Chelsea, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2024 Review: This “pleasant spot off the King’s Road” in Chelsea is at its “romantic best if you’re sitting outside in the summer”, in one of the courtyard booths. The seasonal British menu is well executed, if lacking real excitement.

2022 Review: This lovely 200-year-old pub in a Chelsea backstreet serves a very decent menu (including “child-friendly” options) and is thriving follow a smart refurb under the ownership of Rupert Clevely’s Hippo Inns for the second time – in 2010 he sold it to brewer Youngs as part of Geronimo Inns.

Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan was – as of mid 2025 – rumoured to be on the verge of buying a £1 billion stake in Richard Caring’s restaurant empire, of which this famous brasserie chain is the crown jewel. Presumably, he’s more interested in ‘rolling out’ the brand in The Gulf and beyond rather than dropping by for a Salmon Fishcake and ‘Ivy Chocolate Bombe’, but if he’d asked the opinion of our annual diners’ poll, we’re not sure that he’d sign on the dotted line. “How can a restaurant with this heritage produce such uninspired, tick-box food?” is a question merited by its poor ratings, ditto what explains the “very slow and disinterested service”? The answer may be that “you don’t come here for the food, obviously” but for the “gorgeous” interior design and “picturesque” locations that continue to underpin their appeal. Let’s hope for the Sheikh’s sake that the middle classes of the Arab World are as undiscerning as those from the UK!

“Good all-rounder” with a relaxed, faux-rustic atmosphere from the Gladwin Bros that is “great to nip into when shopping” on the King’s Road (“terrific value set-lunch menu”) but equally a “success for a happy, reasonably priced dinner among friends”, thanks to its “good range of interesting, well-cooked dishes”: the latter are in a ‘bistronomic’, modern British style and focus on produce from the family’s Nutbourne estate in Sussex (branded ‘Local & Wild’).

“The food is great” at this early-Victorian King’s Road pub – “the perfect spot for a family get-together on a Sunday” – although “staff can be a bit patronising; this is Chelsea after all…”, and “it can get very busy”. The relaunch four years ago by JKS Restaurants and Kitchen Table chef James Knappett raised expectations so high that it remains a curious case of much ado about nothing: not bad at all, but given the pedigree we might have expected a little more.

“Phil Howard is a legend and provides the perfect delivery of immaculate fine food” according to practically all reports on his “trustworthy” HQ in a quiet street near posh ‘Brompton Cross’: a “smooth operation” whose “professional and congenial staff” add greatly to the occasion. Over the years its ‘flexitarian’ approach has been downplayed, but – with his degree in microbiology – Phil is known as one of the capital’s more cerebral chefs, and his love of ‘pure, clean and light’ flavours informs the thoughtful menus here. A caveat? The design of the interior is either ‘elegant’ or “quite bland”, depending on your tastes.

“The whole dining experience is exemplary” at this “lovely and very cosy restaurant” on a corner site near Chelsea Embankment: an early advocate for cooking over live fire in a dining room that was super-tastefully upgraded a few years back following a reported £3 million investment by impresario Sue Greene (who also owns Ronnie Scott’s). Jason Atherton-trained chef Iain Smith provides a “very enjoyable” menu of luxurious grills prepared over the flames, including many exceptional prix-fixe deals such as the weeknight ‘Taste of 50’ menu, which disarm the cost of eating here. “Friendly service” adds to its “romantic” appeal.

2023 Review: 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”.

“Gorgeous food from a great chef” is served in the foyer of the iconic Michelin Building on Brompton Cross, which has expanded in recent years from the original oyster bar concept to become a more casual alternative to Claude’s flagship upstairs, Bibendum. As part of the change, hot food is now a staple alongside its longstanding focus of luxurious, cold fruits de mer (“I always go there meaning to try something different but always end up with the Dover sole… expensive but worth it!”).

“Perhaps the food should not have left the farm…” – the feedback we receive (admittedly thin) remains sceptical regarding the fashionably located London satellites of Lady Bamford’s enviable Cotswold estate in Brompton Cross, Notting Hill and Pimlico. Some reports do say they are “great places for lunch when shopping, with fantastic home-made soups and cakes”, but even fans can find them “pricey” – to critics the level of value is “scandalous” or “just crazy”.

“For the history attached to this place it should be much, much better” – too often the reaction to this Chelsea landmark, originally built in the 1920s as a car showroom and ultimately part of the late Sir Terence Conran’s design-led group (recently rebranded as The Evolv Collection). Nowadays a combination of large pavement café and high-ceilinged first-floor brasserie, it lacks the mojo to make it more than a utility for the ‘Made in Chelsea’ crowd rather than the special destination it has always begged to be.

This “lovely traditional pub with a wood-panelled dining room” has been a gathering place for a well-heeled young South Ken pack since time immemorial (it “can be crowded”). There’s a “great atmosphere and a good range of ales, though the food could go up a notch with a little more effort”.

TV chef Tom Kerridge pulled the plug on his “surprisingly ordinary” Chelsea pub The Butcher’s Tap & Grill in June 2025, replacing it with this new concept designed to ‘commemorate the beauty of traditional British gastropub dining’. Tom De Keyser, head chef at the Kerridge group’s famous flagship, The Hand & Flowers in Marlow, shifted over to take charge of the kitchen, with menus starting at £18.50 for a two-course lunch.