Gridiron Mayfair

Gridiron is a new venture from the people behind Hawksmoor and Nuala (via The Fat Duck and The Ledbury) which are all excellent so my expectations were high. And more importantly entirely met.

We visited in the early evening sans bambino and felt like we’d maybe cracked London’s best kept secret. This place is much like Hawksmoor, just sexier and was fairly quiet at 6.30pm on a Wednesday. Most importantly though it is part of the Como Metropolitan hotel which means two things are immediately a given – high chairs and baby change. I couldn’t see an accessible entrance though so if you want to attempt this at lunch with a small person you’ll need to carry the buggy up some stairs.

It’s the sort of place where they’ve pretended that Instagram isn’t the way we now sell food. The dishes are not exceptionally beautiful to look at. But. And this is a big but. Everything tastes fucking excellent. I’m thinking specifically of the crab on toast with lardo. Absolutely fucking delicious. A perfect dish but not a pretty one.

The venue though is pretty, dimly lit, sleek, modern and comfortable. Ask for the corner table. It’s the best seat in the house. Our incredibly attentive sommelier was so helpful that we got wonderfully drunk. He let us taste a bunch of wine before we settled on our preferences and they even gave us some free champagne because we were celebrating my birthday. As an aside, can restaurants please stop writing happy birthday in chocolate sauce on a plate? What am I going to do with it? Lick it? No. Just give me a nice glass of free champagne like a sensible human being.

What’s good? We absolutely loved the savoury options available for afters. That crab on toast. The devils on horseback. I don’t think you could order anything here and be disappointed. Also the cocktails. Ooft. They do this clear milk and miso White Russian which was wonderful.

Kid friendly? You can make it work but you might want to save this one for reigniting the fire in a long term relationship or something.

✓baby change facilities

✓highchairs available

✓cool with breastfeeding

✗loads of other parents

✓space for buggies

✗children’s menu

✗toys/play area

Rating ???

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