The Best Mayfair Restaurants 2024 | Where To Eat

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Apricity

Mayfair, London £££

A little south of Oxford Street, Chantelle Nicholson's Apricity might one day come to define London dining in the new 'twenties'. Amid the plutocrats' boutiques of Duke Street, it styles out its defiant scruffiness, with scoured, … Read more

68 Duke Street, Mayfair, London W1K 6JU

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Bellamy's

Mayfair, London £££

Archetypal Mayfair brasserie that oozes class and civility

Run with consummate grace and decorum by ever-present Gavin Rankin, this archetypal Mayfair brasserie feels as if it has been around forever – even though it only arrived on the scene in 2004. Inside, the green banquettes ar… Read more

18 Bruton Place, Mayfair, London W1J 6LY

Benares

Mayfair, London

Commercial rents in Berkeley Square are among the highest in the world and prices here are commensurate with the location. That said, the auspicious Mayfair address sets a deluxe scene, one that’s a world away from curry hou… Read more

12a Berkeley Square , Mayfair, London W1J 6BS

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Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill

Mayfair, London £££

Venerable seafood institution

A ‘very reliable’ Mayfair fixture since 1916, the self-titled ‘grand dame of Swallow Street’ is still shucking oysters with a vengeance under the stewardship of chef/patron Richard Corrigan. These days, reg… Read more

11-15 Swallow Street, Mayfair, London W1B 4DG

Bibi

Mayfair, London £££

The capital's Indian restaurant scene is booming, with openings across the spectrum from street food to high-end cuisine, yet this venture from the JKS group (Sabor, Lyle’s, Hoppers, Gymkhana, Bao etc) is one of the most exc… Read more

42 North Audley Street, Mayfair, London W1K 6ZP

Bombay Bustle

Mayfair, London ££

Anyone who has seen the movie The Lunchbox will know about the ‘dabbawalas’ who bike thousands of tiffin tins to office workers across Mumbai and other Indian cities. This casual sibling of Jamavar brings some of that … Read more

29 Maddox Street, Mayfair, London W1S 2PA

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Corrigan's Mayfair

Mayfair, London ££££

Richard Corrigan's majestic Irish cooking and hospitality

There has always been something appealing about Richard Corrigan's mission to bring the spirit of his native, rural Irish cooking to the heart of London's West End. It survives its translation largely intact in the form of wild an… Read more

28 Upper Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, London W1K 7EH

Gymkhana

Mayfair, London £££

Originally inspired by colonial India’s Days of the Raj polo clubs, this thoroughbred from the JKS group (Trishna, Brigadiers, Hoppers etc) is a classy Mayfair package spread over two levels connected by a mirrored staircase… Read more

42 Albemarle Street, Mayfair, London W1S 4JH

Hakkasan Mayfair

Mayfair, London ££££

There had been high-end Chinese eateries in London before visionary restaurateur Alan Yau launched Hakkasan in 2001 but none that had made the concept approachably aspirational rather than simply offering dining rooms for the rich… Read more

There had been high-end Chinese eateries in London before visionary restaurateur Alan Yau launched Hakkasan in 2001 but none that had made the concept approachably aspirational rather than simply offering dining rooms for the rich. This 2010 sequel keeps all that was ground-breaking about the Tottenham Court Road original but in a Mayfair location that seems a better fit for the high-octane glamour of it all. A mirror hanging above the staircase to the basement dining room emphasises that this is a restaurant where appearances are at a premium and, from the carved oriental screens and spot-lit tables to the scarily good-looking staff, Hakkasan Mayfair is not somewhere to slum it. Then again, this is food to dress up for. The Anglo-Chinese favourites can be pimped up with luxury produce – the Peking duck comes with the optional addition of beluga caviar – but all the ingredients here are top-notch (as indeed they should be at these prices) and the quality of cooking is unfailingly high. The pork ribs are smoked with jasmine tea, the Singapore noodles adorned with jumbo-sized prawns (rather than the usual sad specimens), soft-shell crab, squid and Dover sole are gently encased in the lightest of batters, while perfectly timed pak choi zings with fresh ginger. Balance is a hallmark of the Hakkasan kitchen, whether the genuinely sweet-and-sour Duke of Berkshire pork (a best-in-class rendition of the clichéd dish), the hot-and-sour crispy freshwater prawns with chillies and cashews (an update of the classic kung po), or the sharp and rich slow-roasted ibérico pork char siu coated with black garlic glaze, mustard dressing and pickled daikon. Wines from the style-led list will at least double the bill, while other drawbacks to dining here include tightly packed tables that allow easy eavesdropping and a throbbing soundtrack that would not be out of place in a nightclub. Natural light makes the ground-floor dining room-cum-lounge bar feel less claustrophobic, not least for daytime dim sum that is some of the best in London. But for special occasions – or any time you just want to feel special – Hakkasan Mayfair fits the sizeable bill.

17 Bruton Street, Mayfair, London W1J 6QB

Hélène Darroze at The Connaught

Mayfair, London ££££

Despite the gushing water feature on Carlos Place, the Connaught remains a redoubt of hotel tradition, still at the centre of a turbulent West End. Its principal dining room has been under the aegis of Hélène Darroze… Read more

Despite the gushing water feature on Carlos Place, the Connaught remains a redoubt of hotel tradition, still at the centre of a turbulent West End. Its principal dining room has been under the aegis of Hélène Darroze for 14 years now, undergoing cosmetic surgery in 2019 to turn it from something that still felt like a gentlemen's club to a lighter, more appealing space with tan leather banquettes and subdued illumination. Numerous staff patrol the territory with impeccable precision, smart as soldiers and twice as friendly, contributing to the sense of occasion that the seasonally shifting menus promise. There is just enough variation to permit some choosing: pairs of options at some stages (though one always has a supplement), a sliding scale for the overall number of courses. Wine flights also ascend through the financial levels, from here on earth to ya-ya. If there was occasionally a feeling in the past that the fit wasn't quite comfortable – like those new shoes that pinch a little – the transformation in recent years has been remarkable. Darroze is at the top of her game, offering dishes that astonish with their complexity and stirring depth of flavour. Paimpol coco beans and smoked eel, seasoned with Nepalese timut pepper and bathed in clam consommé, was a magnificent opening statement on the 'Taste of Autumn' menu, followed by ceps in pasta cups with a snail, some guanciale and roasted cobnuts. A dish lid is whisked away to engulf the diner in the aromas of burnt hay, the basis of a foaming sauce for a piece of lobster tail, with two superb condiments – a sweet-and-sour gel and vivid green tarragon purée. The main event might be Rhug lamb dressed in ras el hanout with apricot and spelt. Less spectacular, but still good, was the breast of guinea fowl stuffed with duck liver and accompanied by braised Roscoff onion. A pre-dessert of peach with nasturtiums then paves the way for, perhaps, Mekonga chocolate in buckwheat tea or the signature baba, doused in one of Darroze's bespoke vintage Armagnacs, with raspberries and peppered crème fraîche. There has sometimes been a feeling that the grand hotels have lost a little ground in the rip-tide of contemporary cooking that has overtaken the capital. Not here. This is a kitchen in turbo-charge.

16 Carlos Place, Mayfair, London W1K 2AL

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Hide

Mayfair, London ££££

A hide is where ornithologists conceal themselves to watch the birdlife, and up on the first floor at Ollie Dabbous' Mayfair bolthole, lucky diners have a panoramic view over the expanses of Green Park. In a room done out in neutr… Read more

85 Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 7NB

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Humo

Mayfair, London £££

Glitzy homage to live-fire cooking

From the street Humo’s muted appearance gives little away, but its owners (the Creative Restaurant Group, which includes Endo at the Rotunda) have splashed out on the interior. The room certainly has impact – the forme… Read more

From the street Humo’s muted appearance gives little away, but its owners (the Creative Restaurant Group, which includes Endo at the Rotunda) have splashed out on the interior. The room certainly has impact – the former Wild Honey spot never felt as glitzy. Devoted to 'live fire' cooking, the best seats are at the long, deep counter overlooking the rush of heat and flames of the four-metre-long wood grill – there are conventional dining tables, too.

In charge of it all is Robbie Jameson, a chef with an unerring feel for cooking over flames, using different kinds of wood to enhance flavours. He puts a strong emphasis on seafood, too, and his menu shouts out to the flavours of East Asia, notably Japan, all refracted through an occidental prism – a style that a finely pitched opener of Hampshire trout smoked over applewood summed up perfectly. Topped by roe marinated in yuzu, with a ‘salad’ of compressed apple and myoga (Japanese ginger root) and set on a sauce of English horseradish, pineapple, mango and lime, it was all about clear flavours, freshness and intensity.

Impressive technique is used to enhance, not to overwhelm: a single scallop is roasted directly over wood from aged whisky barrels, giving a sweet, subtle smokiness that’s underscored by a whisky, brown butter and verjus sabayon, while slices of nectarine provide a sweet-fresh note. Elsewhere, a nugget of 32-day aged Cornish lamb with beetroot sauce is made memorable with a Castelfranco radicchio ‘salad’ topped with sweet onion jam made from aged balsamic, celeriac and apple, while the accompanying skewer of confit lamb belly pressed with spinach and garlic is a perfect example of layering complex flavours. Dessert might be 'cinders' ('something sweet when the flames are off') or pandan and lime cream with 72% Araguani chocolate and blood orange. A set lunch option with optional wine pairings is a good introduction to Jameson's cooking, while the full wine list takes itself very seriously with prices that reflect the postcode.

12 St George's Street, Mayfair, London W1S 2FB

Jamavar

Mayfair, London £££

A beacon of Indian luxury and authenticity

Taking its name from the intricate 16th-century lace shawls of Kashmir, this lavish Mayfair spot has become a ‘beacon for those seeking both luxury and authenticity’ – a meticulously orchestrated celebration… Read more

8 Mount Street, Mayfair, London W1K 3NF

José Pizarro at the RA

Mayfair, London £

Fine art and tapas go together like bread and olive oil – no wonder avid gallery visitors (and others) are salivating over this addition to Spanish chef José Pizarro’s burgeoning restaurant group. Housed in… Read more

Royal Academy of Arts, 6 Burlington Gardens, Mayfair, London W1J 0PE

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Kanishka

Mayfair, London £££

Atul Kochhar's elegant Mayfair outpost

‘So consistent and so good,’ is one verdict on this relaxed Mayfair offering helmed by established Indian restaurateur Atul Kochhar. The decor transports diners with its cool jazz soundtrack and elegantly themed i… Read more

17-19 Maddox Street, Mayfair, London W1S 2QH

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Kitty Fisher's

Mayfair, London £££

An animated local institution, this simple set of rooms has been a bright light in Shepherd Market since 2014. The two-tiered interior (linked by a narrow staircase) has a rustic, thrown-together look with clumping wood furniture,… Read more

10 Shepherd Market, Mayfair, London W1J 7QF

MiMi Mei Fair

Mayfair, London £££

'It felt like I had been transported onto a Wong Kar-Wai movie set,’ quipped an inspector after visiting this three-storey Georgian townhouse. A picture-pretty fantasy trip imagined as the private residence of (make-believe) Emp… Read more

55 Curzon Street, Mayfair, London W1J 8PG

Mount St. Restaurant

Mayfair, London £££

Any restaurant located on Mayfair's Mount Street must bring expectations of high prices and a certain well-groomed charm. Mount St doesn't disappoint on either count. There’s a classy subtlety to this dining room located abo… Read more

First Floor, 41-43 Mount Street, Mayfair, London W1K 2RX

Murano

Mayfair, London £££

Angela Hartnett's Murano fits its Mayfair environs to a nicety. It's a civilised, expansive, lushly carpeted room patrolled by attentive staff, the muted decorative tone risking no jolts to visual tranquillity. Even the pattern of… Read more

20 Queen Street, Mayfair, London W1J 5PP

Noble Rot Mayfair

Mayfair, London £££

There’s something reassuringly old fashioned about this self-confident restaurant (the latest in what is now a trio of London-based Noble Rots) – and that’s a large part of its charm. With a dark green frontage, … Read more

There’s something reassuringly old fashioned about this self-confident restaurant (the latest in what is now a trio of London-based Noble Rots) – and that’s a large part of its charm. With a dark green frontage, ground-floor windows sporting café-style net curtains and two slightly cramped dining floors, it feels as if it has been around forever – an impression reinforced by the simple polished wood tables, red banquettes, wooden chairs and mottled walls covered in framed Noble Rot magazine covers. Clued-up staff, a general air of warm-heartedness and a commendable wine list all contribute to the appeal. The regularly changing menu is reflective of both the season and head chef Adam Wood's many enthusiasms – his food is a delight. The short, Euro-accented menu offers dishes that are (mostly) straightforward assemblies with inspired finishing touches – beef tartare with green tomatoes and Ossau-Iraty (Basque ewe's milk cheese), say, or smoked ravioli with courgette and preserved lemon. We enjoyed tender squid with a chorizo sauce – so good we regretted not ordering bread to mop it all up – followed by two generous slices of tender Ibérico pork, served with a heap of runner beans, sliced apricots and juicy whole blackberries. And we couldn’t fault the rich, delicate duck-egg custard tart – a sprinkling of sea salt proved a sharp foil that really enhanced the flavour. The wine list is simply one of the best in London, an outstanding, deeply researched and inspiring document. Predominantly organised by grape variety, with regional sections where blends are predominant, it spans a massive range of top-drawer growers and estates. The principal focus is Europe, though there are some pedigree New Worlders too. Portuguese and Greek selections are encouragingly thorough, and the listings of sparklers and sweet wines (rotted and late-picked) are tremendous. Wines by the glass are in small enough measures to make comparative tasting feasible. Coravin pours will test the budget, but are uniformly glorious.

5 Trebeck Street, Shepherd Market, Mayfair, London W1J 7LT

Sabor

Mayfair, London ££

Flexible, fun and superb-value Spanish tapas

If Spanish tapas as a restaurant concept now comes in fifty shades of authenticity, Sabor offers something else again. Nieves Barragán and José Etura draw on the culinary traditions of all corners of Spain, from Cast… Read more

35-37 Heddon Street, Mayfair, London W1B 4BR

The Barley Mow

Mayfair, London £££

From the Cubitt House group, this transformed Mayfair pub comes across as a genuine local, refreshingly free of affectation and resolutely faithful to its pub roots. The impressive ground-floor bar has held on to its darkly varnis… Read more

82 Duke Street, Mayfair, London W1K 6JG

The Ritz

Mayfair, London ££££

Glitz and all-round excellence in London's most handsome dining room

As with bungee-jumping or a trip to Venice, dinner at The Ritz is one of those experiences that every life should ideally embrace at least once. There is nothing in either hemisphere that looks like the hotel's dining room on a ba… Read more

As with bungee-jumping or a trip to Venice, dinner at The Ritz is one of those experiences that every life should ideally embrace at least once. There is nothing in either hemisphere that looks like the hotel's dining room on a balmy day, with the sun pouring in off Green Park – unless it be the evening scene, when gilded Poseidon lolls on his pedestal, sparkling chandeliers twinkle and the silverware gleams like honesty in a sinful world.

In the distant past, the cooking idled amid pedestrian Anglo-French cliché, but under John Williams MBE, it began a steady ascent toward global greatness. Needless to say, the style of service is an exercise in arts that have been cheerfully abandoned elsewhere, and yet there is genuine warmth within the impeccable propriety. Prime materials from the home nations – organic Cornish beef, Lakeland lamb, Scottish lobster – furnish a menu that is supple enough to be parlayed into five- or seven-course ‘epicurean experiences’ for those reluctant to tear themselves away.

To start, there's Dorset crab dressed in crème fraîche and adorned with Imperial caviar, or you might plump for roast quail cooked in verjus and crunchy with hazelnuts. The delicacy of timing is exemplary throughout, from wild sea bass with artichoke and lemon to truffled veal fillet with chestnuts, but equally sharp judgement distinguishes the miraculously tender roe deer and its aromatic garnitures of smoked beetroot and juniper.

Tableside service was what there was before open kitchens, a chance to see the finishing touches being applied to dîner à deux servings of Dover sole or beef Wellington, followed perhaps by crêpes Suzette – an Edwardian culinary bloop that stuck. Otherwise, look to chocolate soufflé with vanilla Chantilly, chestnut Mont Blanc or the distinctly daring port-roasted figs in orange and olive oil.

If you're after a spot of wine as well, the Ritz can oblige. Perhaps start with a larger-than-average glass of the ‘Champagne of the month’, before setting about the main list. French and Italian classics form the solid, lottery-win foundation, but there are excellent selections from South America and Australasia too.

150 Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 9BR

Veeraswamy

Mayfair, London £££

Like all good things, the UK’s oldest Indian restaurant (estab. 1926) has spawned a string of imitators under the aegis of Ranjit Mathrani, Namitha and Camellia Panjabi (the family behind Chutney Mary, Amaya and the Masala Z… Read more

Victory House, 99 Regent Street, Mayfair, London W1B 4RS

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