the Hotel George V in Paris.
A sky-high Orient Express
The rooftop layout is long and narrow, and the team used that shape to their advantage by setting the restaurant as two main dining rooms – just like train carriages. In these rooms, which are linked by a central corridor and have tables running along their length, one side is lined with large windows framed by heavy drapes, while the other is adorned by mirrored panels.
At one end of the restaurant, the kitchen appears behind a glass partition. Facing it is a chef’s counter with benches for seating, allowing guests to enjoy the art of cooking while awaiting for their meals to arrive.
A trip to the roaring 20s
The material choices couldn’t be more Art Deco and Orient Express-decadent, and they are used without any fear throughout the restaurant. Mirrors, velvet, brass, marble and geometric patterns engulf the interior design, yet this maximalism doesn’t feel like too much.
Mirrored walls and mirrored ceilings cover the narrow rooms, with pendants and sconces helping create a dim and intimate atmosphere. Black-and-white rectangular tiles cover the floors, bringing about a fun pattern, and the seating includes vintage-looking dining chairs in deep red wine velvet and emerald green velvet bar stools. Brass appears here and there, in fixtures and trims, and the bar makes a statement in its polished green marble countertop and fluted dark base. Decorative elements follow the idea that more is better, so the designers were sure to add engraved fan and sunburst motifs to as many wall and door panels as possible.
Rooftop overlooking the Mediterranean
The restaurant opens up to a panoramic terrace where guests can enjoy their meals al fresco under pergola canopies adorned by plants, all while enjoying views over Sliema, the Mediterranean Sea and Valletta’s skyline.
Here, the design had to handle the important technical bits: making sure the structure could support the heavy materials and equipment, keeping the place insulated and weatherproof, and staying on top of noise control. To deal with these challenges, the designers used acoustic panels and heavy drapery for sound, added retractable awnings and windbreak glass panels outside for the seaside weather, built in a service corridor and dumbwaiter system so staff and dishes could move around efficiently without disrupting the dining rooms.
