Eat Here: The Athenaeum Hotel MayfairBy Rishma Dosani
It’s official, we’ve found our new Mayfair hangout and you really, really need to try it out too. Trust us when we say that the Athenaeum Hotel and Spa needs to be tried out to be believed.
Mayfair is known for it’s beautiful hotels, The Ritz is the first sight that hits you when you leave Green Park, and Mayfair Hotel is also world famous, but that’s why you need to head to Athenaeum. It’s blissfully quiet and incredibly comfortable, so it’s truly the best place for afterwork drinks or a catch up with your friends. They also have cocktails to die for and a food menu that will make you want to want to stay until you try every last thing.
I went with a friend, and can honestly say that making a decision about what we wanted to eat was the hardest thing, it all looked amazing, and we’ll definitely be going back to eat some more! Even the canapés were like ‘little drops of heaven’. Yes, I did just quote Friends but that’s how epic it was.
For starters I had caramelised goats cheese with onion marmalade. I’m a cheese fiend, and goats cheese is a personal favourite so I was pretty ready for this and, believe me when I say, it did not disappoint. I’ll even go out on a limb and say it was the best goats cheese dish I’ve ever had. Ever.
It’s safe to say, after lovely canapés, cocktails and an amazing starter, the main would have to be pretty fantastic to top it but those folks at the Athenaeum managed it. I chose the root vegetable ratatouille with swiss chard and salad, and there isn’t much to say, or words I haven’t already used, apart from the fact that it was just lush.
After an incredible meal, myself and my friend were absolutely stuffed, so decided to share a dessert – a chocolate fondant with ice cream – but it was just that good we actually ended up getting two of them! Seriously, if you’re a chocolate lover then just go for this alone.
Six plates of food, and countless glasses of wine, were completely cleared by the end of dinner, so when the bill came we feared the worst. Especially considering where we were, the other hotels and restaurants nearby, and the amount much food and drink we’d put away, but it was incredibly reasonable.
If you want to know JUST how reasonable head there yourself and give it a go, I honestly couldn’t recommend it enough. Go for a beautiful lunch, curl up in their bar with a glass of wine and book on a rainy weekend, treat someone to afternoon tea, just visit their website and book yourself a table. We’ll see you there next week!
