The outside of RH London. This gives you a good idea of just how massive it is.
Hold on a second, haven't you already been to RH London?
We did pop in briefly on their opening day for a quick martini. But this time we were back to properly put the restaurant there through its paces.
Remind us, who's behind this again?
This is the new London 'is it a shop, a gallery or a restaurant?' venture from US brand Restoration Hardware who already have another space in the Cotswolds, called RH England. The CEO, Gary Friedman, was dining behind us with an absolute fleet of flunkies, so he's clearly in town keeping an eye on this latest opening.
And where is it?
You'll find it right behind the Royal Academy and the north part of Burlington Arcade, just off Savile Row. It's on the block next to C London, taking over a massive Palladian mansion that, some years back, used to be a branch of Abercrombie & Fitch.
Where should we meet for a drink first?
Handily, there are a few options in the building itself. On the ground floor, next to the main restaurant, is a wine bar. There are a few tables here, and we're told you can have your glass of wine on any of the pieces of furniture in the rooms around this. There's also The World of RH Lounge bar on the second floor, which is a very comfortable (and air-conditioned) space to get a drink too.
Finally, which is where we went, there's also The Perch terrace bar and restaurant. The only problem with that is that right now it's the hardest place to get a table, which isn't a surprise with the weather we're having. And even if the weather gets a little colder, each seat has a built-in heater (which you can turn on/off at will).
The terrace, if you can get a table on it, is an absolute oasis in central London.
Left to right: Smoked Sunrise (£20) and Vesper Martini (£16) - our martini at the bar inside a few days back was a solid 8.5 on our chill factor, but unfortunately, this one was more of a 6.
Where are we eating?
We left The Perch to head downstairs to The Dining Room, which is the main restaurant with all those massive chandeliers you've probably been seeing all over your socials this week. There's no denying it is a gorgeous room; even we couldn't help gawping up at the gold leaf-covered ceiling and chandeliers made with hand-blown Venetian glass.
The menu at both restaurants is the same. It's probably exactly what you would expect from a place like this - heavy on the caviar and truffle but with probably more of an emphasis on sandwiches and burgers than a European-focused offering would have.
Here's what we tried to give you an idea:
Bluefin toro carpaccio with Petrossian Imperial Kaluga caviar, chives and smoked sea salt (£28). They also do an avocado and a beef fillet iteration of this dish. For ourselves, we thought this was not only beautiful to look at, but very well seasoned.
Mini lobster and king crab rolls (two for £28) - these were very, very good. Absolutely loaded with butter before being toasted and full of seafood, even though they were tiny. Delicious.
Steak frites (£32) - we ordered this as a test of one of the cheaper dishes on the menu. It was a 200g bavette, perfectly cooked and served with both Béarnaise and Peppercorn Sauce and a silver pot of nicely done French fries. Sure, this would be cheaper at Flatiron, but you're in much more glam surroundings here.
Grilled shrimp (£27) - another decently priced main served with lemon butter and Calabrian chilli.
There's one extra thing we need to highlight. We didn't take a photo of the creamed spinach (you can just about see it at the back of the photo of the shrimp above), but we're here to let you know that it's the best £8 you'll spend on vegetables in London right now. There's a big emphasis on the "creamed" part of the dish.
They also have a section on the menu devoted to petite baked potatoes. This was the Parisian (£22), which came with Petrossian Imperial Kaluga caviar, chives and crème fraîche. The potato itself seems to have been mashed up with a LOT of butter and put back inside the skin. High-end nursery food to be sure, but also just very nice.
Room for dessert?
Absolutely. In addition to some very good housemade chocolate chip cookies (£10) that were served warm and flecked with sea salt, we had this...
Butterscotch brulee (£12) - we had to order this when their description simply says 'no words'. We concur. It's an extremely good creme brulee, with a deep butterscotch flavour.
What about the wine list?
The food we tried might have been good value, but the wine list is where they're going to get you. The cheapest bottle at £63 for a Riesling, punchy even by Mayfair standards. We ended up with a bottle of Lieu Dit from Santa Barbara (£82), which was very good, though. The cocktails are pretty well priced for Mayfair, though, so you could always stick with those.
Anything else to mention?
The whole of RH London is a massive endeavour, and it's impressive how (relatively) seamless the opening has been. There is one thing that needs a little work, though and that's the service, which isn't there yet. Yes, we were there on week one, but it wasn't a soft launch, and the service was just all over the place. They have employed a lot of people, all of whom were lovely, but they really need a couple of senior managers (like a Jon Spiteri or Fred Sirieix-type) both upstairs and downstairs, to get things flowing correctly. It can definitely be fixed, but it is something they need to get on to pronto, given the clientele they're looking to attract.
Overall thoughts:
Honestly, we were pleasantly surprised by the food at RH London. We thought they might have spent all their effort on getting this place to look as gorgeous as it does, and then thrown the food in as almost an afterthought. But everything we ordered tasted great. They just need to spend a bit of time and effort getting the service side of things right, and they'll make this place an absolute winner.
More about RH London
Where is it? 7 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3QG
How to book? Book online.
Find out more: Visit their website
Hot Dinners dined as guests of RH London. Prices correct at time of publication.
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