If you live in London, chances are you don’t frequent the city’s hotels (unless you’re making mischief, that is). Allan Pickett’s new summer residency at the Sanderson is a reminder that the food in London hotels can cause just as much fuss as standalone restaurants (Chiltern Firehouse, anyone?), perhaps due to their international clientele catapulting them beyond London and onto the world stage. Home-grown city slickers, dismiss them at your peril; allow us to remind you of the brilliant hotel bars and restaurants out there. You might even end up staying for a sleepover afterwards – if you’re lucky.
The Best… Hotel Restaurants
Angler at South Place Hotel, City (above)
Netting a Michelin star less than a year after its 2012 launch, Angler serves superlative fish from its comfortable perch on South Place Hotel’s seventh floor. Marco Pierre White alumnus Tony Fleming ensures that the provenance of the ingredients takes centre stage, from carpaccio of octopus with squid and mango salad to a delectably autumnal monkfish tail with braised oxtail, butternut squash and sautéed ceps.
Berners Tavern at Edition Hotel, Fitzrovia
Housed within Ian Schrager’s ultra-cool London Edition hotel (but with its own street entrance), Berners Tavern is a proper “bobby-dazzler” from the moment you process through the palatial glass doors and fabulous lobby. Beyond is “gastronomic heaven” – a sparkling baroque ballroom with sky-high moulded ceilings, epic chandeliers, wall-to-wall gilt-framed paintings, funky music and lots of “well-groomed eye candy”, all thanks to Jason Atherton.
Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, Mayfair (above)
Printed menus are a thing of the past at The Connaught’s grand dining room; instead, diners select dishes from a solitaire board with ingredient names written on white marbles. It’s a “bizarre” but playful touch typical of the way that this restaurant has become ever more comfortable in its own skin since French star Hélène Darroze (who has just won The Veuve Clicquot World's Best Female Chef Award 2015) arrived in 2007.
Sea Containers at Mondrian London, Southbank (above)
The graceless 1970s Sea Containers House – now a hotel called Mondrian London – may lack exterior loveliness, but there are compensations aplenty once you get inside. The views across the Thames are spectacular, and Manhattan-based executive chef Seamus Mullen aims to combine ‘the best of Britain with America’, grouping his menu under headings such as ‘Small Plates’, ‘Raw’, ‘Market Salads’ and ‘Larger Dishes’.
York & Albany, Camden (below)
John Nash (1752-1835) knocked up a few glam structures hereabouts, and this is one of them. Handsome is the word. Gordon Ramsay (1966- ) turned the old townhouse into a boutique hotel and it remains a useful address in NW1. The venue has much going for it: the one-time stables out back is the place to head for a well-crafted wood-fired pizza or head to the contemporary restaurant decked out in contemporary neutrality.
The Best… Hotel Bars
Artesian at The Langham, Oxford Circus
Three times voted the ‘world’s best bar’ by an industry mag, there’s no reason to suppose that Artesian will surrender its winning ways under the guidance of top mixologist Alex Kratena. The late David Collins’ treatment of this imposing Victorian room is a looker with its China violet, pressed crocodile-leather floors, a dramatic back bar plundered from a Forbidden City temple and horse-head lamps suggesting a 60s bachelor penthouse pad.
Booking Office at St Pancras Renaissance London, Kings Cross
In what used to be the St Pancras station ticket office, the Booking Office is a restaurant and bar keen to revive the genre of the grand station café. Inspired by the 1873 opening of the station’s Midland Grand Hotel, staff faithfully recreate Victorian punches and mixed drinks from old recipes which are best taken at the 29m-long bar itself.
Ham Yard Bar at Ham Yard Hotel, Soho (above)
Chill alfresco over summer bubbles served at Parisian patio tables in this once-concealed Georgian yard, which has been revived as a chic 21st-century urban oasis and upscale boutique hotel. Inside, the decor combines spicy tones and jazzy 1950s graphics to zingy effect, so park yourself at the impressive zinc-topped bar for some lively cocktails: the La Piña Calle (tequila, amaro, chili tincture, lemon and homemade chili oil) certainly packs a punch.
Scarfes at Rosewood London, Covent Garden
Autumnal tones, dusty old tomes, a roaring fire, a baby grand and leather ottomans create a cosy blast from an elegant past. Park yourself at the dandy bar for fine brandies and malt whiskies matched to a range of hunt-ball staples such as the Made for Gentlemen or All Generations.
ZTH at Zetter Townhouse, Clerkenwell (above)
Chef Bruno Loubet and the thinking drinker’s top wizard, Tony Conigliaro, are the talent behind this agreeably overstuffed and spice-toned study-cum-drawing room. Sink into a sofa by the open fire and indulge in typical new-Edwardian tipples – riffs on Old Fashioned served in vintage stemware. The Drie Van Drie with seaweed-infused whisky, sherry and salted liquorice bitters is certainly a first.
This article was published 5 June 2015