Is Victoria the strangest part of London? Of course it is steeped in history, the station acting as a gateway to the south coast with the legendary ‘Brighton Belle’ train that took interwar era Londoners for a taste of the seaside, now merely an ode to misery with a dodgy train line that somehow takes longer to get to Brighton than it did 90 years ago (can you tell we love commuting?), but something always just feels a bit…off?

What I’m getting at is it feels like a mishmash of every kind of lifestyle at once. Commuters deal with cancelled trains by filling the local pubs, theatregoers clock-watch and look for fast eats from the impressive amount of chains in the area before seeing Wicked or Hamilton, budget-minded tourists run the gauntlet between the train and bus stations, a journey so frustrating that the two may as well be in different cities.

With the above in mind, The July, a new (ish) apart-hotel concept in the area is an oasis in what feels like a cultural desert. Part of a boutique group with two outposts in Amsterdam and expansion across Europe forthcoming, they seem to capture all the strong hotel trends at the moment, positioning themselves as a home from home (albeit, with more luxury furnishings than most people’s homes) in enviable locations. We’re not here to stay, but to visit the new dining concept The Idler, which opened earlier this summer on the hotel’s ground floor.

Much like the hotel, the restaurant positions itself well as a mix of sophistication and familiarity. British dishes are elevated with Mediterranean flair, with a small but well-balanced menu that sits head and shoulders above standard hotel-restaurant fare.

We kick things off with anchovies, fennel and garlic salami, and sourdough, a collection of small plates that are difficult to get wrong but delivered here with flair and attention to detail. The fish comes swimming in liberal amounts of olive oil, flavoured with garlic and parsley, which compliments the spice of the charcuterie, sliced fresh to order just meters away from the table on the restaurant’s meat counter. The bread is warm, soft and comes with a tomato butter that creates an almost bruschetta-like effect without the risk of spilling everything down your shirt.

Onto mains, and The Idler presents its compact menu by just having 1-2 dishes for each category (Land, Sea and Earth). While it doesn’t look like many options on paper, it genuinely does feel like there’s something for everyone, and personally, it’s a much preferred situation over being handed an encyclopedia to decide from. We opt for the Baked Cornish Hake (from the sea section, obviously), which is delicately cooked and served in a mussel and clam cream, upping the richness with samphire and given a carb hit with creamy potato. In some ways, it feels like a deconstructed and elevated fish pie, yet each ingredient is given the chance to sing, balancing strong flavours tremendously. Our companion opts for The Lake District Bavette, a masterfully cooked cut that puts nearby Flat Iron to shame, though some more extensive sides wouldn’t go amiss (it currently comes with celeriac remoulade, potato foam and a Madeira jus).

Deserts come in the form of a Creme Fraiche Panna Cotta, which captures the Mediterranean influence perfectly, and a Chocolate Tonka Mousse, which offers a gorgeously rich indulgence with a thyme shortbread and Chantilly cream.

The Idler manages to avoid the usual pitfalls of hotel restaurants, which tend to operate solely for the guests or as a last resort for dining. Instead, this feels like a genuine culture shift for Victoria, somewhere with a soul, hitting the perfect middle ground between relaxed dining and elevated modern cuisine. This may have just saved the area for us.

For more information on The Idler, see here.

282 Vauxhall Bridge Rd, London SW1V 1EJ