LDNReview
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Apricity
Included In
Do you sometimes wonder if you’re single handedly keeping the burrata industry alive? Have you seen enough exposed brick to last a lifetime? Are you, by any chance, currently in the process of cancelling your dinner plans so you can stay in with Disney Plus? It sounds like you’re suffering from Dining Deja Vu. Enter Apricity, a warm, chatter-filled Mayfair restaurant, where each and every fine dining dish is a true original. This is a restaurant that will surprise you, delight you, and charm you out of your dinnertime boredom quicker than you can say ‘I’ve actually never had sauerkraut tempura before’.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
At first glance, you won’t realise you’re about to have a meal that will permanently redefine the virtues of kale in your psyche. You’ll see the artfully distressed walls, the golden glow of the globe lighting, the thriving foliage, and doe-eyed couples who are on course four of seven and look glad that they resisted the siren call of a ready meal for their anniversary. From the wooden coat rack in the centre of the room, to the big-belly laughs from the trio of friends in the corner, Apricity feels more Foliage Enthusiast’s Very Nice Flat than fussy fine dining establishment.
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Apricity is serious about sustainability, but as soon as the food hits the table, or one of the expert servers nudges you towards a tangy pickled blackberry manhattan, it’s clear that satisfaction trumps stuffiness. You can kick it à la carte, but the memorable seven-course tasting menu is under £100. So really you should go all in for dinner with your closest friend, rounded off with a fig leaf ‘chouxnut’. Or a sophisticated date night that revolves around hand-feeding each other sourdough between courses.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
The food is best described as globe-trotting. Think lip-smacking smacked cucumber alongside sauerkraut tempura; sensationally meaty, hand-dived Scottish scallops cosying up to some tender, black pepper pork belly; and a pork dumpling in a feisty horseradish broth. The stark menu rarely hints at the showstopper nature of what you’re about to eat. Case in point, a red butterhead lettuce salad with crispy kale. It has the consistency and moreish temptation of a cake, subtly sweet from burnt-off cobnuts, with zesty slivers of rhubarb, polite dollops of miso aioli, and fried crispy kale that does an excellent impersonation of seaweed. It’s a certified freak of the salad world, a vegetable revelation. Then, the next course will arrive and you’ll be merrily stupefied by some profound vegetable experience once more. Be warned that the menu is seasonal so it changes regularly. But hey, that’s a great excuse to come back the next time Dining Deja Vu strikes.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Pork Dumpling, Celeriac, Horseradish, Rich Broth
Hand-dived Scottish Scallops, Parsnip, Black Pepper Pork Belly
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
London Red Butterhead Lettuce Salad, Cobnuts, Crispy Kale
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Cheswell Feather Blade, Caramelised Shallot, Kentish Broccoletti
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Chouxnut, Baked Apple, Fig leaf, Hollis Mead Crème Fraîche