The sharing dishes are definitely on the large side.
What can you tell us about 20 Berkeley?
This is the latest restaurant from Creative Restaurant Group, the people who brought us Endo at Rotunda, Sumi and Humo. That's a pretty good track record right there so they'll be hoping to keep that going with this latest opening. Like Humo, it's a big shift from their first two restaurants, which primarily showcased top sushi chef Endo Kazutoshi.
This time, the man in the spotlight is chef Ben Orpwood. He's previously worked for the Gordon Ramsay Group and Caprice Holdings and has most recently come back to the UK after a stint in Australia. At 20 Berkeley, his menu is being touted as "sophisticated British Dining" and there's a big focus on championing local produce.
Where is it?
They've taken over a building on the corner of Hay Hill and Berkeley Street (hence the name) - it's pretty much directly opposite Sexy Fish. The nearest tube is Green Park, but this probably isn't really a "getting there by tube" type of restaurant for most of the clientele.
Where's good for a drink nearby?
We've always struggled a little in this part of town but now the nearest good options would be a pint at The Guinea, a cocktail at The Connaught or a glass of wine at Noble Rot Mayfair. All are a little bit of a stroll from 20 Berkeley but are some of the best of their kind in the area.
The lower ground Nipperkin bar with light creeping in from ground level.
But there's a bar here too?
Head downstairs and you'll find 20 Berkeley's own bar, called Nipperkin. This comes with a high recommendation from us to visit before or after your dinner. While on the lower ground, it still gets some light from the windows up at street level and it's a really comfortable cocktail bar (although avoid the stools if you're less than 5ft 8ish as they're a little prone to dangling feet syndrome).
The cocktails here, at least from the two we tried, are excellent. As with the menu upstairs, there's a focus on local ingredients - Jersey rum, Dorset wasabi and strawberries and more are highlighted on the menu. There's a signature cocktail list as well as a seasonal one - and it's well worth looking at the seasonal first. From that list, we had the excellent Rhubarb (Boatyard vodka, caramelised Yorkshire rhubarb, raspberry vinegar, whole milk, £18) and the following from the signature list:
Fennel and Grape cocktail (discarded grape vodka, fennel absinthe, fennel pollen honey and Sussex verjus - £17)
Onto the dining room - what's on offer?
There are actually three (and a bit) dining rooms in the building. It's all been designed to resemble an English Manor House (one that's a little on the modern side). There is also a judicious use of stained glass shutters in front of some of the windows throughout - bringing light in while keeping prying eyes from looking into the rooms that are at street level.
The room that's closest to giving that manor house vibe is probably the private dining room, which looks extremely impressive (and we liked that it also has a separate seating area - just out of view in the photo - for those breakaway chats during a long dinner).
The impressive private dining room
Elsewhere there are two main dining rooms - turn either left or right as you head up the stairs - and one of them (on the right) has a room called "The Pantry" at the back of it. Taking account of the aim to look like a manor house, this is as close as you'll get to an open kitchen in the building. You'll see some food being finished off at the pass, but there's no counter dining here.
A look at more of the dining areas of 20 Berkely - it's quite the sprawling affair
Onto the food - what can we expect?
As mentioned above, it's all about seasonal British dining using local produce. Now we have to admit that we've been running out of ways to describe that on Hot Dinners (there's been a lot of late) but there is at least a sense of playfulness and occasion with 20 Berkeley. That starts with the menu which is an origami-style affair.
The menu, which you unfold at your table.
Getting a closer look at the menu, if you squint at the above, everything above the horizontal fold can be considered as starters, everything below it is a main course. The "Pantry" section is made of mainly cold dishes that you'll see made/finished in the aforementioned pantry.
To kick things off - you'll absolutely want this:
The must-have bread option. These are London honey-glazed dinner rolls with marmite butter. VERY sticky but also very, very good.
After that, it's a case of regularly changing seasonal dishes, alongside bigger staring platters (so big that we soon started running out of space on the table). Here's a taste of what we had:
Black pudding agnolotti, cauliflower, wild garlic veloute (£23)
Grilled Cambridgeshire asparagus, soft boiled quail egg and stracciatella (£16). Their burrata and stracciatella come from Ealing-based La Latteria.
The main event. We went for one of the sharing dishes - the overnight braised Herdwick lamb shoulder with the creamiest pommes mousseline (£70). We had this between two - but frankly, it's enough for three to four people.
On the sides front, the Cambridgeshire patatas bravas were the winners (£6) alongside grilled courgette with wild garlic and Lincolnshire poacher pesto (£9) and Elephant and Castle Lettuce with soft herb salad cream (£8). The latter is from the container farm, Crate to Plate.
Alongside the above, you'll also find more big sharing dishes like a 1.2kg Porterhouse to share (£120), and slow-grilled 2-3kg turbot (£190). As for the standard mains, they're mainly in the £30-£40 range with dishes like the Cornish cod with mussels peas and cucumber (£31) or Shropshire Iberico pork, sweet onions and sea herbs (£35). Other than the sides, there's not much for vegetarians here, though.
Room for dessert?
Take another look at that picture of the lamb above and remember that there were only two of us eating. So no, on this rare occasion we didn't actually have room for desserts, alas.
However, in addition to the main cheese plate, there was something smaller that took our fancy...
Baron Bigod cheese stuffed with last winter's truffles served with port jelly (£23). It's a small portion of the cheese (served on a ludicrously large plate) but just the right amount if you've over indulged at this point. It's supposed to be served with crumpets, but those were switched out for soda bread on the day.
What about drinks?
We're deep in high-end Mayfair territory here, so there's a wine list to match. Your entry-level wine here is £50 (a 2021 Les Begeronnettes Cote de Rhone) and it heads up steeply from there, with a large amount of bottles in the three-digit territory. If that's no bother for you, then you'll find a lot of fine wines to peruse here.
Overall thoughts
Creative Restaurant Group are onto another winner here, but 20 Berkeley is also aimed at a different clientele than their previous affairs. We're very much in high-end Mayfair territory, with prices and demanding clientele to match. But here you also get a very beautiful room and really top-level service (their assistant GM has 15 years experience at Scott's). Combine that with a menu that's also stretching the concept of what British dining is, and a showstopping lamb dish and this is somewhere you'll want to check out.
More about 20 Berkeley
Where is it? 20 Berkeley St, London W1J 8EE
How to book: Book online
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @20BerkeleyLondon.
Hot Dinners ate as guests of 20 Berkeley. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
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