The hotel restaurant: not a term that exudes confidence, is it. Too often the in-house dining room is a last resort, a quiet all-hours affair devoid of atmosphere — ‘good enough’ for a hotel guest who may never return. But lo — travellers are savvier now, with rising standards for the places they stay, and this has spurred an awakening among London hoteliers. In the past few years we’ve watched a string of hotel-restaurants open with serious ambition in and out of the kitchen. They provide a glamorous welcome for international travellers. And for locals? They’ll want to pay the babysitter to stay overnight. Here are six worth travelling for.
Brasserie Angelica at the Newman
The Newman is the sort of hotel that was lacking in the West End: character-driven, coherently designed (with miles of rich wood), tucked away on a quiet but historic street and equipped with an affordable brasserie you’d tell your friends about. You can rally with friends over a champagne smorgas-brunch or OD on cold-water seafood like oysters, King prawns, gravlax and hake tail with brown butter — the same brown butter that sets off the house schnapps aperitif. There’s a cart of open-face sandwiches that would make the Nordics blush.
Café Clement at St Clement
With Soho House, founder Nick Jones taught London how to fashion sumptuous, sexy spaces where the bedrooms are an extension of the raucous good time. So his first post-Soho effort, down on the Thames’s north bank, follows a similar playbook — though, happily, it’s open to anyone who wishes to join. An evening in the flaxen-lit dining room feels like that wedding banquet you’ve been waiting for all year, except the French brasserie fare, delivered à point, gets full points. Chef Danny Bohan, ex of River Café, knows his way around a seafood omelette and a Toulouse sausage, and the house wines taste like something much farther down the list.
Simpson’s in-the-Strand at the Savoy
For years Simpson’s represented fine dining of the distant past, a hallowed hall of roast beef with a 120-year history and cupboards full of hotel silver. But after hawking the dated divans and hiring Shayne Brady to reinterpret its august look, restaurateur Jeremy King enchanted critics and gave Londoners a reason to visit the Savoy buildings. He’s refreshed the leather booths, brought in fresh walnut, replaced swaths of tired carpeting and spent millions on the most flattering lighting in central London. The beef is on another level entirely.
Rosi at the Beaumont
When it opened a dozen years ago with the Beaumont hotel, the Colony Grill Room looked as if it had been there for a century, with those grand dimensions, painted niches and mob-style leather banquettes. Unveiled last year, the new space is still grand but softened with murals in the whimsical hand of Luke Edward Hall. EPR designed around them in dusky-rose mohair and rich woods — the colours of chef Lisa Goodwin-Allen’s perfectly grilled beef and lamb. The Michelin laureate turns out a sharp and reasonably priced two-course, including her zingy seasonal-veg pies.
Seabird at the Hoxton Southwark
On a warm day in London, elbows are out for a table at Seabird, atop the Hoxton hotel, encircled by palms and a deep 14th-storey terrace. The sun-bleached space smells of rattan and features mountains of ice (for the shellfish) and coals (for the grilled turf), tricking the mind into thinking it’s on a much more exotic holiday than the south bank of the Thames. The seafood platters and paellas go down a treat with a fruity gin Sunset at Sea cocktail. The bar takes walk-ins any time of day, and outdoor tables are first come, first served, which works in the favour of hotel guests.
Berners Tavern at the London Edition
The slick and starry Edition can be off-putting for tourists but its Berners Tavern has always treated guests with blanket reverence. It rightly developed a reputation for a special-occasion space, sparkling with glad rags and good energy. Sumptuous upholsteries and gilt-framed artwork are set off by gentle uplighting and capped by baroque ivory plaster mouldings. It’s enough to keep the eyes busy for hours, though Jason Atherton’s cooking is a welcome distraction. Memorable evenings are guaranteed.
