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Travel Spotlight
From a hot ticket Sri Lankan restaurant to a long-awaited luxury spa, London welcomes several notable newcomers this spring. In addition to its staid classics, the trailblazing city has a host of new hotspots, including a swanky Asian fusion eatery with Damien Hirst installations and a barbeque joint with a cult following. Plus, Indagare contributor Anna Hart checks out an elegant, riverside hotel outside the buzzy city center.
With a grand Georgian facade, picturesque riverside location, sumptuous interiors and superb staff, this boutique hotel has been a favorite haunt of well-heeled Richmond locals for years. Beautiful, bucolic Petersham Nurseries is just a 15-minute stroll along the river, and offers an enticing roster of candlelit evening events and wine-pairing suppers. Yes, you're 25 minutes on the tube to Kensington, but for visitors from out of town, a riverside stay in Richmond makes for a brilliantly affordable and relaxed way to mix time in the English capital and its quaint countryside.
The Sethi family’s Indian restaurant in Mayfair, Gymkhana, earned a Michelin star in 2014 and remains a hot-ticket eatery. This, their more low-key, 36-seater Sri Lankan restaurant is destined to be just as popular. Hoppers’ namesake is a savory ground rice and coconut milk pancake, served with lamb, hot buttered deviled shrimp or cashews and plantains. Cozy and atmospheric surroundings including a rattan ceiling, colorful terracotta tiles, abundant vegetation and vintage Sri Lankan travel posters, makes Hoppers a gloriously exotic option for adventurous foodies.
For a lively, fun meal: Pitt Cue Co. Barbeque has taken London by storm. Luckily, meaty mecca Pitt Cue Co. has relocated to a bigger and better premise just a stone’s throw from Liverpool Street station. Pitt Cue earned a cult following from its humble beginnings as a food truck underneath Hungerford Bridge, where original chef Neil Rankin cemented his reputation as London's master of smoked meats. Now, Pitt Cue Co. is serving up mezcal cocktails, slow-cooked ribs and bone marrow mash to an appreciative crowd. Its industrial-chic surroundings boast exposed brickwork, gleaming chrome beer tanks, bench-style seating and floor-to-ceiling windows.
For a stylish night out: Sexy Fish Sexy Fish is one of the most talked-about—and polarizing—restaurants to open in London in years. There is nothing fashionably pared-back about this lavishly decorated bunker (formerly a bank branch). Instead it’s all 1980s decadence, gold ceilings and showy Damien Hirst and Frank Gehry artwork, along with the distinct whiff of a Bond villain’s lair. The Asian fusion menu including tempura and maple-glazed pork belly is crowd-pleasing stuff, but the food inevitably slips into the background, as the swanky surroundings and starry crowd steal the show.
For a posh, British evening: 45 Jermyn Street Fortnum & Mason’s triumphant flagship restaurant, 45 Jermyn St., ushers visitors into its glamorous, old-school interiors, with terracotta-red leather banquettes, rosewood tables and parquet flooring. The menu, meanwhile, is pure contemporary European, populated with the likes of game consommé and Dover sole à la meunière. The caviar trolley, with blinis, toast, new potatoes and eggs scrambled tableside, adds a dramatic flourish to a menu of perfect pre-theatre fare.
For a steakhouse experience: Flat Iron, Covent Garden One of the hottest restaurants in town right now, Flat Iron aims to serve excellent steak at affordable prices. This was achieved by pouncing on a hitherto underrated cut: flat iron, a well-marbled, juicy slice of goodness priced at a ridiculously affordable £10. Their flagship restaurant in Covent Garden retains a pared-back menu, but advertises special cuts on the blackboard, along with excellent sides like beef dripping chips. With craft beers on tap and delicious cocktails, Flat Iron shows you a good time at a fraction of the cost of Hawksmoor.
Gazelli House is the long-awaited spa by cult beauty brand Gazelli skincare. Beloved by beauty editors across town, Gazelli products were crafted by Dr. Zarifa Hamzayeva, an Azerbaijan-born leader in the field of genetics, and the blossoming business is run by her charming daughter, Jamila Askarova. The plush South Kensington premises are designed to resemble a luxurious home; there’s no formal reception desk, just cozy décor, comfortable armchairs and arguably the best oxygen facials in London.
For modern furniture finds: The Peanut Vendor The Peanut Vendor is every fashionable East Londoner’s go-to store for early 20th century and midcentury modern furniture. The shop's owners also cherry-pick beautiful ceramics, artwork and accessories by local and up-and-coming designers. A small but perfectly formed brew bar serving London-sourced Alchemy Coffee and baked goods makes The Peanut Vendor a great destination design store for international visitors hoping to take a slice of European interior design home.
We only feature hotels that we can vouch for first-hand. At many of them, Indagare members receive special amenities.
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