20 Berkeley

Here’s an address you’ll want to remember: 20 Berkeley street.

Because that’s where you’ll find 20 Berkeley.

Amazing coincidence, really.

It’s a new spot from the people at the Creative Restaurant Group, whose track record so far – HUMO, Endo at The Rotunda, SUMI – is about as close to perfect as it’s possible to get. Here, they’ve enlisted chef Ben Orpwood (Zuma, Maze, etc.) to head up the kitchen, with an express aim of creating a place championing suppliers, and letting the ingredients shine on the plate.

The space they’ve chosen is a truly grand affair, a manor house in Mayfair with narrow staircases and plush carpets that make it feel like it still is a manor house. Downstairs is a cosy little cocktail bar, with a little wooden bar that barely separates the customer from the person shaking the drink (and they’re very good drinks). Upstairs is th dining room, which seems to meader this way and that, almost like a living room.

The food is all extremely ingredient-led – the venison comes from Brett Graham’s deer farm, the squid & mackerel comes from Cornish day-boats; the saffron is grown in Essex (literally from a town called Saffron Walden), etc. Things kick off strongly with with an opening salvo of oven-warm dinner rolls glazed in London honey, then move into raw Orkney scallops with fennel seed yoghurt; or Dorset snails with wild garlic butter. The main courses are pretty much all smoked & scorched over a fire, and include cuts of Shropshire Iberico pork, Herdwick lamb, line-caught seabass, Cornish chicken, and – if you’re feeling frisky – a whole, slow-grilled turbot.

The drinks from that Nipperkin Bar downstairs are, as mentioned, pretty great. But there’s also a hefty wine list should you fancy it, and a sommelier capable of navigating it with aplomb.

And that’s a key ingredient to many a great meal.

NOTE: 20 Berkeley is open now, Monday to Saturday. You can find out more, and make a booking at their website right here.

20 Berkeley | 20 Berkeley St, W1J 8EE

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