From the team behind the Thomas Cubitt: another elegantly transformed Belgravia boozer, where the grand upstairs dining room offers an extensive English-slanted menu realised to a solid standard.
Belgravia is on the up. An odd proposition, it might seem, but that’s what the property pages say, so it must be true. An area that was once seen as a frumpy dowager is now getting just a little bit fashionable. Some of the credit must go the three chaps who transformed a sad old boozer on Belgravia’s high street (Elizabeth Street) into an elegant social hub for the area’s younger souls. Rare is the day when Thomas Cubitt SW1 is not bursting at the seams.
Emboldened by their Cubitt success, the same team has now found another under-used boozer, near Belgrave Square, and converted it even more lavishly. The result is a ‘pub’ with a first-floor dining room of a style and grandeur which would not feel out of place in a St James’s club (and rather more smartly decorated too). For sheer comfort, few ‘restaurants’ proper equal it. On a sunny day, it is a very charming place to be.
This being Belgravia you can, if you wish, kick off your meal with a good choice of champagnes, caviar and oysters. Or, as one of us did, you can have a rather nice glass of prosecco for around a fiver. What’s nice about this place is that you can really push the boat out if you want to, or – if you don’t – you can drink and eat pretty reasonably (by local standards). Three people can lunch pleasantly, as we did, not drinking a great deal, for a little over £100.
Although the (largely) English menu is long and quite diverse, the realisation of our food never fell below thoroughly acceptable, and the occasional dish was really very good – the highlight was some beautifully grilled tuna. Just like its sibling, this place looks unlikely to become a ‘foodie’ destination, but its food is clearly good enough, and certainly good enough value, to contribute to making this a very popular rendezvous.
What is not yet good enough is the service. It was engaging, but our meal dragged out as we waited and waited for our simple main courses. And this in a dining room which was at the start of our meal barely one fifth full. But we rather recall similar problems in the early days of the Thomas Cubitt: they got there in the end, and we suspect the Pantechnicon Rooms will too.
