Chelsea, International Restaurant Guide

In a chichi backstreet, a posh boozer that’s well-known to the denizens of Chelsea: it serves “a revisited version of typical pub food” in its rear dining room, which boasts a big, retractable glass skylight for warm days.

A big outside terrace is a key feature of Charles Saatchi’s attractive gallery café, which overlooks the green next to Duke of York’s Square on the King’s Road. Foodwise, it is most recommended for its afternoon tea possibilities, but it’s tolerably rated for a light bite at other times too.

“Very popular workers café by day, rather trendy restaurant by night!” – this veteran at the ‘wrong end’ of the King’s Road enjoys a “slick” double life as Chelsea’s “fun cheap eat”.

With the opening of Lucky Cat at the original maze site in Mayfair, the neighbouring maze Grill was also quietly killed off (RIP – relaunched as the utterly unmemorably-named Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill). That leaves just two Chelsea spin-offs to bear the once-famous ‘maze’ name: one on the site where the f-word chef first made his reputation, when it was called Aubergine (long RIP), and the other on Chelsea’s Royal Hospital Road (near the GR mothership). Reports similarly were few, with a verdict of tolerable but mixed.

2018 Review: “A hidden gem in the heart of Chelsea” – this swish boutique hotel (formerly operated on a club basis) has been taken over by the team behind Chewton Glen and Cliveden, and its ground-floor restaurant serving a brasserie-style menu is now open to the public. Too little feedback for a rating so far, but its afternoon tea, complete with edible flowers, has already had the thumbs up.