Chelsea, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

Just off the King’s Road, this two-year-old courtyard bar and restaurant (with outside booths) is a “lovely” venue in partnership with the nearby Chelsea Gardener. The straightforward British seasonal food is consistently well-rated, but no-one suggests it’s going to set the earth on fire.

“You wouldn’t go for ‘haute cuisine’, but as a jolly place to eat comfort food in a spectacular setting, it is hard to beat” – that’s the upbeat view, anyway, on this now-“ubiquitous” brasserie chain. Eight years and 40 openings later, the spin-offs increasingly eclipse the Theatreland original (see also), whose Edwardian features provide the style-guide for its nationwide ‘roll out’. “Even if the unchallenging food reaches no heights, there’s a consistent buzz”, which makes them a “posh”, “fun” choice for a get-together, if not a particularly foodie one. This is particularly the case at the landmark London off-shoots: at ‘Chelsea Garden’ (“gorgeous greenery”); Kensington (“slick”, with a “pretty glitzy crowd”); and on the Thames (“great views over Tower Bridge”). But while it’s always been acknowledged that the mass offering is “a shadow of the mothership’s” – with “average grub at not-so-average prices” – the feeling that the brand has become just “a chain that does not excite” is gaining ever-stronger currency. Service seems more “stretched” nowadays, and a sliding ambience rating is making the whole offering seem ever-more “overrated, for all its modern art and perky décor”.

This quirky, faux-rustic venture in Chelsea was the second in the Gladwin family’s nowadays fast-growing farm-to-fork group. Its sustainable small-plates can be “very good”, but there are also a few gripes in reports, including service that can be so-so and a feeling that “tables are too close together”.

Since it was “gussied up” last year, this “beautiful and comfortable” old Chelsea pub (built in 1838) hasn’t made waves, despite a PR push and a laundry list of influential backers (including the owners of JKS Restaurants and Kitchen Table’s James Knappett). Its slick gastropub fare can be “excellent”, but is not reliably so; service sometimes strikes an “entitled” note; and it can appear “sad to see an institutional Chelsea boozer become a self-conscious eatery”.

Phil Howard – “in a former life, the chef at The Square, where he held two Michelin stars” – continues to deliver “sophisticated, precise and light” ‘flexitarian’ cuisine at his “quietly situated” Chelsea HQ, where he has been ensconced for the last six years now. It’s rather “grown up” in style – “the atmosphere is very much of understated wellbeing” and the room “spacious”. As at some other establishments, though, the pressures of the era dent its ratings this year: “post Covid, the previously first class service is not quite as slick as it was: still professional, but just missing a beat every now and then”, and this can sometimes lead to a “lacklustre” overall impression. Many fans, though, still feel “you can’t go wrong” here. Top Tip – “fair wine prices”.

An “impressive wine list” is the undoubted highlight of this small group, with branches in the West End and Chelsea – the newest branch is a 120-cover site near Oxford Circus. No-one has terrible things to say about its food selection, though, which is judged “passable…”, “OK…”, “…tasty if a little pricey”.

This gorgeous-looking brasserie in the heart of Old Chelsea is “always busy”, with chef Iain Smith (a former associate of Jason Atherton) presiding over high-quality but rather pricey surf’n’turf grills and “Sunday roast to die for”. Proprietor Jenny Greene, the theatre impresario who restored the Old Vic and owns Ronnie Scott’s jazz club, upgraded the premises several years ago; it is now a licensed wedding venue with an upstairs bar and salon boasting impressive views over Albert Bridge.

This “lively and friendly local” in South Ken rates well for its “high-quality menu complemented by daily specials”. Opened three years ago by the Lunar Pub Company, it’s “not somewhere for a quiet and romantic dinner, but the young local crowd make it a vibrant venue”.

“If you fancy oysters or other seafood, head for the Michelin Building” – one of London’s few venues that truly deserve the adjective ‘iconic’ – where the “cheaper” alternative to Claude Bosi’s grand restaurant upstairs is his “classic oyster bar (nice wines too)” in the elegant foyer of the building, in which “you can sit, nibble on light fare and watch the world go by”.

The food at the quartet of London cafés supplied by Lady Bamford’s organic farm in the Cotswolds suffered a mauling from some reporters this year. The Daylesford brand does have some “huge fans”, who praise its venues as “very pleasant for a good-quality snack”. But critics – citing “long waits”, “clueless staff” and “poor-quality, ropey ingredients” – feel they “may be a place to be seen but are overpriced and uninteresting”.

This stylish conversion of a landmark 1920s Chelsea car showroom from the D&D London stable certainly looks the part, but it continues to generate amazingly little feedback in our annual diners’ poll beyond the occasional complaint along the lines of: “service was appalling and the food not much better”.