During a recent visit to The Park, Jeremy King’s newest restaurant that opened a couple of weeks ago on the corner of Queensway and Bayswater Road, the chef Rowley Leigh was enjoying a solo lunch. Many Good Food Guide readers will remember Leigh from his Kensington Place days when he, alongside the likes of Simon Hopkinson, Marco Pierre White and the late Alastair Little, kickstarted a renaissance of restaurants in Britain in the late '80s.
Leigh knows this location well, as he opened the excellent Le Cafe Anglais in 2007, at the top of Whiteleys shopping centre. Many will remember this restaurant serving some of his classics such as the Parmesan custard with anchovy toast in that large, airy dining room overlooking west London. Sadly, Le Cafe Anglais closed — perhaps because we Brits don’t do shopping centre dining and Leigh was a decade or two ahead of the curve with the location.
Fast forward to 2024 and the change that Queensway needs is now being led by Jeremy King with his second restaurant (he opened Arlington earlier in the year, since moving on from his group that owned The Wolseley and Brasserie Zedel). The Six Senses is following behind King with a hotel in the aforementioned Whiteleys. The Park occupies the ground floor of a large corner site in this new residential development that overlooks Hyde Park. Designed by Brady Williams Studio, the room is calming with huge windows overlooking the Royal park. The acoustics here are much welcomed compared to many restaurants these days where you cannot hear your table companion speak. The atmosphere is relaxed yet still special enough for those celebrating and entertaining with starched table clothes, Richard Brendon stemware and weighty silver salt and pepper cruets on the table.
You'll notice an American theme in King’s new restaurant, with inspiration drawn from contemporaries like Danny Meyer, Stephen Starr and Jonathan Waxman in New York. The large all-day menu has American diner classics such as a hot dog (£12), The Park cheeseburger (£17.50) and a lobster roll (£19.75) along with the classic Jeremy King menu that offers salads (the chopped cobb), American shrimp cocktail (served as whole shrimp on ice) and a range of entrees such as a ham hock pie, whole roast sea bream and a grilled veal chop. Something for everyone. Executive chef Samantha Williams previously worked for Angela Hartnett, so the pasta section, featuring crab and bottarga linguine with the roe shaved tableside, is particularly good.
Dessert sees the bespoke sundae menu return (a throwback to The Colony Grill at the Beaumont, formerly a Corbin & King restaurant) where guests can create their own. Red velvet cake and an ice cream cookie sandwich both make for more fun options for dessert. At weekends there’s brunch and breakfast too. Being located so close to a park, dogs are welcome throughout the day (but not at dinner).
Like all of Jeremy King's restaurants, The Park has pulled of that magical trick of feeling like it has always been there. The next time you have to go to Queensway, there’s now somewhere to eat.
WHEN 22nd June
WHERE The Park, Queensway, London W2 3RX
FOLLOW @theparklondon
BOOK theparkrestaurant.com
The Good Food Guide allows three to six months before anonymously inspecting a new restaurant. Look out for a full review coming soon.
