There’s something close and intimate about dining in a booth. Here are our favourite London restaurants where you can find them:
Private Dining at Hide
The booths at Hide are nothing short of extraordinary. Each can be booked for Private Dining only – there’s The Shadow Room, The Reading Room and The Broken Room (above) based around the Japanese art of Kintsugi, the practise of repairing broken ceramics with golden glue. But perhaps the most magnificent of the three is The Reading Room (left). Enter beneath an arch of escaping stories, a commission by British artist Su Blackwell. Michelin guides, vintage cookbooks, wine tasting guides and foraging manual fly up from the bookshelf. The Reading Room seats 6-8 people with Ollie Dabbous’ Michelin-starred tasting menu £95 per head. 85 Piccadilly, W1J 7NB hide.co.uk
NAC Mayfair (North Audley Cantine)
Romantic 1940’s glamour can be found downstairs at NAC, where there are plush booths and a cocktail bar. Order small plates like crab tacos, madras curry and avocado or stracciatella, cherry tomatoes and smoked salt or go for it with the truffle burger and fries. 41 North Audley Street, W1K 6ZP naclondon.co.uk
Hawksmoor
All the Hawksmoor restaurants have booths – the Art Deco interiors at Air Street (above) and Spitalfields feature particularly nice ones with green leather seats for 3-4 people. If you’re a larger party, opt for the Guildhall restaurant which has one booth for 8-10 people where they just serve the beef tasting menu. 5A Air Street, W1J 0AD, thehawksmoor.com
Tamarind Mayfair
Tamarind Mayfair was the first Indian restaurant in the UK to win a Michelin star back in 2001. It was time for a re-shuffle. As well as a new duo in the kitchen – Karunesh Khanna (of Belgravia’s Michelin-starred, Amaya) and Manav Tuli (of Chutney Mary) – the newly refurbished space offers just that. The colours are light and feminine and there are pretty booths downstairs that can be booked for up to four people. 20 Queen St, Mayfair, W1J 5PR, tamarindrestaurant.com
Temper
King of the BBQ, Neil Rankin’s three Temper restaurants all feature leather booths for 4-6 people. There’s a new menu at Covent Garden – gather friends and squeeze into a booth for Sunday lunch, where the first 100 people will be able to order whole smoked and braised lamb from Daphne Tilly for the table – with salsas, guacamole, masa thickened braising liquor, salads, beef fat potatoes and unlimited tortillas and flatbreads. 5 Mercer Walk, Mercers Yard, WC2H 9FA temperrestaurant.com
Kricket
Secure one of the booth’s for four at Kricket’s buzzing Soho restaurant and you’re in for a very good night. Sharing plates seem to go down better here than at the large communal table downstairs, as everything’s within arms reach. Get there early and put your name down – be specific about where you’d like to sit – and then go and get a drink nearby whilst you wait. The new Television Centre restaurant also has booths although we prefer the Soho setting. 12 Denman Street, W1D 7HH kricket.co.uk
Bob Bob Ricard
‘Press For Champagne’ buttons at every booth are the big draw at Soho’s iconic Bob Bob Ricard. Opulent interiors inspired by the Orient Express set the tone for the menu too which is a mixture of Russian (vodka shots, caviar, hispi cabbage) and English (beef wellington and fish pie). 1 Upper James Street, W1F 9DF bobbobricard.com
