Art Yard Bar & Kitchen

Art Yard may sound like your common or garden restaurant…

…but it’s anything but.

Tucked just behind the OXO Tower on the Southbank, it’s set on the ground floor of the Bankside hotel. Into its glass-walled, modern space, they’ve fitted a host of retro furnishings – tiled floors, low leather banquettes, slatted wood panelled walls, 60s style screens… and of course, a lot of artwork.

Head chef here is Lee Streeton, who cut his teeth at Hix Mayfair and The Ivy restaurants. At Art Yard, he’s serving up an all-day menu of casual, but elegantly presented dishes. The day kicks off with an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with Full Englishes and veggie breakfasts, crumpets, poached eggs, waffles, and a smoothie called Violet Beauregarde – which on weekends, bursts into full-blown brunch, with build-your-own breakfast plates, pizzas and booze.

For the rest of the day, you can pick from sharing plates of Thai onglet skewers and mushroom arancini; salads; pizzas; and bigger dishes spanning land and sea, from spelt risotto to Goan monkfish curry and wood-fired chicken.

Hunger sated, you can then top off your lunch or dinner with a digestif on their al fresco terrace overlooking St. Paul’s Cathedral. Wines come in red, white, sparkling or dusty (that is, bottles from the cellar), and there’s a couple of cocktails – honey-washed negronis; boozy Irish coffees with honeycomb chocolate; and the like – that go down very well with a sunset.

That terrace isn’t a common garden, either.

NOTE: Art Yard is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can find out more, and book a table, HERE.

Art Yard Bar & Kitchen | Bankside Hotel, 2 Blackfriars Road, SE1 9JU

Like terrace dining? Check out the best al fresco spots in London