The gatekeeper at a top London restaurant reveals which guests are likely to be blacklisted, how to get a table without booking – and why you will never be seated next to Adele
A great restaurant experience relies on four things: the food, the service, the company (that’s your job) and the atmosphere, which is down to the maitre d’. That’s me. By “atmosphere” I mean the music and the lighting, yes, but there’s only so much mood-setting Dave Brubeck and a few filament bulbs can do. In the end, it’s about the guests. The maitre d’ runs the reservations book, which means mixing the characters in the room like the drinks in a cocktail to get the right balance of shot and mixer, salty and sweet.
At a top London restaurant, you have the pick of the finest ingredients. I once spent several minutes chatting to celebrated California-based architect Frank Gehry about the urban contrasts between London and LA. Later that evening, Pharrell Williams told me how much he liked the meatballs. (Gehry and Williams weren’t dining together, although I’m sure they would get on.) Where else besides a chatshow studio would you so frequently encounter people at the top of their game in business, entertainment, sport and politics?
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