TWO OF THE WORLD’S BEST RESTAURANTS ARE IN LONDON
But foodies might want to jump on a plane to Copenhagen for the ultimate grub-filled pilgrimage
TWO of London’s restaurants were recognised in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards this week, with Shoreditch’s The Clove Club and Ikoyi in St. James’s winning a place on the coveted list.
Our highest entry at number 35, Two Michelin-starred The Clove Club serves up two options at its base in Shoreditch Town Hall - a short tasting menu (£155), consisting of native Cornish lobster, Hazlewood Grilled Mulllet and Charcoal Grilled Aubergine followed by two crazy-sounding sorbets; and a long tasting menu (£195), which adds scallops, sashimi and roast lamb into the mix. For an extra £125 and £175 respectively, you can pair each course with wine.
Look, this is high-level stuff. You weren’t expecting a Happy Meal, were you?
Newcomers to the list are Irè Hassan-Odukale and Jeremy Chan (right), whose Ikoyi restaurant offers a modern European take on ingredients from Nigeria, Ghana and the West African culinary scene.
Just like The Clove Club, Ikoyi boasts two Michelin Stars and wouldn’t dream of letting you pick your own dinner - there’s a £200 tasting menu served Monday to Saturday and a £75 lunch menu for those looking for a quick bite on Thursday and Friday.
It seems as though Michelin starred chefs and our mums have a lot in common: “You get what you’re given. Don’t like it? Don’t eat it.”
St. James’s residents might want to get in there quick (though a two-month wait for reservations makes that rather difficult), as the restaurant’s landlord has the place up for sale. Rumours are abound that a bigger venue on The Strand could be the destination for Ikoyi’s fans in the near future.
Copenhagen restaurant Geranium was crowned king of the grub-makers, following in the footsteps of fellow Danes NOMA, who picked up last year’s award. They serve up an all veggie menu, having dropped 'all land animals' from their offering at the start of the year, and you'll need to drop £366 on the table for their (yep, you guessed it) tasting menu. Bizarrely, it's situated on the eighth floor of the national football stadium, so if you time it right, you might bump into the world's most expensive soccer cyborg, Erling Haaland.
Oh, and you're not doing it properly unless you choose the "Rare & Unique" wine pairing for a cool £2,000 per head.
While Noma was out of the running this year (past winners such as Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck are moved into a Champions League of restaurants), Copenhagen still managed a hefty THREE entries in the list, with Alchemist (18) and Jordnær (38) also making the cut.
Other cities managing three entires were Tokyo, Paris and Lima.
But for those wanting to hit the road on a tastebud-tingling pilgrimage, a visit to Italy or Spain is in order. Both countries boast a whopping SIX restaurants on the top 50 list, including five of the top ten between them.
Still no place for Morley’s on the list, but there’s always next year…
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