{"id":496173,"date":"2025-10-13T13:01:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/496173\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T13:01:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:01:22","slug":"lilibets-restaurant-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/496173\/","title":{"rendered":"Lilibet’s Restaurant Review –"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opulent and impressive, with a side order of slightly camp, this restaurant celebrates the past and feels guaranteed to have a glorious future<\/strong><\/p>\n

An IKEA TV campaign, not so long ago, urged everyone to \u2018chuck out their chintz\u2019. It seems that much of it ended up in Lilibet\u2019s<\/a>. I\u2019ve not seen so much of the stuff since my maiden aunt died at 97, the same day as Elizabeth II, and her house hadn\u2019t changed since the 1940s.<\/p>\n

This new restaurant is on the site of the building where Elizabeth (Lillibet) II began her life, although the actual house was demolished years ago.<\/p>\n

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Internally Russell Sage Studios have created what can be either called a loving homage of interior design trends back then, or an affectionate parody of the same. There are handwoven Gainsborough silks on the walls, and even the sort of fake fireplace once found in stately council homes. Usually accompanied by a car up on bricks outside.<\/p>\n

I like it, everything about the place has a wry smile on its face and it\u2019s extremely welcoming, comfortable and, yes, it is actually elegant. There\u2019s nothing else like it in an area that has become very blingy, majorly catering to Russian and Middle Eastern tastes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not perhaps what you\u2019d expect from Ross Shonhan, once Executive chef at Zuma London, and who created the iconic Bone Daddies <\/a>ramen bars that for years were the talk of blogland, with people scrambling to get as much oily broth inside themselves as possible..<\/p>\n

Here it\u2019s fish, fish\u00a0 and more fish across a very large space divided into zones. A bar, a marble topped seafood bar, (oysters and caviar feature, of course) a fish grill, and traditional seating to eat whatever you want. These seats are extra plush, and whilst the tables have no tablecloths, they are dark wood and so still feel upper class.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a menu that could have you indecisively flicking back and forth for a month, but we know what we want.<\/p>\n

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Anchovy \u00e9clairs and crab tarts are more nibbles than full on starters, but they are both rather wonderful. I love anchovies, particularly the tinned brown fillets, but they do repel some people. The important thing is to get the best you can find \u2013 cheap anchovies don\u2019t have the rich texture and deep umami that\u2019s so present here.<\/p>\n

I saw a recipe for these in the The Official Downton Abbey Christmas Cookbook<\/a> (don\u2019t judge me). So as a savoury they have been around a long time in posh circles. They\u2019re usually made with puff pastry, here though it\u2019s proper choux with the hollow space inside piped with anchovy parfait and on top sharp\/sweet sauce. Gone all too quickly, but the memory lingers.<\/p>\n

The crab tarts are equally impressive, small works of culinary art, super-fresh sweet crab enlivened by citrus and cosseted in pastry shells that are as delicate as the porcelain\u00a0 Liz 2 probably had her afternoon tea served in.<\/p>\n

Did I mention it\u2019s a big menu? Well we dither over the Ricotta agnolotti,\u00a0 lobster spaghetti, whole turbot pil pil as choices, but the \u201cfish triptych,\u201d fish served in three different ways \u2013 a crudo, a grilled main and a soup\u00a0 \u2013 sounds too unique not to try.<\/p>\n

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From the fish of the day we have the Sea Bream. This arrives first as crudo \u2013 raw \u2013 dressed with olive oil, salt, lemon and perhaps vinegar, and liberally scattered with herbs. This really showcases the fish which is firmly \u2018cooked\u2019 by the acids to a divine buttery texture. My only caveat being that the fresh chili was rather too fierce at times.<\/p>\n

Next from the same fish comes its fillets, cooked in the searing heat of the bespoke wood oven. A perfect piece of fish, the skin crispy and golden, the flesh gorgeously creamy. It is so naturally excellent that the mojo verde sauce is in some ways not needed,\u00a0 but in other ways I need lots more. And a spoon, too. I could also do with some chips, but then I am common.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the remains of the fish are cooked fast in a pressure cooker to create one of the best fish soups either of us have ever tasted, and yes we have been to the South of France.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s ladled out tableside, which is posh, and we boat it back with little oohs and aahs. There is some left in the tureen, so rather than summon a footman I top up our bowls myself. Sometimes one simply cannot wait to be served.<\/p>\n

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I now have to mention the Lobster Mash, after all everybody else has. Firstly it gave me an annoying earworm; I can\u2019t stop hearing \u2018Monster Mash<\/a>\u2019 in my head, and secondly it really is very good. Buttery, creamy, mash anointed with a lobster bisque? How can it fail?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s served after the soup, I\u2019d have liked it served with the #2 fish, although that may not have been the best way to showcase either dish. Anyway, it is decadent, depraved and delicious. It\u2019s a must have, a right royal treat.<\/p>\n

They do a rather odd dessert here, a Prego sandwich. It\u2019s a garlic steak sandwich, the word \u2018prego\u2019 in Portuguese means \u2018nail,\u2019 perhaps the nail in your coffin? It is actually a well-loved Portuguese snack that is often eaten after a seafood meal. I don\u2019t really fancy it, but a twist on crepes suzette does sound good.<\/p>\n

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It arrives rolled up, topped with a sauce of caramelised sugar, orange juice and butter, plus thin candied orange peels, and yes, it is torched (or flambeed as they say in more refined circles) at the table. It\u2019s a blast from the past and a very welcome one.<\/p>\n

Lillibet\u2019s really is something special in London; its interiors, its staff, its food all remind me of why I go out to eat in the first place, not to greedily catch a trend but to relax and enjoy time with friends and family in a place that believes in the basics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lillibet\u2019s I am sure will become as much a part of London\u2019s history as Liz 2 was, and hopefully live just as long.<\/p>\n

17 Bruton St, London W1J 6QB
lilibetsrestaurant.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opulent and impressive, with a side order of slightly camp, this restaurant celebrates the past and feels guaranteed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,121732,354,91572,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-496173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-london-restaurants","13":"tag-mayfair","14":"tag-seafood","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115366992373056907","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}