céleste - the lanesborough london

amazing place in london. i love the food. can’t wait to come back here again. congratulations to the staff.

one of the most beautiful tea rooms for high tea time in london. the tea time was phenomenal, classy and upper-scale as i like it. very good clientele, good music, very good service. i strongly recommend it. a perfect place for a cooler gloomier day! make a reservation they are generally fully booked.

i went here with my boyfriend and a friend for some post-prom food in july. i was not really looking for full on fine dining that evening or to spend a small fortune on one meal, but i was outnumbered. ultimately i was glad i was!

i have eaten in all sorts of restaurants on five continents, and i have never, ever, ever had such memorable food. it may seem an odd thing to say, but the food at celeste has flavour. i can't think of any other way to describe it. where do they get this magic food? whatever an item of food is supposed to taste like, it does, but amplified a thousand times! simply incredible.

the service was excellent, not intrusive or stuffy, just an endless stream of sweet little women in flat shoes. post-prom and post-wine, my boyfriend was in the mood for a bit of low volume singing. one of the little women came to inquire whether we wanted any digestifs but couldn't quite figure out how to get a word in, it was simply adorable.

yes, it is expensive. but get yourself a sugar-daddy/-mommy and go!

the air con was very cold when we arrived but charming staff quickly put that right. the waiters who looked after us (including frederico from maiori) seemed to be enjoying themselves by being attentive and considerate. good service is wonderful but service with a big, genuine smile is rather more special. thank you for that.

the little amuse bouches were intriguing, rather than particularly enjoyable. the mackerelwas the stand out here, with a subtle lemony flavour cutting through the natural oiliness of the fish.

two of us ate the foie gras, presented in a subtle, herby terrine; slightly over-chilled but with excellent flavours. one ate a caesar's salad that did not appear on the menu - it was cleverly presented on a base made from a cross section cut of iceberg lettuce. absolutely delicious.

onto the main course - two duck, one lamb and a halibut. i ate the lamb, which was excellent, cooked to perfection and melted in the mouth. i then tasted the duck and could easily have eaten the lot - it was outstanding.

we had various ice cream based puddings, of which mine (a lemon meringue served with fresh strawberries) was beautifully presented and excellent - tiny flecks of lemony jelly and fresh thyme added an extra dimension.

the room (when the air con came under control) is so attractive that it makes the evening special. and into this haven of sophistication came the most sublime cucumber-based palate cleanser imaginable.

the prices are eye-wateringly high but every plate exceeded expectations - so it would be churlish not to say that the price was pretty well worth it. am i going back soon? not until i can afford to. would i like to go back soon? if i could have that food, those flavours, the setting and that level of friendly service without quite such a tough price tag i would go back often.

pretty good mostly fairly uninteresting and not really packed with flavour. i'm a little surprised at the michelin star for this one. service was pretty bad, having to ask for water over four times gets a little tedious for this standard of restaurant. overpriced as far as i'm concerned, so a wholly disappointing lunch!

it’s official. i’ve found me new favourite restaurant in london. one that exudes timeless glamour, luxury, finesse and a piece of london – packed into one very classy and refined package. celeste at the lanesborough opened in july 2015 after the hotel underwent a complete refurbishment and transformed one of london’s most iconic hotels into one which will again remain an icon for many more years to come. it’s all still very traditional and classic inside, and you wouldn’t even know it was just a year old interior wise – but take a closer look and you’ll notice everything is that little more polished and materials made from ever slightly more modern fabrics. in short – i’m in love.

the first post back after a long holiday is always hard to get into, i’m in fact still abroad, still in my pyjamas at 1pm local time, and munching on a bowl of porridge with chia seeds. its been a hell of a break, and i’m utterly relaxed and eager to get back to my life in brilliant london. one of the things i love most about london is it’s habit of constant change and flux, as well as its age-old traditions. the newly refurbished lanesborough hotel in knightsbridge is testament to the unending nature of one of the best cities in the world, and the hotel is fresh and utterly luxurious.

executive chef florian favario has taken his experience from a 3 star kitchen in paris combining with prime british ingredients to create some of the most exciting dishes i have encountered this year.

there was a terrific posh scotch egg - a burford brown encased in mince of chicken and rosemary-spiked lardo from colonatta, crispy, with a rich and golden runny yolk and earthy truffle mayonnaise (£14 a la carte, also on set lunch menu). my brother had a cold starter with lobster - good chunks of meat presented as a sort of salad, with tagliatelle-style ribbons of a vegetable we couldn't identify and forgot to ask about. 

i had lobster in my main, with conchiglioni pasta and it's own light and frothy bisque. i enjoyed it, but i suspect i would have done so much more with the absence of peppers, the flavour from which i felt had no place on the plate. the capers though, definitely (£34 on a la carte).

my brother nailed his choice - roast norfolk black chicken, confit crispy leg, and girolles mushrooms. as good as it reads - savoury, umami, like the chickeny essence had been extracted from 50 fine birds and concentrated into one plate's worth of food (£24 a la carte, also on set lunch menu).

laudable desserts came in the form of a vibrant mango eton mess, shards of meringue sticking out like ship sails in the wind (£12.50 a la carte, also on set lunch menu), and a gloriously seductive guanaja chocolate mousse with streusel crumble, demonstrating some impressive paint brush skills (£12.50 a la carte).

i love a bit of a pomp me, so i was expecting to love the recently renovated lanesborough hotel on hyde park corner. after all, they did spend over £60m on the place. gone is the michelin-starred apsleys and in its place is céleste, under the guidance of a french chap called florian favario.

i was really impressed with celeste overall, some of the dishes were spectacular and full of imagination and drama without being gimmicky. for me celeste is the best restaurant opening in 2015 so far and hard to imagine any other opening later this year which can rival it

its only been open about six weeks but they don't seem to be having any teething problems here.  the dining room is incredible ( even though i'd seen it before when it was apsleys) the food is perfection and the service is exceptional.  i had the 7 course tasting menu with wine, the wines was so perfectly matched.  each course was mindblowing! cannot recommend enough!

i’m a rather impatient person especially when it comes to the lanesborough; i’ve waited a long time to walk back through it’s glorious doors and i can confirm the refurbishment was definitely worth the wait.  and trust me i couldn’t wait any longer to try the gluten free afternoon tea at the lanesborough; as soon as i knew they were takings bookings i was there!