HRC sits down with Dmitry Filimonov, Managing Director of the spectacular Heritage Soho, a stylish restaurant offering a unique alpine dining experience with a contemporary twist. 

Tell us a bit about the history of Heritage Soho

The journey started in Montreux Switzerland when me and my business partner Alireza Cheraghi took over the traditional Swiss Restaurant called Le Museum in 2016. After the restaurant was developed and put on its rails, we decided to expend our company to UK. And there is no better place to start than London and especially Soho where the diversity of different restaurants & bars is striving.

Where does inspiration come from for your food & drink menus?

We take our inspiration from all Alpine regions especially from Switzerland & France. Also being in Soho pushes us to take inspiration from modern European cuisine and following London trends like Brunch, Pre-Theatre Menu, Cocktails Bars, DJs, etc. We are bringing music to our venue inspired by Montreux Jazz Festival, which in 80s and 90s was one of the most recognisable music events in the world. The person who created it, Claude Nobs, is the previous owner of our restaurant in Montreux le Museum.

How would you describe the restaurant’s design?

Restaurant design is inspired by the materials you can find in an alpine chalet like stone, wood & leather. We took these materials and gave them the modern recognition. Stone you can find in marble bar top, brick wall and wall décor. Wood is at the bar frame, wall décor, wall panels inside and out of the restaurant & floor. Leather is manifesting at our leather wall at Après-Ski area, two bespoke coaches and as a base of our centred-bar. We have low dimmed warm light to give the alpine cosiness to the space.

Tell us how you work with artists at the restaurant

We have worked with an art gallery to bring the art to the restaurant to break warm mellow colours and to provide the Soho edge. We went for the pop art approach to keep it fun and to still go with our heritage from Montreux. We have original prints of 1983 posters from Montreux Jazz Festival by Keith Haring. Other artists Yuvi, Paul Insect, Mark Sloper have strong connection to London and London Art Life. Finally, our pop art snowboards and downstairs journey through the alps was created by Lucy Danielle with whom we worked very closely to create her pieces in Heritage. She is based in Bristol and specialises in urban and mural graffiti.

What does the customer experience look like at Heritage Soho?

We have a relaxed atmosphere in Heritage bringing the best of Swiss hospitality. Our Head Chef Christelle Lambourde was with us since the opening in July 2019 managed to bring us 2021 and 2022 Michelin Plate Awards. Mixed with traditional alpine indulging dishes like Cheese Fondue & Raclette we have a great selection of meat & seafood. First thing what people think when I say alpine “heavy food”, it is only partially true. When you are going to restaurants in Alps you can find plenty of restaurants with seafood, steaks, tartars, salads. So, our goal is not just to bring the traditional alpine cuisine but to create the alpine journey and bring the nostalgic feeling for people who visited Alps. At the same time, you can enjoy our extensive selection of wines and masterfully created signature & classic cocktails. Friday & Saturday we are working late until 1am to bring the Après-Ski party vibe.

Heritage is quite an instagrammable venue, how important is social media to your marketing?

When we opened, we tried different types of marketing. We worked with different agencies for PR and networking. What we have realised is that digital marketing working for us the best. So, yes, social media attributes like Meta Ads, Reels and Stories plays a big role for us as well as website SEO, backlinks from hospitality platforms and Google Advertisement. We base our marketing on Google Analytics mostly.