The fluffy garibaldis at Dante Mayfair
So this is the London version of Dante NYC?
It is. The original restaurant opened in New York back in 1915. Now, more than a century later, it's the new main restaurant at Claridge's.
Wasn't there already a Dante restaurant at Claridge's?
There was, but in its previous incarnation, it was more of a pop-up in which certain signature dishes from Dante appeared on the hotel's menu. Now, taking over from what was Claridge's Restaurant, it's a fully fledged restaurant in its own right, with both the food and drink menu wholly built by the Dante team. We'll get on to the details of that in a moment.
Where should we meet friends for a drink first?
This is an easy one, because Dante Mayfair has its own bar. Dante's always been very well known for its cocktail offering, having been on the World's 50 Best Bars list. In our opinion, you'll want to start the meal with one of the cocktails they're best known for - their fluffy Garibaldi. The fluffiness in question comes from aerating the orange juice in a blender or with a frother first.
And if the bar inside is busy (there are only a few tables) there is also a rather lovely terrace outside that you could go to instead, or indeed one of the other two bars (for non-guests) in Claridge's.
The small but perfectly formed bar at Dante Mayfair
So what's on the menu now?
The key signature dishes from the pop-up remain, like the shrimp burger and chicken alla diavola, but there are a whole load of new options to try. Here were our favourites from a recent long lunch there.
Caviar tarts (£27 each) - a very Mayfair snack of tarts filled with Champagne jelly and lemon mayonnaise and topped with a generous amount of oscietra caviar. Note, these go VERY well with the martini.
Crudo selection (£32) - a trio of sashimi featuring yellowfin tuna, hamachi, hand-dived scallop, each with its own dressing and served with a perfectly pitched citrus granita.
The Dante smash burger (£29) - a very, very good burger topped with caramelised onions and Provolone cheese. Can we just have a moment of appreciation for the lovely silver salver it came on?
Lobster linguine (£75) - a roasted half lobster served up with linguine pomodoro.
Room for dessert?
We did, in fact, find room once we'd seen the extensive dessert menu. There are three types of soft serve sundaes on offer. We picked the s'mores version, but could also have opted for olive oil and sea salt or an affogato option.
Fireside s'mores sundae (£12) - topped off with loads of hot chocolate sauce at the table.
Honey bee (£25) - an amazing dessert cocktail featuring Patron Silver, amontillado, raspberry syrup, chocolate bitters and salted honey cream. So, so delicious.
What's on the drinks list?
There is a good-sized wine list, but we stuck mainly to cocktails for our lunch. We've covered the Garibaldi and the Honey Bee, but we would also urge you to try one of their martinis. They also run a martini happy hour every day from 3-5pm, serving martinis for just a tenner, which is insanely good value for this part of town.
The Dante Martini - An excellent martini and one that we thought was better than the martini we had the first time we came to the Dante pop-up. Also loved the Cerasuola olive garnish.
Overall thoughts:
If there's one place in London that we could see reviving the long lunch, it would be Dante Mayfair. Clear your afternoon schedules, make sure you're balancing enough carbs to offset the cocktails and you'll have a fantastic time.
More about Dante Mayfair
Where is it? Brook St, London W1K 4HR
How to book? Book online.
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @claridgeshotel.
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Dante Mayfair. Prices correct at time of publication.
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