For anyone who doesn’t know Sketch (what? Really?), it’s a visually spectacular multi-room homage to eating and drinking: a place on the bucket list of every tourist, plus plenty of resident oligarchs. And if you thought the rest of the building, from its pink Shrigley room to the iconic pod loos, was memorable, then this, the dining room at the top of the building is quite literally the icing on the cake. Think of it as a splash of Louis XIV, a little bit of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and a dash of exotic palace. But surprisingly, especially given its three-Michelin-starred status, it’s not an intimidating space. From the moment you head past the red rope, you’re welcomed into what feels like a majestic dinner in a castle. Even the way they open the doors, with a ceremonial ‘ta-dah’, is brilliantly theatrical.
The menu is equally OTT. Every ‘dish’ is in fact several tiny items that arrive at once (the £22 ‘grand dessert’ is seven). But here’s the thing: though excellent, the cooking is no better than you’d get in any other haute cuisine joint. It’s just a little kooky and spread across a lot of tiny plates. And if you’re wondering how the Lecture Room gets away with its obscene pricing, the answer is simple: it’s Sketch.