Keep your eyes peeled when walking down Savile Row. Discreetly signed and elegantly self-contained, with semi-opaque screening on large windows making it hard to see inside, the entrance to Row on 5 gives little away as to its exact purpose. But on leaving you may well be of the opinion that this is one of the most impressive new restaurants to open in London this year.
Pursuing bigger ambitions than at Pollen Street Social, Jason Atherton has reimagined fine dining by turning the whole thing inside out. The 15-course tasting menu flows over two floors, from basement bar to ground floor dining room – elegant spaces both, with kitchens placed centre stage blurring and sometimes erasing the line between kitchen and guests. It’s a collapsing of distinctions that allows waiting staff and chef-servers (including Atherton and executive chef Spencer Metzger) to circulate in an easy, unfussy way, making interaction with diners a highpoint.
There’s exquisite detailing: the gorgeous marble floor in the bar, the stunning glass-walled wine rooms, the natural wood and simple lines of a dining room that seems to bow towards Asia. And while we were happily ensconced in softly padded chairs in the bar, and at a spacious table in the dining room, it didn’t stop us eyeing up the comfortable-looking front-row counter seats in both rooms. Perhaps for another occasion.
And the food? Flawless. And this was the opening week. While showing a remarkable grasp of techniques that can be used to achieve new effects, the cooking has something to say, too. The ‘Row’ in the restaurant’s name refers not to Saville Row but to ‘refinement of work’, and Atherton’s experience, points of reference, memory and judgment hint at cultures that are part of his world – a restaurant empire that has taken in New York, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, the Philippines and Singapore.
This unique style encompasses dishes of wonderful lightness, sophistication, intricacy and beauty. A roll call of prime, peak season British produce - Orkney scallop, Cornish turbot, Sika deer - with classic combinations such as N25 Kaluga caviar and potato reworked to brilliant effect. Our best dish? We had a short list of six, but settled on Scottish langoustine with rich, sweet Amela tomato and salted duck yolk – few things we’ve eaten lately have tasted as luxurious.
As wine is one of Row on 5’s chief attractions (the 4000+ bottle list is possibly the largest in the country), it’s perhaps fitting that the wheeling out of a 15-litre Nebuchadnezzar of Chateau d’Yquem was a showstopper. Conversation ceased as the pouring cradle was elaborately tilted back and forth to pour a couple of glasses. Fitting for the profoundly celebratory spirit of Row on 5.
WHEN 23rd November 2024
WHERE 5 Savile Row, London W1S 3PB
FOLLOW @rowon5london
BOOK rowon5london.com
The Good Food Guide allows three to six months before anonymously inspecting a new restaurant. Look out for a full review coming soon.
