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Automat is the brainchild of New York hotshot architect Carlos Almada and signals the first stage of a development that brings a little chuck of Manhattan to Mayfair. Decked out in the style of an American diner, a black and white mosaic floor leads into the main room of the brasserie and bar, where pristine white tiles coat the walls. Sitting at your cosy booth, you can munch on wholesome comfort grub including macaroni cheese and Mississippi mud pie. The completed project will include a formal restaurant and member’s nightclub.
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Other restaurants come and go, but Bibendum continually ranks top with the most discerning and hard-to-please foodie critics in town. Indeed, the 2005 Zagat Survey claimed: “Classic dishes are so delicious they outshine almost all in Paris itself.” And you can’t argue with that. Grilled calves liver with parsley salad and garlic dressing and sauté of rabbit with chorizo, endives, sherry and creme fraiche are two stand-out dishes from the modern French menu. Head chef Matthew Harris is impossibly talented and you won’t eat anywhere better in London. The more lowkey Oyster bar on the ground floor is nice in summer, when you can sit outside this beautiful art deco building.
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Cecconi’s is a classic Italian restaurant, open from first thing in the morning until the wee hours, seven days a week. The food is cooked simply, using the finest quality fresh ingredients. Nick Jones of Soho House recently it took over and has injected a heavy dose of glamour. Interior designer Ilse Crawford has created the new interior, with a striking marble floor in black and white diagonal stripes setting the tone while the rest of the interior employs spring green leather upholstery and wall-hugging banquettes for that blissful feeling of laid-back luxury.
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Restaurateur Iqbal Wahhab’s elegant and tasteful blend of Victorian gothic and cinnamon-coloured modernism, with its distinctly clubby feel, breaks all the rules of the traditional Indian restaurant with aplomb. Chef Vivek Singh offers swordfish with mustard and honey and black cod and king scallop kofta with citrusy Kerala sauce. The Cinnamon Club Bar downstairs is all dazzling white walls, graceful arches and coffee-coloured leather sofas, with a large TV screen playing Bollywood videos.
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One wonders what Notting Hill did before E&O, which is an institution if ever there was one. The crown of the Will Ricker empire, this pan-Asian establishment does fashionable food like nowhere else, offering a menu packed with twists on sushi and superb specials. Make sure you have the chilli salt squid, the prawn and chive dumplings and the rock shrimp tempura. A marvelous wine list is matched with great cocktails, which you can enjoy in the adjoining bar.
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The Brainchild of Naked Chef and TV star Jamie Oliver, Fifteen opened over two years ago to unprecedented critical acclaim. The concept of the restaurant is unique. A non-profit organisation, Fifteen trains students from underprivileged backgrounds to pursue careers in catering. The restaurant continues to serve some of the best Italian food available in London, and the vibrant, informal trattoria offers an inspired menu. Getting a table here is easier than at the fine-dining restaurant.
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Dating couples, corporate diners and a celebrity smattering sit cheek by jowl at London’s most Sex And The City-type hotspot. Most agree with Michelin’s verdict on the food—Hakkasan takes Chinese cooking to a new level and the results are exceptional. Lunchtime dim sum, in particular, is eye and taste bud opening, from a chive dumpling of tongue-pricking freshness to sea-fresh parcels of prawns and scallops. Fans claim the evening a la carte is expensive but worth it. The bar is certainly the place to meet younger ladies who like having drinks bought for them—it can all get a little distasteful, actually. Alan Yau’s hotter, younger sister restaurant Yauatcha is now stealing the show (16-17 Broadwick Street, Soho, Tel: 7494 8888). Go for tea or dim sum and you will be impressed.
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J Sheekey, owned by the same people as London celebrity stalwart The Ivy, is a London institution. Plainly decorated with a similar lack of frills on the menu, it’s exactly this sort of discrete no-nonsense that attracts those in the know. Fresher fish would be hard to find, and the bar is popular for solo dining. Service is less reliable—it’s sometimes accused of arrogance and fast-food tendencies. However, if you find yourself escorted by the doorman to your taxi under a huge umbrella, you’re likely to leave convinced this is London’s best fish restaurant.
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Three years after it opened, getting a table at Locanda Locatelli still requires persistence, but the effort is worthwhile. Many are dissuaded from eating here by the continuously engaged booking lines. What makes the simple contemporary Italian dishes so mouth-watering is the superb quality of seasonal ingredients. The retro David Collins-designed dining room also adds to the ambience of this A-list establishment.
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Chef Jason Atherton, who cut his teeth at Spain’s El Bulli, combines weird-sounding combinations of ingredients and influences from around the world. His modern eclectic menu of small grazing plates, six to eight of which make up a meal, include pressed foie gras, smoked eel with pickled ginger and Orkney scallops roasted with spices, peppered golden raisin purée and cauliflower. Although individual plates range in price from £5.50 to £9.50, when a couple are ordering between 12 and 16 between them, the bill can mount up, so beware. This is at the top of the league in London.
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There is a no booking policy for tables of less than six, so enjoy the wait and kick back in the divine ground-floor bar with London’s beautiful people. Virtually all the dishes on the menu have been freshly created by owner Nobu Matsuhisa and executive chef Mark Edwards specifically for this site. The place is beautifully designed and boasts a terrifically buzzy bar (see Nightlife), a destination in itself.
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Origin opened at the end of 2005 at trendy members club The Hospital. There’s a warm, comfortable bar which serves an impressive cocktail list, but the real draw is the restaurant. Critically acclaimed chef Adam Byatt employs traceable products from independent farms and intelligent ingredient sourcing. Starter dishes include Cornish crab ravioli in a herb and citrus broth or slow-cooked belly of middle white pork served with black olive mashed potatoes and balanced with a delicate vinaigrette of cockles. To follow, choose from larger dishes such as braised line-caught turbot or partridge pie.
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Sir Terence Conran’s Canary Wharf outpost is straight out of a Batman movie— literally. It was used for a restaurant scene in Batman Begins and the Gotham-esque surroundings of London’s futuristic metropolis in the docklands make for a dramatic backdrop to this sophisticated place. If you’re on a budget, the bar and grill offers a simpler and cheaper menu. Nice open-air terrace for summer sunshine too. A perfect place to do business.
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Giving Mr Nobu a run for his money in the 'who gets to be the Japanese giant of London’ race is Rainer Becker, executive chef and proprietor of Zuma in Knightsbridge—a restaurant which, although amazing on the food front, can be hideous on the staff and clientele count. So go to its baby brother Roka instead. Inside, the decor is surprisingly plain, with a central robata grill forming the focal point of the dining room. The cooking is excellent and you’ll be hard pressed to find a more 'It’ restaurant.
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Sketch is a mega-complex of chi chi restaurants, bars and video art gallery by Mourad Mazouz (the man behind Momo). The Glade is the new daytime restaurant focusing on seasonal ingredients designed to evoke a forest glade, enhanced by green carpeting and thick wooden tables.
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As the recent winner of 'Best New Restaurant’ at the 2005 Restaurateurs’ Restaurant of the Year award, The Ledbury has stormed onto the scene and made its mark. This new venture from Nigel Platts-Martin, the man behind Chez Bruce in Wandsworth and The Square in Mayfair, has 26-year-old Australian chef Brett Graham in the kitchen. Graham’s menu (£39.50 for three courses) boasts all manner of modern French finery, from frogs’ legs beignet and snail croustillant to watercress mayonnaise and port purée. The decor is formal and the menu ambitious. Expect a sterling experience.
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The Notting Hill Brasserie has a warm, sophisticated atmosphere, evocative of a chic New York establishment, and serves some of the finest modern French cuisine in London. A piano and double bass play jazz and blues every evening in the cocktail bar. Flattering low lighting compliments the modern African art that adorns the walls. Catch regulars like Sienna Miller, Jude Law and Mick Jagger at this atmospheric restaurant.
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European café-style food is the general culinary theme here. The restaurant comes from the creators of those bastions of the London scene the Ivy, Le Caprice and J Sheekey. Interiors are by David Collins, the man responsible for giving glamour to some of London’s key fashion destination restaurants. Prices are surprisingly reasonable and there is even a doorman to usher you in (and keep undesirables out, presumably). Booking is essential.
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This first class offshoot of Nobu (note the cunning [name] reversal) is an expensive but fabulous experience. Fantastic views along the river mean you can choose to make your 007-style entrance by boat while the unfussy decor certainly wouldn’t look out of place in a Bond movie. The menu’s use of flavour remains in dishes like the expertly timed avocado tempura or the yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno. Service is helpful and the chef’s choice is both a handy ordering aid and a timely reminder of how prices stack up. Make sure you check out its new sister below.
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