Dining On Marylebone’s Flourishing Back Streets

Marylebone is an unexpected pocket of calm in the city, distinguished by its leafy streets lined with elegant period homes. The urban village is brimming with quaint cafes, unique independent stores and design retailers. Despite its progressively stylish profile, Marylebone has remained down to earth, retaining its long-term residents, friendly local shopkeepers and a palpable community ethos. As new eateries spill onto the pavements, the understated neighbourhood has become a mecca for foodies, with numerous promising restaurants launching in the past decade. All a stone’s throw away from Frieze London, Something Curated rounds up the best gastronomic offerings in the area.

 

Dinings || Tomonari Chiba

22 Harcourt St, London W1H 4HH

Dinings is a contemporary Japanese tapas and sushi restaurant. The chef-proprietor, Tomonari Chiba, who previously cooked at Nobu, is the mastermind behind the narrow restaurant, set within a Marylebone town house, an unassuming site you could be forgiven for passing by. The food was originally based on the traditional Japanese Izakaya style of cuisine however, now operating under the direction of Nick Taylor-Guy and Executive Chef, Masaki Sugisaki, Dinings has created a new style of cuisine; Japanese tapas which combines traditional Japanese with modern European cuisine.

The interior, with an upstairs sushi bar with a few stools, and a dimly lit, low-ceilinged basement, with its stone floor and solitary window, is resolutely utilitarian. Dinings service concept has been created to make customers feel comfortable in a friendly atmosphere, coupled with high quality food. The understated eatery has developed their own individual style utilising a wide range of ingredients to become one of the most popular small restaurants in London.

 

Trishna || Karam, Jyotin & Sunaina Sethi

15-17 Blandford St, London W1U 3DG

Karam Sethi launched his first restaurant, Trishna, back in 2008 aged 24. Located in the heart of London’s Marylebone Village, Trishna specialises in coastal Indian cuisine. The informal and sociable neighbourhood dining atmosphere offers seating for up to 80 guests and is available for lunch, dinner, private dining, or exclusive hire. Trishna’s doors also open onto the street, creating a semi-alfresco ambience throughout the restaurant. Gaining its first Michelin star in 2012, Trishna London is a world away from the dishevelled interior of its sister restaurant in Mumbai.

The Sethis have worked closely with Trishna in Mumbai, while their head chef, Ravi Deulkar, previously head chef of Rasoi Vineet Bhatia, has spent time in the Mumbai kitchens. The result is a menu divided simply into pakoras, charcoal grills, vegetarian and ‘Trishna dishes’. With its South-Western emphasis on seafood, coconut and tamarind, it makes a nice change from the ubiquitous Northern cooking available in London. This contemporary looking eatery is smart and quietly conservative, its dining room minimally decorated save for the retro Air India prints on the walls.

 

Zayna || Riz Dar

25 New Quebec Street, London W1H 7SF

At the heart of Zayna is Riz Dar, whose vision, history and experiences have culminated in the creation of the unique restaurant. Named after his daughter, Zayna reflects the personality of Dar, who spent his formative years around Kashmir and Punjab and whose first job was in his father’s restaurant in Pakistan. It’s no surprise then to find a menu of North Indian and Pakistani delicacies. It comes divided according to cooking method, from the pan, grill, tawa or oven.

Free-range meat and traditional recipes such as gurda qeema, where spiced minced lamb is mixed with finely chopped kidneys, make the menu unusually inviting. Passionate about high quality produce, tempting spice blends are roasted and ground in house. The eatery is divided in to two spaces, with the lower floor being the more formal of the two rooms. Low-slung sofas and intricate woodcarvings distinguish the homely décor.

 

Pachamama || Tiago Duarte

18 Thayer Street, London W1U 3JY

Pachamama is a Peruvian-inspired bar and eatery, dedicated to making the most of fresh ingredients available in the UK. Head Chef Tiago Duarte offers uniquely designed fusion plates, combining a breadth of cuisines and influences, with an underlying focus on both contemporary and traditional Peruvian cooking. The dishes on the seasonally changing menu are intended to share, featuring fresh seafood, vibrant vegetables and charcoal-grilled meats.

Committed to experimentation, the kitchen frequently introduces new and surprising dishes. The bar centres around Pisco, the national spirit of Peru, and displays jars of infusions with ingredients from the kitchen such as fennel, beetroot and rhubarb. Like a beautiful hacienda in the process of being renovated, the interior combines a thoughtful mix of tactile surfaces, with chunks of plaster knocked out of the pillars, elegant vintage lampshades, and wooden dressers laden with lush greenery.

 

Chiltern Firehouse || Nuno Mendez

1 Chiltern Street, London W1U 7PA

The Chiltern Firehouse was Hungarian-born, New York nightlife entrepreneur-turned-hotelier, André Balazs’s first endeavour in London and perhaps one of his best. Working with architecture and design team Studio KO, he was able to seamlessly interweave the skeleton of the 19th-century Grade II listed building with a new-age hospitality and dining ethos. The restaurant, as with the hotel at large, maintains a style that is simultaneously classic and seductive, with the lobby bar feeling something akin to a Mediterranean greenhouse.

The main restaurant, run by head chef Nuno Mendez, feels like an extended living room. The food offering is a celebration of contemporary fine dining, ingredient-focused cooking, with an underlying American accent. Michelin-starred chef Mendes draws on a career split between the United States and Europe to create a changing menu of reimagined classics and bold new flavours, with an emphasis on seasonality and healthy eating.

 

Lurra || Melody Adams, Nemanja Borjanovic & Damian Surowiec

9 Seymour Place, London W1H 5BA

The team behind the popular neighbouring eatery Donostia, comprising of owners Melody Adams and Nemanja Borjanovic, as well as head chef Damian Surowiec, have looked to the Basque Country’s traditional charcoal and wood grills for inspiration. Lurra, meaning “land”, is a sophisticated urban take on the earthy process of cooking over white-hot embers. Where Donostia is canteen-like, Lurra, also designed by co-owner Adams, is a place to linger.

A tiny entrance area holding a few tables opens into an airy, glowing light-box of a room, with one glass wall overlooking a courtyard. There is an open kitchen with counter seating. This smart, luxurious outfit centres around erretegias, the charcoal and wood grills used in Basque cooking. Smoky aromas waft from the open kitchen, and almost everything tastes like it’s had a beneficial brush with the flames. Highlights include whole grilled turbot, Galician Rubia Gallega steak, and kokotxas and ceps with egg yolk and grilled red peppers.