You rarely see a good restaurant in the heart of London. There are good restaurants, of course, but they’re rarely ‘obvious’. (Think J Sheekey, The Ivy and Le Caprice, to name but three. Quality restaurants in obvious locations – the most recent example is Osia in the Haymarket, now relaunched as an American diner – just don’t seem to work. Presumably that’s why the Wolseley – London’s most impressively-housed restaurant with real aspirations – does all it can to give the outward impression that it’s still a bank Mint Leaf – hidden away in a basement, two minutes’ walk from the National Gallery – passes the ‘comfortingly discreet’ test with flying colours. You’d never know it was there. The dark, smart and louvred interior is discreet, too. (In fact so discreetly lit you can sometimes barely see your feet.) It bears more than a passing resemblance to that at the fabulously successful Hakkasan, so it’s no surprise that it was created by the same designer. When you do find your table, such light as there is flatters the guests. The seating is notably comfortable, and the tables well-spaced: an ideal setting for a not-too-serious business lunch. In the evening, the ‘bar scene’ makes this more a social – even a romantic – sort of destination. The food is a high-quality, upmarket take on Indian cuisine (with some particularly good veggie dishes), and with an emphasis on striking (but not at all fussy) presentation, and service is professional. Most importantly, the rule of discretion seems to hold good: this really is one of the better West End all-rounders. Albeit at a price.
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