Mountain
16-18 Beak Street, W1F 9RD. Meal for two plus drinks about £170. Open Tuesday to Saturday from noon-9.30pm (kitchen closed between 2.30pm-5pm) and Sunday from noon-5pm; mountainbeakstreet.com
Hunched chefs exchanged looks of concern, Ben Chapman, co-founder of Mountain's restaurant group Super 8, hurried over to frantically tap at buttons on an alarm console beside the door; floor staff conferred at a clenched whisper, and generally tried to project calm serenity in the face of palpable, mounting panic. And then, after barely a minute, the alarm stopped. Order was restored. Diners, most of whom had not so much as motioned for jackets or halted their conversations, continued with their Menai Straits oysters and their silken spider crab omelettes and their puffed zeppelins of grill-fired bread.
Yes, on the one hand, this felt like an unignorable gift from the column-writing gods; a moment when the smoking-hot status of one of the year's most anticipated openings edged from the figurative to the literal. But I mention it because the inaction of the assembled crowd told its own story about the food and experience here. Which is to say, bluntly, that this is a restaurant where not even the implicit threat of a fiery demise will be enough to drag you away.
Esta historia es de la edición December 20, 2023 de Evening Standard.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición December 20, 2023 de Evening Standard.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Why are England wasting time waiting for Tuchel?
Winning the World Cup is the aim, so the new boss should start now
He's been shot, and punched by Mike Tyson, but British boxing's great survivor is back on top and aiming to rule the world
This is where the magic happens,\" reads a big neon sign scrawled across the entrance to the offices of arguably the most powerful man in British boxing today.
How Sketch went from 'obscene' to era-defining
After arocky start, the glamorous and infamous restaurant is now an institution
Money is worth less than time'
He's quit Fendi, but what will Kim Jones do next?
London's Roman Amphitheatre
Guildhall Yard, EC2V
Liberals didn't notice they'd lost relevance in the all-consuming digital sphere
There are many reasons why Donald Trump might have won the election last week.
Do we have to die?
One neuroscientist thinks the answer is no
How to have a magical Christmas in Edinburgh
From cosy cobblestone streets to abundant Yuletide goings-on, few cities rival the Scottish capital in creating Christmas whimsy.
London's best festive restaurants
The social season is upon us once more. These are the city’s most coveted Christmas venues, which need to be booked soon so as to not miss out on the tinsel and tipples.
Rag'n'Bone Man
I struggle with being recognised... I'll never really feel comfortable with it'
