Theatrical eating places in London
The Sport Fowl, The Stafford
Overseen by Lisa Goodwin-Allen, government chef at Lancashire’s Michelin-starred Northcote, The Sport Fowl delivers upscale, fashionable British eating inside luxe resort The Stafford. Dishes would possibly embrace duck pie or crispy cod with heat tartare sauce. Bespoke trolleys are used to serve smoked fish to visitors, carve Sunday’s grass-fed British beef tableside, or to showcase the afternoon tea cake choice (£70pp). Mains from £25; thestaffordlondon.com
The Northall, Corinthia
With its hovering columns and massive home windows, the Corinthia resort’s Northall is an eyeful, even earlier than workers begin making a caesar salad tableside or flambéing crêpes suzette. Government chef André Garrett additionally runs The Backyard, a heated alfresco spot that, in winter, consists of cosy fireplaces, cashmere blankets and rum scorching sweets. For the raclette with potatoes and pickled veg, melted cheese is served from a intelligent heater tableside. Mains from £18; corinthia.com
Maison François, St. James’s
This fashionable replace of the traditional French brasserie is famend for eye-catching dishes (oeuf en gelée, fruits de mer) and its stunning dessert and beef tartare trolleys. The latter carries stellar elements (flavour-packed Lowline beef, Maison’s personal spice combination) which are then tailor-made to diners’ palates as they select whether or not so as to add, for instance, capers, Tabasco or anchovy breadcrumbs. You too can take your tartare on bone marrow toast. Mains from £22; maisonfrancois.london
The Colony Grill Room, Mayfair
With its classic styling, giant cubicles and hanging murals, the Colony pays homage to traditional New York grill eating places. Dishes completed tableside are a giant a part of chef Ben Boeynaems’ menu, together with dover sole meunière with miso butter, theatrically deboned earlier than visitors. The sharing wood-grilled tomahawk steak (bone-in ribeye) is a equally dramatic presentation, carved because it’s served on the desk. Deft knife abilities maximise the minimize’s juiciness. Mains from £20; colonygrillroom.com
Bambi, Netil Home
Drama is available in many types, not least a well-crafted DJ set. In addition to whip-smart sharing plates from chef Henry Freestone (assume cauliflower cheese arancini, marinated courgettes and whipped feta, roast hen with focaccia and inexperienced sauce), this music-led bar and restaurant comes full with a lush classic sound system. On Friday and Saturday nights, visitor DJs curated by scene legend Charlie Darkish take diners on a deep-dive into their treasured collections. Plates round £8-26; bambi-bar.com
Harrod’s Eating Corridor, Knightsbridge
This astonishing Grade II-listed house relaunched in October 2023, unveiling a raft of newsworthy openings, most notably Sushi by Masa from Masayoshi Takayama, whose flagship New York restaurant holds three Michelin stars. The open-plan kitchens, together with Tom Kerridge’s Fish & Chips, encompass a small central stage the place musicians play pop, jazz, soul and R&B nightly. harrods.com
Brooklands, Belgravia
Rooftop views are simply one of many eye-catching options at this Peninsula Lodge beginner. Impressed by Brooklands racetrack and its aviation hyperlinks, the inside has many speaking factors. There’s a classic automobile and Concorde nostril cone within the Brooklands’ foyer, whereas, within the restaurant, the ceiling incorporates an enormous aluminium scale mannequin of Concorde. Like Concorde, the meals is an Anglo-French collaboration in substances, expertise and approach. Chef-director Claude Bosi’s crew is serving dishes together with Exmoor caviar, Roscoff onion and duck jelly or Racan guinea fowl, sea beet and Scottish razor clams. From £115pp; peninsula.com
TOKii, Marble Arch
From its shabu-shabu hotpot, through which diners gently cook dinner substances, to the yellowtail fish carpaccio, this modish Japanese restaurant on the Prince Akatoki resort serves many stunning, partaking dishes. For up-close perception into its cooks’ work, sit for the omakase menu (£100pp), an 11-course exploration of beautiful substances led by sushi chef Kazuyo Okuda. Sharing plates round £8-29; tokii.co.uk
Jacuzzi, Kensington
Large Mamma’s eating places are giant, lavish areas. Kensington’s 170-seat, three-storey Jacuzzi gives arresting options galore: indoor bushes, trailing foliage, Roman statues, chandeliers, marble flooring and Murano glass. Feast on sharing spaghetti alla chitarra with truffle sauce, parmesan foam and recent black truffle, ready tableside and served in a 4kg pecorino wheel. A number of desserts, comparable to tiramisu, are generously dished up at desk. Mains from £15.50; bigmammagroup.com
Theatrical eating places within the UK
Leno @ DIECAST, Manchester
From frozen daiquiri tanks on the bar, to caravans within the beer backyard, this huge indoor-outdoor house is exclusive. Including to the spectacle, because the DJ cranks up the BPMs, the platforms and runways snaking round this former foundry come alive with dancers and performers (Thursday-Saturday nights). Meals-wise, the principle focus is on Leno’s NeoPan pizzas, a steel-pan-baked tackle traditional Neapolitan pizza. Count on a aspect order of seasonal vibes: evening markets, sausages and steins, a bandstand and mulled wine. Mains from £9; diecastmcr.com
Thor’s, York
A pop-up Christmas social gathering pitching its tipis on the Principal Lodge and in Museum Gardens. Count on DJs, reside music, boozy scorching sweets and roaring fires, with meals from Ciao (museum solely) and East Asian-inspired faves Yuzu. Yuzu’s Principal menu consists of snowboard feasts (with bao, gyoza, karaage hen, and many others; £25pp), and a sharing soy honey glazed camembert with gochujang. Principal website, meals round £10; thorstipi.com
Kargo MKT at Central Bay, Salford
This waterfront meals corridor options round 20 merchants, showcasing northern (road) meals expertise comparable to Brazilian chef Caroline Martins (aka Rio-Mex), Vietnamese stars VNam or Ethiopian and Eritrean kitchen Home of Habesha. Its weekend DJs, reside music, month-to-month themed reveals and occasions, from craft workshops, to youngsters’ discos, supply a feast of leisure. kargomkt.com
The Wilderness, Birmingham
With its rock soundtrack, working from Slayer to The Stooges, and the black inside making a theatrically darkish canvas for the meals to return, chef Alex Claridge’s restaurant is a singular creation. Wilderness has its playful particulars (Bukowski quotes on partitions, bespoke crockery artwork) however Alex’s meals is more and more stark in its design. He needs dishes of beetroot ice cream, ajo blanco, inexperienced chilli and smoked oil, or grilled wagyu with Kampot pepper and vinegar mud in a beefy soy broth, to wow with their pure depth of flavour, slightly than vibrant, camera-ready aesthetics. From £95pp; wearethewilderness.co.uk
Pizza Pilgrims, Leeds & Nottingham
Placing the pizzazz into pizza, PP’s brand-new Leeds department options the Frozen Flamingo, a vivid pink pedalo the place (after god-tier Neapolitan-style pizza) you possibly can order soft-serve sundaes made with Northern Bloc ice cream. Later, climb aboard and peddle to energy the connected opera gramophone. Down in Nottingham, you possibly can benefit from the ‘disco rest room’ – push-button lights, music, glitterball motion – and Dramattic, a non-public eating house full with fancy costume outfits, big-screen video video games and karaoke. Pizza from £9.95; pizzapilgrims.co.uk
Pêtchi, St Helier, Jersey
Seize a kitchen counter seat to look at the wood-fired grills at this Basque-influenced newcomer lick complete turbots, geese and XL chops into form. The crew will fortunately chat via the processes behind Pêtchi’s photogenic dishes, from its lobster rice (the place a grilled crustacean is attractively reassembled atop the grains) to its half lemon dessert, crammed with Amalfi lemon posset and sorrel granita. Smaller plates, £7-14, bigger from £26; petchi.je