74 Charlotte Street by Ben Murphy

The Sunday Telegraph

William Sitwell could not help but admire the “del­ic­ate, clever cook­ing” he found in this basement dining room at “the wrong end of Char­lotte Street” (on the former site of Monica Galetti’s Mere), despite chef Ben Murphy’s use of tweezers, blowtorches and pipettes of jus.

“What arrives is food so clean, pre­pared to a degree of almost pain­ful per­fec­tion, that one has to, on this occa­sion, be for­giv­ing,” William conceded. A starter of chicken liver par­fait whipped as light as a cloud yet brimming with a rich umami fla­vour, and served inside an eggshell with a brioche ‘soldier’, was “an adults-only pleas­ure dome of crunch and taste”.

A beautifully cooked cod loin was accompanied by squid Bolognese that was “a rev­el­a­tion of added depth to this ancient ragu which we should see a lot more of”. Finally, a soufflé of chocol­ate, praline and pista­chio had “risen, you might say, like the Lord Jesus him­self”.

William Sitwell - 2026-09-06