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London is the perfect city for those who want a luxurious experience. Staying at some of the top hotels in the world and shopping at high-tier stores are just part of what London has to offer. The city also hosts some of the top luxury restaurants on the planet. Trying out modern and elevated adaptations of dishes worldwide is a must! Chefs from different cultural backgrounds move to London to showcase their creative cooking, and mind-blowing dishes in environments that reflect luxurious decor and design.
An afternoon at Mayfair and Chelsea can grant you many things to do and see. There are exclusive opportunities to purchase new items and constant exposure to the high-class lifestyle. Having lunch or dinner at a nice and elevated place for a break is crucial for completing the day. Here is a list of the best luxury restaurants in London. Indulge in class and unique aromas.
Corrigan’s
Corrigan’s Mayfair belongs to the Irish chef Richard Corrigan, serving locally sourced game food following seasonality and praising every ingredient’s flavor, with dishes inspired by traditional British and Irish cooking. He believes that game is everything you find in nature. From this statement, one can already imagine the intricate and complex dishes served at the restaurant.
Open for lunch and dinner, the place offers an a la carte menu and a fixed-price tasting option. The menu changes weekly according to the seasonal availability of every ingredient. Here you can explore flavors from the mountains and the ocean. Start with a spiced beef tartare served with oyster cream, nori, and tempura. Then, move to the native Scottish lobster ravioli with lobster bisque and vadouvan, a curry-like spice mixed with garlic and shallots.
The design of the place does a beautiful job reflecting the culture of game. In each dish, you can taste the freedom of ingredients. The calming blue-toned design of the place when you first enter contrasts with the roughness of game food. It is perfect when put together with brown leather booths by the bar counter. Inside, different seating areas embrace a more robust decor, with dim lighting and darker shades of green and blue on the walls.
Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill
Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill offers some of the freshest seafood in London. Pairing Champagne with fresh oysters for lunch is not a bad idea, especially when you can pick from six different varieties and indulge in those refreshing sea flavors. The restaurant has been around for over 100 years. For the entirety of this century, they have been enchanting customers with excellent service and food.
Even though Bentley’s focuses on seafood, there are also plenty of meat and game seasonal dishes. Aside from the oysters, which you need to have as a starter, have the baked scallops with garlic and butter and the spiced foie gras with Sauternes wine on a brioche bun. Native lobsters are an option too, and the traditional fish and chips are house famous. Chefs serve the Himalayan salt-aged steak with pepper, and the parmesan gnocchi comes coated with truffles.
The restaurant from the outside resembles a fisherman’s warehouse, with brick walls and large windows on the second floor. There is a large terrace on the front where you can sit and indulge in the fresh air with white wine for lunch. The inside feels like summer at East Hampton, indulging in luxury and colonial decor.
Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester
Alain Ducasse offers contemporary french cooking, presenting an innovative approach to haute cuisine. The menu explores the best of traditional french food with modern preparation methods. It extracts flavors with precision from each ingredient and brings them forth to the table. It is one of the five restaurants in London to have three Michelin stars, owning its last one in 2020.
The interior decor merges classic and modern ideas, illustrating the flair of Mayfair and the greenery from Hyde Park, not so far from the venue. The dining room explores the simplicity of natural materials to create an elegant and soft environment. Wood, natural fabrics, and leather take over the furniture, surrounded by hues of grey and green that shine under bright natural light.
Here, you will find ultimate delicacies at the heart of one of London’s most famous neighborhoods. The food is produced with fresh and seasonal ingredients from french and British suppliers, a fusion that can be noticed in the dishes, especially in sauces. There is a tasting menu where you can try lobster medallions with chicken quenelles, truffles, and homemade semolina pasta. Saint-Pierre fish with artichokes and picked walnuts is also a part of the menu, and broccolis of different textures with Kristal caviar. When talking about the best luxury restaurants in London, we couldn’t leave this one behind!
Core by Clare Smyth
Clare Smyth used to be the head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, leaving the job to open her venue. Today, Core is considered one of London’s best and most luxurious restaurants, with two Michelin Stars and aiming for its third. The restaurant emphasizes sustainable and natural foods, with ingredients sourced from local farmers and producers in the UK.
The tasting menu dishes at Core cover classics from high American cuisine. Scallops cooked over wood with sea lettuce and herbs, roasted cod with bay shrimps and swiss chard, venison with pearl barley, and whisky… these are some examples of the food you will encounter at the venue. Simplicity in design contrasts with flavor and production complexity, highlighting every color and aroma of ingredients.
Inside, find a bright and clean environment where light grey and baby green harmonize with wooden tones on the bartop and floors. The dining hall is spacious and has tables of different sizes, perfect for any client. Core can satisfy them all, from couples wanting a romantic dinner to large families celebrating a special occasion.
Lecture Room & Library at Sketch
Sketch’s Lecture Room & Library is beauty and color waiting to be seen and appreciated by those who enjoy luxurious dining experiences. It is one of the most eclectic luxury restaurants in London. While most exclusive restaurants hold back on decor, appealing to the minimalist eye, this venue has no issue with sensorial explosions of light, aromas, and flavor.
The dinner tasting menu comes in both regular and vegetarian options. In seven dishes, you will try flavors like star-anise-infused herbal broth with asparagus, egg yolk confit in sweet Sauternes wine, carrot chantilly, and sheep ricotta – and that’s only the first plate. The same menu can come with wine pairings as well. Follow the journey with flavors like a lamb marinated with oregano and lemon paste, poached trout with hollandaise sauce and cured ham, and the house’s famous grand desert.
Inside the restaurant, colorful and bright decorations make you feel like you’re inside an Indian palace during a wedding. Shades of pink and yellow cover the carpet on the floor and the velvet chairs. Light coming from the bright red chandelier reflects on the mirror walls. Light yellow walls contrast with the redness from curtain drapes that cover large windows. It has three Michelin Stars, making it one of the five restaurants in London to reach such a ranking.
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
Visiting a Gordon Ramsay restaurant in London is a must for culinary enthusiasts. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay is one of the most popular venues run by the celebrity chef. It managed to own three Michelin Stars, making it one of the five venues in London to obtain such prestige. So, if you want to have an exclusive and luxurious experience, head to this tiny venue and try their carefully crafted food.
Try lobster ravioli with smoked cream and hazelnut. Maybe go for the roast duck with pistachio, turnips, and cumin or the 100-day dry-aged beef with artichokes and pickled walnut. A vegetarian menu is also available. The dishes are presented on clean plates, where the natural colors of fresh ingredients light up and create perfect contrasts with one another.
The dining room is bright and illuminated by natural light through oversized windows. White table cloths add to the classic environment of the venue, pairing with the light purple from the seats and light wood walls on the back. The inspiration table is also where you can sit and try the newest inventions from chefs!
Hide
Hide gained its first Michelin star six months after opening. Maybe it was because of their strategic location at Mayfair or their beautiful interiors and wine list. We know that all factors combined, including the menu, always enchant everybody who comes in to dine. It is definitely one of the best luxury restaurants in London. The restaurant is divided into three sections: above, ground, and below. Each one of them is distinctive and differs in its proposal somehow.
The Above area is decorated with light grey and light wooden tones. An almost monochromatic design gives space for artistic expression in the food served. A magnificent and bold staircase lies in the middle of the ground salon, its modern design calling attention to the boldness of the restaurant’s proposal. Below, find a dark and well-packed bar where you will discover exquisite cocktails and aromas.
Excellence in presentation is one of the core values at Hide, clearly represented on their well elaborated and colorful plates. The dishes here are anything but simple. Toast with melted cheese, poached egg, and truffles on top is an excellent way to start your meal. Move to the steamed cornish sole with mussels and eucalyptus, and finish with a zesty and caramelized dessert.
Luca
Luca is an Italian-inspired restaurant that combines classic luxury with hip trends for young people. By doing so, it has managed to attract and satisfy the crowds of London. At the same time, it maintains its posture as a grown-up, serious place. The restaurant serves fresh British ingredients, prepared with an Italian view and served beautifully and in creative ways. Eat scallops served inside a giant seashell, and you will understand what we’re talking about).
Dim lighting shines over olive-green and terracotta seats surrounded by brick walls in the main dining room. But if you’re here for lunch, sit at the terrace and enjoy the sunlight while looking at olive and jasmine trees. It feels like you’re in the back garden of an Italian summer house in Tuscany. Try a classic Italian Negroni at the bar while munching on the house-famous parmesan fries.
There is a prix fixe menu where you allow the chefs to explore their creativity and serve you a four-course meal. The a la carte offers fresh pasta dishes like conchiglie with stracciatella, garlic, and pistachio pesto. Juicy lamb racks with garlic sauce and caramelized spring vegetables for your meat course. Maybe try a halibut with smoked eel, courgettes, and vegetable minestrone. Pair your meal with some wine, and indulge in modern Italian food that will make you want to come back for more.
Helene Darroze at The Connaught
Helene Darroze is one of the three Michelin star luxury restaurants in London, working on fresh and seasonal products. It comes from the farmer’s market to the kitchen. Inside The Connaught hotel, this restaurant is one of the most luxurious options on this list, and eating here is experiencing the actual quality of food and experience.
The menu is small and highlights each flavor that composes a dish, even though, at first glance, it looks like they wouldn’t go well with one another. Start with white asparagus with miso. The lobster comes with tandoori spices, carrots, and coriander—the veal pairs with cauliflower, oysters, caviar, and capers.
The dining room is designed to look like a work of art, minimalist, and classic. The walls are crafted on wood paneling, with collages decorating them. Leather and velvet seats match the blue shades on the glass chandelier that hangs over wooden tables. Simple modernity takes over every aspect of Helene Darroze, from decor to food to the carefully crafted wine list.
Evelyn’s Table
At first glance, the most appealing part of Evelyn’s Table is probably its secrecy. Come in and find a small and straight-to-the-point wine list, carefully curated to match each dish. The house sommelier promises to take you on a unique and multi-sensorial journey, so you can just relax and let him do the work. Sakes and non-alcoholic beverages are also available. Sit at the chef’s counter, which fits 12 people, and watch a gastronomic performance. Make sure to make a reservation ahead of time.
Evelyn’s table is one of the floors from The Blue Post restaurant, where ingredients come in fresh every day, granting unique and natural flavors that take over each dish. The restaurant is a British pub serving gourmet bar snacks that perfectly match the beer selection. Down in the wine cellar, you will find the gastronomic experience that is Evelyn’s Table: five courses and three chefs.
The food mixes British products, French training, and Japanese techniques. The result is food that looks like art-nouveau. Find juicy lamb racks, bright green Brussels sprouts, and fresh fish displayed on beautiful plates. The space is small and intimate—a counter in front of the kitchen where you watch the action.
Jean-Georges at The Connaught
The Jean-Goerges at The Connaught is the perfect place to go if you’re a fan of truffles. Here, the simplest dishes come covered with thin shaves of black truffles. You won’t be afraid to ask for more afterward. Inside The Connaught hotel, this restaurant is ideal for every meal of the day, from sublime traditional breakfast to late-night luxurious dinners.
Here, classic British flavors meet Southeast Asian influences, creating a colorful, eclectic, and aromatic cuisine. Every ingredient is fresh, straight from the farmers market to the kitchen, and then carefully prepared to make it to the dining room like an explosion of essences. Start with a fresh bluefin tuna tartare with avocado, radish, and ginger sauce. For your main dish, maybe a cheeseburger with black truffle mayo or a spiced crusted salmon with coconut-lime infusion, coriander, and garlic. The pizzas are also famous, and you must share one during an alfresco lunch.
The environment here is the epitome of daytime luxury. Light gray furniture is spread on an isle, surrounded by an entire glass wall that grants you a view of the outside. Small red details on the glass give it a sense of class, and so does the bar on the back, stacked with high-quality spirits.
The Ritz
The final in our list of the best luxury restaurants in London is The Ritz – classic, old-school luxury. Looking like the dining room of an old French palace, the place is an explosion of colors, textures, and feelings. The haute cuisine you find here creates a multi-sensorial experience. They require men to wear a jacket and tie while inside, and the Louis XVI themes design makes you feel like you’ve traveled back in time to dine with the monarchy.
The Ritz has one Michelin Star, but it deserves another. The menu is seasonal and follows the lifecycle of its ingredients, constantly harvesting them at their freshest. It is inspired by the classic recipes of French chef Auguste Escoffier and his traditional French cooking methods, with a modern twist to them. Braised duck with honey, lavender, and beetroot is an example, as well as the crab dish with almonds and grape. You can choose between having a five or seven-course meal, where chefs carefully and beautifully prepare every dish.
Drink champagne before or after your meal and feel like part of the French royalty. The marble columns on the wall and the giant chandeliers hanging from a renascence painted ceiling contribute to the feeling of being somewhere entirely new.
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