London Recos

I have used the search function.

Any recommendations for London Hotels (in particular) and restaurants and other fun stuff.

The trip will be around Xmas/NewYear.

Thanks in advance.

Would be helpful to know if you had a specific location or budget vs luxury. That said, we have enjoyed staying at the Hoxton Holborn in Covent Garden area.

Location is among the recos I’m seeking.

The plan is for a fun holiday seeing touristy type sites and enjoying what London has to offer during the Xmas/NewYear season. I would prefer a location that is easily walkable to a lot of fun things.

Budget is mid-to-lux area – can’t afford the best, but can drop some coin if its worth it.

Mayfair has lots of lights up, and we dine stand/or peak in to the finer hotels like Claridges to see their impressive designer trees. We stay just across the border of Mayfair in Marleybone at the Hyatt Churchill.

It’s walkable to Covent Garden albeit a long walk. Walkable to Harrods too -through the park which is lovely if it’s not raining. However the crowds at Harrods (and in Oxford street) are maddening over the holidays.

Dukes in St James. Perfect location and lovely hotel. Restaurants:

La Trompette - out in chiswick but definitely worth it.
Chez Bruce - out in wandsworth but definitely worth it.
Both do corkage.

We have stayed at Dukes and The Stafford, both in St. James’s Place and IMHO The Stafford is better is every way. Stayed at The Stafford first, then tried Dukes and ran back to The Stafford.

Definitely not lux but fwiw we like to stay at the Thistle Trafalgar Square. It’s a clean, well priced chain hotel in a very convenient location. Right behind the National Gallery, a few minutes to the TKTS boot at Leicester Square, a short walk to St Martins in the Fields if you want to take in a concert, a short walk to Chinatown, short walk to Regent St., slightly longer walk to Covent Garden or St. James’s Park. 5 minutes from 2 different tube stops which get you anywhere else.

But not the place if you want luxury or character.

Go here https://kitchentablelondon.co.uk/. Thank me later.

Oh, and the Christmas decorations on Regent St. are a must visit.

The new Belmond Cadogan hotel is beautiful.

I’m a fan of Kit Kemp’s Firmdale hotels, particularly The Soho Hotel.

Hock and seltzer specials available at the bar one hopes?

You MUST do this, it’s magical, particularly in the Christmas season.

Le Meridien Hotel, Piccadilly - close to everything
Sketch, for a dinner to remember

Agree with Mark. My wife and I have been staying at the Ham Yard the past couple of years. Clean, modern, roomier, if those things work for you (they do for us). Good location for holiday time as well.

We stay at Claridges in Mayfair. pricey, but worth it.

I loved the Savoy a few months back.

I also had a sensational meal at Clove Club, a very good one at Ikoyi, and a satisfying one at the Barbary.

Cant say enough good things bout this place if you like Indian food: Trishna. Local, regional dishes I have never heard of or seen before. Each one better than the next and paired with regional cocktails. https://www.trishnalondon.com/

Also, I found an hour at Hedonism Fine Wines to be as good as any museum in town.

Also a fan of Trishna. It’s a sister restaurant to Gymkhana, but not at all redundant. I prefer Gymkhana by a modest margin.

Just got back (on Saturday) from a 10 day stay in London. Here’s a brief review of what we liked and disliked about where we stayed, restaurants, etc.

We stayed at the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel in Kings Cross/St. Pancras. An historic hotel originally opened in 1873, closed in 1935 and reopened (with major modernization) in 2011. A very comfortable stay. And if you’re there on the weekend, a very worthwhile 1 to 1 1/2 hour tour of the hotel is recommended.

Also at the hotel is a Marcus Wareing restaurant, the Gilbert Scott. Not wanting to venture far from the hotel the first night, we had dinner there that night and it was delightful. Beautiful room, impeccable service, delicious food and a fine wine list with lots of affordable choices.

We went to see “SIX:The Musical” on Sunday so we booked another Wareing restaurant before the show, Tredwells. Another top notch choice. Casual setting in Covent Garden, excellent food, service and affordable wine list. Oh, BTW, great show, and it’s coming to the states.

Of course we did some of the standard tourist stops (but not that many as we’ve been to London several times in the past). Actually, we enjoyed using our oyster cards to travel on many buses through neighborhoods we’ve not typically been to.

Back to the restaurants. We were not as enthused as other board members with Tryshna. My wife found the waiter to have an attitude, I was too busy having a great discussion with the somm. The food was just OK and we made a point to order a variety of typical regional Indian fare.

La Trompette, however, put us back on track. We were there years ago, loved it, and we were just as pleased with this visit. Service was a tad off (they may have been pressured by how busy they were) but the food and wine made up for it. Great meal.

We also did a few local restaurants, one Italian storefront that was good for what we were looking, the Fellow, a gastropub and Camino, a “Spanish” chain (this one a couple of blocks from the hotel. Tasty fare.

The last night was a splurge. Zafferano, an Italian restaurant in Belgravia. Service was excellent as expected, as was the food. The Somm, it turned out, was a dick. I discussed three possible wine choices with him so he would have a good idea as to what I wanted. In fact, I really didn’t need him make my choice but I appreciated his input. MISTAKE. He made an alternative recommendation (based on my idea?) and I accepted it. Instead of one of three wines that “said” Italy, he brought a wine from Bolgheri (yeah, it’s from Italy) but it was Italy in name only. More like a Coombsville cabernet. In retrospect, I think he was just pushing that wine, not servicing me, the customer. And when I left, I let him know of my disappointment.

Overall, a good trip. More pluses than minuses.