Dining in London
1 Blossom Street Restaurant & Bar
A contemporary style city restaurant, 1 Blossom Street has a sleek, sophisticated feel which suits business lunches, after work dinners and weekend meals with friends. Wooden floors, modern paintings and splashes of colour give a design led look while the atmosphere is relaxed and buzzy, while well spaced seating provides a discreet setting for those more intimate meals. Only the very best ingredients are used to provide an imaginative and individual Italian dishes which at the same time retain the delicious qualities of classical cuisine. Lunch can be served in 1 Blossom Street's tropical paradise private patio, making it a glorious summertime escape from the office.
1901 @ Andaz
1901 @ Andaz is, as you’d expect, a real experience - a feast both for your eyes and your taste-buds. You enter the restaurant to see a beautiful mosaic floor, stately pillars and a spectacular stain-glassed dome in the ceiling. The food is equally impressive, with a menu full of all sorts of delicious dishes. Head Chef Dominic Teague came to 1901 in July 2006 from L'Escargot and describes his food as elegant simplicity with clean presentation, all produced with the highest quality well sourced ingredients. We were particularly impressed with the Roast Chalan duck with braised baby beetroot, potato and apricot terrine, which was quite possibly the best duck we have ever tasted.
30 St. Mary Axe
Affectionately known as 'The Gherkin', this iconic building is one of London's most unique and prestigious landmarks. Since its opening in May 2004, 30 St Mary Axe has established itself as one of the city's premier event venues. Designed by Foster and Partners, the glass dome at the top of 30 St Mary Axe boasts a two - level event space with stunning 360 degree views as far as the eye can see. Although reserved for tenants of the building during the daytime, these two floors are available for hire for corporate dinners and receptions from Monday to Thursday from 6.30pm, and for wedding receptions, parties and corporate bookings on weekends.
A Scarlet Dot
Scarlet Dot is the first Indian hâute cuisine restaurant to open in characterful Spitafields. Part of a modern complex of restaurants and posh shops behind the famous indoor market, it does much to challenge your idea of what an Indian restaurant looks like. For starters, it's as much as drinking den as a restaurant. Very masculine with its tropical woods, dark blinds and black marble floors and walls, the bar provides a seriously cool place to meet for lunch or after-work drinks. The adjoining restaurant is staffed by a talented team supporting five-star Indian chefs adept at whipping up contemporary dishes - the Indian breakfast is not to be missed. In summer, you can eat outside under an impressive glass and steel canopy. Scarlet's crowd is pretty diverse; lawyers and bankers during the day; locals, designers and artists at night. The name, incidentally, is a reference to the bindi.
Barcelona Tapas Bar y Restaurante
This gorgeous, vivacious restaurant is a City favourite, and not just among worker bees yearning to buzz away to the Spanish sunshine. There’s fun in the air - the splendid yellows, reds and blues of the decor, the vivid flavours on the plates, the unusual and intriguing wine list, and the jostling sociability of the smart waitstaff all add up to a hugely enjoyable mix. This branch of Barcelona takes advantage of its site in a shiny office block to let the huge plate glass windows shed sunlight on all within. The ground floor offers both bar and table service, and is a terrific place to meet up at lunch or after work and sample some of the excellent - and rare - Spanish wines and bubblies. The mezzanine level is guarded by a Gaudi-inspired mosaic lizard and decorated with flamenco and toreador costumes. You can stick to your favourites from the menu, like chorizo, patatas bravas, and paella, or you can close your eyes and point and be delighted by the culinary adventure. You may discover rare Iberian ham or broad bean stew with black pudding. Save room for the excellent cheeses.
Beach Blanket Babylon - Shoreditch
The eagerly awaited Shoreditch addition to the iconic Notting Hill branch of Beach Blanket Babylon occupies a cavernous converted old warehouse on the Bethnal Green Road. With four floors and a decadent roof terrace, the super-chic restaurant, headed up by award-winning chef Rex Newmark, is located on the ground floor. With high ceilings, open theatre kitchens and a large marble bar, dining areas are divided into discreet raised levels of private dining spaces as well as ample banquette seating. A unique royal-box style dining area overlooking the main room can be used for private parties, bands and live performances.
Bevis Marks
And now for something truly different... Bevis Marks, ladies and gents, is a synagogue (the oldest in Britain), a street name and a restaurant. And a mighty fine kosher restaurant at that if you listen to critics in their column inches. To make the most of Bevis Marks, dress up in your smartest threads, compose yourself amongst the high-flying businessmen and their chic lady guests, and treat yourself to the signature dish - traditional salt-beef with frites finished off with horseradish relish. Portions being of the size your mother would serve you, if you’ve got room left order the apple and blackberry strudel with cinnamon ice cream for dessert, then savour it spoonful by spoonful. They also serve latkes - deep-fried potato cakes strictly not for the faint-hearted. Light, airy and modern (yes, abstract paintings make bold statements on the white walls), the room has an electric conservatory roof that opens up when the weather’s fine and a lovley courtyard at the front of the restaurant where you can dine alfresco during the warm summer months. Smart.
Boisdale of Bishopsgate
The clubby atmosphere, the excellent range of whiskies and fine cigars, the high-achieving British cooking, and the bubbling idiosyncrasies of the proprietor all blend brilliantly to make Boisdale a unique establishment. An outpost of the original Boisdale in Belgravia, the Champagne and Oyster Bar and the lower-ground vaulted restaurant are replete with enough tartan to upholster Arthur’s Seat, intriguing old prints, dark wood, and the strains of classic jazz from 7 o’clock every evening. The modern British menu heavily features fresh shellfish and oysters, and all ingredients are sourced wherever possible from Scotland. Try starter of venison terrine with spiced kumquat marmalade, main course of Angus ribeye with bearnaise, grilled tomato and chips, and pud of raspberry cranachan with 15 year old Dalwhinnie. And we can definitely recommend the haggis.
Cantaloupe
Work your way through the lively trendy throng that consistently packs out the big industrial style bar and you’ll enter the back room from where you can observe the happy masses from secluded low seating. Here you’re offered a quieter, more refined eating experience featuring a Mediterranean menu so beautifully put together that you’ll be tempted to order the lot. If you’re after a signature dish opt for the Xinim - chicken, prawn and mussel casserole with cashew nuts, peppers, tomatoes and coconut served with Brazilian rice, or the roast chump of lamb with braised chickpeas, morcilla, chorizo, parsley and garlic (all meat and eggs are free range). To keep your stomach happy while you’re waiting for it to arrive, nibble on some of the satisfying side orders - the olives are especially good. Drinks-wise there’s a good range of beers, cocktails, aperitifs and digestifs, but the most exciting is the descriptive wine list which serves Cantaloupe’s enduring reputation well.
Caravaggio
Caravaggio is a firm favourite with City boys, not least for the extremely attractive waitresses. The restaurant is well liked by the ’locals’, who enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and friendly yet efficient service of the management. Most of the menu is also available to be eaten at the bar, if you’re in a hurry to rush back to that all-important squillion-making deal. But if you want to linger, you can sit at your table with brandies and cigars all afternoon if you wish. What’s cooking? Sliced veal topped with fresh spinach and buffalo mozzarella, risotto with sea scallops and asparagus, roast suckling pig served with sweet potato and fennel.
Catch @ Andaz
Catch! formerly Fishmarket, is truly a shrine to the sea. With a beautiful crustacea display, stunning stained-glass windows and wood-panelled walls, the restaurant is really quite special. And so is the food. (Could Grilled sea bream, with squid and provencale vegetables have been more delicious?) Head chef Stuart Lyall, (ex-Oxford petit Blanc) introduces innovative ideas to his dishes without over complicating the flavours. To complete the experience, try the Champagne Bar next door.
Chamberlain’s Restaurant
Chamberlain’s Restaurant has been described as ’perfect fish in the heart of the city’, need we say more? This comfortable restaurant comes complete with a little bit of novelty - men are treated to water sculptures and an intriguing aquarium when they visit the facilities... Let’s get down to business now and have a word about the food. This is exactly how fish is meant to be cooked-it is simple and delicious, the fish being the main focus of each dish. Try the tian of crab, lobster bisque, scallops, and for mains, the wild sea bass, seared tuna and Dover Sole - you won’t look back!