The best restaurants in Mayfair

Rather than an Italian Italian, The Dover is a self-styled ‘New York Italian’ that’s more Nolita than Naples. This is not your average nonna’s kitchen but rather a shimmering space to see and be seen, with stunning walnut walls and lots of discreet booths. Food comes from a long-enough list of well-done trad classics; spaghetti meatballs, parmigiana, penne arrabbiata, burger and fries, fillet mignon, and, of course, a house Dover sole, as well as a serious martini list. Prices are pretty reasonable for the area too, and there's some great old school touches; you can only book by phone, and it's not open for lunch. Hyped, but with very good reason.

At Mount St Restaurant there are 200 world-class pieces of art, worth a combined total of £50 million. Before you get to exec chef Jamie Shears’s outrageously good menu of elevated trad British dining classics, this five-floor palace is well worth a gawp. Mount St is the first London-based project from Artfarm, a hospitality group founded by the same folk behind the hugely respected gallerists Hauser & Wirth. Food is elevanted British trad classics. Sensational. 

We happen to think that Angela Hartnett’s flagship is Mayfair’s least stuffy fine-dining restaurant. Yes, there are beautifully dressed tables and carpets so thick you’d slip out of your shoes if only they were Manolo Blahniks, but the focus is resolutely on the good times: cue generous portions of big-flavoured Italian dishes, ferried by smiling, down-to-earth staff. (Psst: the set lunch is fabulous.)

The name Bibi, which means ‘lady of the house’ in Urdu, is a tribute to chef-patron Chet Sharma’s grandmothers, who inspired his cooking. The Kashmiri fabric on the walls and bar stools is a nod to their shawls. And the food is influenced by his travels around India. But don’t expect vindaloos and bhajis. Instead prepare for an exploration of traditional fine-dining Indian cooking. Come for the Lahori chicken served with a cashew-and-yoghurt-whey sauce.

Forever the flashiest gal in the town, The Ritz's Michelin-starred dining room contains carpets adorned with giant roses, floral swags and crystal chandeliers draped from the ceiling, and massive pink marble columns. Camp? A bit. The ‘Epicurean’ tasting menu is the done thing at The Ritz, either five or seven courses of the best British ingredients, cooked with French precision and flair. It comes at a hefty price, but you'll also get to lavish in the staff’s exceptional timing and sleek tableside manner in one of the world's most famous hotels.

After years as executive chef at Barrafina, Spanish queen bee Nieves Barragán Mohacho now presides over her first solo gaff – a highly distinctive setup spread over two floors (small-plate counter fun downstairs, regional wood-fired feasting upstairs). The food’s all-round flawless with a noticeable rustic edge: don’t swerve the plumped-up, just-runny salt-cod tortilla – it’s sheer eggy bliss.

Taken back in-house after two decades, Claridge’s Restaurant finally seems comfortable in its own skin. At the helm is Coalin Finn, serving up trad British classics that are deft as they are expensive. Go for black truffle buckwheat crumpets, gleaming turbot, or spectacular grilled lobster – totally shelled and bracingly nude. It’s an all-day dining joint, so if you want a more pocket-friendly experience, then swing by for breakfast and grab a stunner of a scallop and bacon muffin.

Humo (‘smoke’ in Spanish) received its first Michelin star at the start of 2024, a little over a year since Colombian-born chef Miller Prada – who was head chef at Endo at the Rotunda – opened the restaurant down a Mayfair backstreet. All food here is wood-fired (there's no gas or electric cookery) on a four metre long grill, and cooked with precision-focussed Japanese technique. Alchemical stuff. 

A fancy-pants resto-jewel buried within London’s (arguably) fanciest hotel, Connaught Grill is a must visit for anyone who hangs around Mayfair and doesn’t mind dropping a few hundy quid on a good meal. If that describes you: hello Mr or Ms nought-point-one percent! Please step this way. The restaurant goes to great lengths to show variety in its menu, but ultimately it is called The Grill. Chops and steaks loom large, with wagyu, spit-roasted blackleg chicken, Barnsley lamb chop, veal, and lots more. 

Meaning ‘born of nature’ in Japanese, Umu is a super swish sushi spot boasting a much-earned Michelin star. All glossy, dark woods, you'll feel like you're eating out in a splendid Kyoto skyscraper – though glance towards the windows and you'll be reminded that you're actually in a tucked-away Mayfair mews. The menu is pricey, but stacked full of high end delights. For £250 a head, the kaiseki experience is a string of flawless sashimi, sushi, waygu beef shabu-shabu hotpot. 

Since opening in 2013 Gymkhana has been charming London restaurant-goers with higher-than-high-quality Indian cuisine. The kid goat keema, served with salli (enlightened shoestring fries), diced onion and miniature buns, remains one of London’s great dishes, while lamb chops served with a walnut chutney are some of the most succulent in the city. The basement area (built after a massive fire back in 2019) is a triumph of refurbishment. Plush, red and banquete-ish; like if Angus Steakhouse won the National Lottery.

Super-sumptuous and hyper-exclusive, Ormer resides within a luxuriously appointed basement room beneath Flemings Mayfair. Come here for classic fine dining, with seasonal British produce, fresh seafood and foraged herbs. Veggie tasting menus means nobody misses out on the fun. It was awarded its first Michelin star in 2024.

Yannick Alléno is the second most-awarded Michelin star chef that’s ever donned whites, but despite global renown and decades in the business, Pavyllon is his first ever London restaurant. Unsurprisingly, considering the location and name above the door, his French classics made with the best British ingredients are eye-wateringly expensive. But if you have the cash to splash, then the likes of steamed cheddar soufflé with watercress coulis and bacon butter or king crab in farmhouse cream infused with blackcurrant sage in a kombu broth are unlike anything you've ever tasted before.

We would be remiss not to mention upfront that the omakase offering at Sushi Kanesaka is priced at £420. This is Mayfair sushi at Mayfair prices, but a meal at Sushi Kanesaka has the power to transport you to Japan. With seventeen courses in total, each is a work of art. There's Cornish crab with junsai (watershield), and negi toro maki (tuna with green onion hand roll) as well as grilled Kobe beef with wasabi. Premium stuff.

Like the rest of this luxe Mayfair extravaganza, Sketch’s velvet-clad dandy-esque Gallery is a lesson in more-is-more eclecticism, complete with semi-permanent exhibitions from high-profile artists such as David Shrigley and Yinka Shonibare. You can come here for a thrillingly creative dinner, but afternoon tea in this decadent boudoir is one of the quirkiest in town – especially if you fancy cosying up in wintertime.

Freshly shucked oysters steal the show at Richard Corrigan’s immensely civilised and carefully polished seafood veteran – especially if you’re grazing at the marble-topped ground-floor bar or carousing alfresco on the chic, heated-and-covered terrace. Otherwise, head upstairs for old-fashioned service, clubby wood-and-leather cosiness and unfussy plates of pristine seafood in the more formal Grill restaurant – don’t miss the fish pie.

Everyone knows lunch at this paparazzi-magnet is replete with celeb rubber-necking. But what of the food? Well, it’s insanely good, as long as you like fish: from spanking fresh crustacea and cognac-laced shellfish bisque to peerless Dover sole. Trying to eat here cheaply is futile, but the fact that prices represent value for money goes some way to excusing excesses.

Jamavar’s vibe suggests a smart gentlemen’s club, but don’t let that put you off. What makes it worth a serious punt is the Michelin-starred food, a succession of luscious, delicately spiced small plates bursting with purity and depth of flavour – we’re still salivating over the succulent lobster tail served with sambar and idli dumplings on the side. Yes, Jamavar is pricey, but it’s worth the outlay.

Nijū is the brainchild of third-generation sushi chef Endo Kazutoshi of the Michelin-starred Endo at The Rotunda and fellow new opening Kioku at the OWO Raffles. The focus here is on ‘katei ryori’ cooking, which translates to ‘home-cooked food’ and, in their own words, means ‘informal yet decadent’. It certainly feels more relaxed than some of the neighbouring Mayfair restaurants: it’s giving chic, but not overly flashy. Go for the chef’s ridiculously delicate nigiri selection, the standout of which was the otoro – a seared fatty tuna belly topped with caviar – but all of the cuts were fresh, firm, and as delightful to look at as they were to eat. 

It’s love at first whiff once you step inside this casual offshoot of swish Jamavar. There’s plenty of bustle and noisy chatter too, while the fragrance and smoky aromas speak of killer Indian cooking. Our current faves? The Goan-style stone bass tikka and the moist, chunky lamb biryani. Bombay Bustle is also pretty affordable by Mayfair standards – and it’s great fun.

This cosy velvet-clad homage to eighteenth-century courtesan Kitty Fisher is on the money, delivering zesty, up-to-the-minute cooking. Much like its namesake, a visit to Kitty’s boudoir will put a big smile on your face – if you don’t mind paying for the privilege, that is.

If the stodgy pomposity of some Mayfair restaurants leaves you cold, head to the Air Street branch of steak specialists Hawksmoor. This is fine dining without head-up-arse pretentiousness: the low-lit interior is stylish yet comfortable, the service smooth as polished soapstone without being sycophantic, and the food (a mixture of turf here and surf there) well worth the dosh.

This timeless favourite is to the jet-set what Pizza Express is to hoi polloi: a culinary comfort blanket when travelling abroad (except its branches are only found in ultra-glam destinations). Cecconi’s is a consummate crowd-pleaser whose white-jacketed staff ensure everything runs with minimum fuss so that you can concentrate on its excellent Italian classics while counting the Ferraris and facelifts.

Oh, the luxury. The marble bar! The baby grand! The honey-gold lighting! The starched tablecloths and bottom-caressing chairs! God, Corrigan’s is a turn-on. The dishes are, too, highlighting the best of British and Irish cooking. Although spending your way through the a la carte is easy, set lunches and Sunday roasts have slightly more come-hither prices.

A great escape from the West End’s shopping bedlam, calming Chisou is an unobtrusive shoo-in for aficionados of traditional Japanese cuisine. There’s excellent sushi-grazing for singletons who pitch up at the counter, but izakaya-style sharing is the way to go amid the harmonious neutrality of the blond-wood dining room. We’re talking chawan mushi ‘custard’, hijiki quinoa salad, salted mackerel teriyaki, and so on. 

This Indian dining institution is proof that good things come to those who wait (it received a Michelin gong 90 years after opening). If you’re expecting staid, however, think again: old Veera styles it out with quirk and class. The food is perfectly spiced: don’t miss the celebrated signatures or the veggie sides.

Like a sleeper-cell KGB spy, this Russian-backed steakhouse is more American than meeting your therapist for a wiener on Madison Avenue. The mahogany and leather interiors set the scene for deluxe gustatory spoils: Brixham crab on toast followed by a Wagyu rib-eye with truffle chips, plus a cookie and caramel sundae for afters. You get the picture, and we know you want to be in it.

Even a wee in The Connaught’s loo is the ultimate treat, so dinner at its flagship restaurant is worthy of only fantastically special occasions. This being three-Michelin-star dining, your Primarni handbag will be rested reverently on an upholstered footstool by solicitous staff (awks), and the size of the delicacy-laden dishes will be inversely proportional to the enormity of the bill.

You’ll probably spot more celebs at the Berkeley St offshoot, but Nobu’s Park Lane original is the connoisseurs’ choice thanks to its classier vibe and sensational sushi. However, you don’t have to spend like a WAG or a reality TV star when you’re here – the lunchtime bento box is a cheaper route to your black cod fix. Sit at the bar for people-watching fun.

With testimonies from the likes of George Clooney and Led Zep guitarist Jimmy Page, long-serving Ikeda is a cut above in the celebrity stakes – although conservative businessmen have no qualms about bringing clients here. This place is old school (affable super-polite staff, inoffensive trad decor, lofty prices), but consistency is the order of the day whether you’re after sushi, sashimi, tempura or soba noodles.