See also: Newcomers: Apsleys, Newcomers: Landau.

Coming soon: Review of Hélène Darroze at the Connaught.

It’s been almost a year since Alain Ducasse opened at the Dorchester, and yet it remains one of the city’s underrated gourmet treasures. Michelin has failed to award it any stars yet and some nights in recent weeks less than half the tables have been filled. However, the food, service and surroundings are sublime—frankly, there is a welcome serenity and understated quality to the experience that seems in tune with the times. (Yes, it is still an expensive adventure, but the food is exquisite and it’s not about fanfare but formal French choreography.) Foie gras with mango and tender halibut with artichokes arrive cooked so evocatively that the ingredients taste like new discoveries. Before this site opened, Ducasse declared that he expected this restaurant to offer the contemporary aesthetic of his Tokyo outpost Beige with the freshness of the Louis XV in Monaco, his very first three-star Michelin. Translation: the master continues to improve and grow, learning from each endeavor and taking the best aspects of his new and marrying them to genius of his original one. No wonder he’s considered the best in the world. Table to request: the one hidden behind a shimmering curtain of crystals in the center of the room. Open for lunch Tuesday to Friday and dinner Tuesday through Saturday.

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Well placed for the theater is Brumus, at the Haymarket Hotel, whose main entrance is located on Haymarket next to the Theatre Royal. Those passionate about pink will immediately warm to its vivid magenta decor. The brasserie-style menu features such dishes as farmhouse pâté with chutney, beef carpaccio with parmesan and arugula, and grilled Dover sole with new potatoes. I went there on my birthday, and the chocolate cake was fantastic. Service is a bit mixed, but it’s a visually arresting place, like the hotel itself. Stop off at the adjoining bar for the real buzz.

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It was a few years after chef Tom Aikens opened his eponymous restaurant in South Kensington that he was awarded his first Michelin star in 2005, but devotees didn’t need that stamp of approval to make him a cult culinary hero. In fact, they relished his under-the-radar status, where they could eat delectable foam-fabulous dishes in the spare Anouska Hempel designed space and not fight for a reservation. Those days are gone. He has now expanded his offerings with the more casual spots of Tom’s Kitchen and Tom’s Place. The original outpost, however, is where you will discover what makes him such a god among foodies. Among his classics are seared foie gras with jabugo ham, haricot beans and sauternes sauce and scallops with poached grapes and pernod, grape juice and fennel. But beware the prices are as rich as the food.