LDNReview
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Mount St. Restaurant
Included In
Once you look past the Picasso on the wall, the Frank Auerbach behind you, and the silver butt plug-shaped salt and pepper shakers on the table, Mount St. Restaurant is a totally normal place to eat. The Mayfair restaurant is all about looks. Even the beautiful, multi-coloured, terrazzo floor is a work of art, and everything from to the vibrant red chairs to the thick-rimmed glasses sitting in them oozes not cool, but Coutts. Although the show-stopping thing about this snazzy restaurant isn’t anything from the kitchen, you have to ask yourself—how often do you get to eat triple-cooked chips while staring at a Matisse?
Mount St is an aesthete’s dream. Unsurprising, given it’s from the people who own Hauser & Wirth gallery. During the day colours bounce from every surface, the room is filled with easy-going lads and ladies that lunch. Signet rings lift pots of tea or sausage sandwiches and, for a lazy couple of hours, it feels more like a public gallery than a private one. Come evening, things are a little different. Typically—for this part of the art world anyway—it’s also filled with lots of suit-types. Numbers are racked up on plates of impeccable sirloin steak with chips and béarnaise sauce, and bigger ones are spoken about at the table. Like all galleries, this one is best in the daytime.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
When it comes to the food, a statement lobster pie for two that’s just under £100 is almost too rich, but it suits the champagne-popping surroundings, and things like HP hollandaise sauce with bubble and squeak potatoes show there’s still some levity at play. Kind of. But things do stand out. The omelette Arnold Bennett is a decadent, gooey, and cheesy mix of smoked haddock and egg. It’s a classic, and so too is the beef tartare. It’s these familiar faces you should be ordering. Of course, any restaurant with servers who point to a small Lucien Freud oil painting of prawns when you ask for more details on a starter, isn’t exactly down to earth. But that’s because Mount St. Restaurant is meant to make you feel like you’re at the very top.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Omelette Arnold Bennett
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Beef Tartare
Lobster Pie
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Loin Of Highland Venison, Braised Haunch
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Bubble & Squeak With HP Hollandaise
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Soufflé