Everything about 100 Kensington is bold, brash and ready for its close-up. Push open the door and you’re greeted by a life-size bronze bull. Each light fitting is huge and elaborate. The tables are topped with zany, colourful patterns and the seats are covered in crushed grey velvet. Behind the bar sit row upon row of jars lit up to make a rainbow, while monochrome crosses are projected onto the venue’s white walls. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a restaurant on the ground floor of the kooky Exhibitionist Hotel, just moments from South Ken’s museum stretch.
The menu is Asian-inspired and promises innovation and clever flavour combinations (at £40 for two people, the five-course tasting menu is a good-value option and handy for the indecisive) but the dishes themselves were a little underwhelming. Despite that, kimchi arancini were decent, and the highlight of the meal was easily the tempura cod cheeks: a crisp and delicate batter covering light and salty fish, with rich saffron-spiked potato.
100 Kensington’s menu doesn’t quite live up to the restaurant’s peppy interior, but a lot of thought has clearly gone into the vibe and how the food looks on the plate – so it’ll certainly keep London’s hashtagging hordes happy.