The City of London is bereft of stylish boutique hotels. Most places that offer the traveller accommodation are identikit offshoots of hugely expensive chains that believe that offering a couple of pieces of abstract art in the lobby somehow qualifies them to be described as “quirky”. Reader, it does not.
All praise, then, to South Place Hotel, a stone’s throw from Liverpool Street, which manages to offer high-end comfort and understated style with aplomb. And, as we will note in a moment, it does all this while offering one of London’s most interesting and unusual restaurants on its top floor: it is hard not to take enormous comfort in a visit here.
When I arrived at South Place, exhausted after a lengthy journey, the first thing that I noticed was that nothing was too much trouble for the staff; the genuine warmth of the welcome was only matched by my daughter’s delight at finding her bed already made up in our extremely comfortable, stylish and spacious suite.
The splendour and graciousness with which we’re received is in stark contrast to the altogether less personal touch that many, lesser establishments nearby offer. The bed is wonderfully soft, the bathroom capacious and well-appointed, and it would be the easiest and most pleasant thing imaginable to luxuriate here for hours, days, weeks.
However, there are other options, and that includes visiting and sampling the various food and drink choices available here. Unusually for somewhere relatively modest in size, South Place boasts three separate ways of dining, all of which are extremely worthwhile.
The in-room dining option is considerably better than you would be offered in most hotels; I very much enjoy my steak frites, followed by an excellent éclair, and Rose is much amused when I pour chocolate sauce over my steak, mistaking it for pepper sauce. In truth, although it’s an unusual flavour, it’s a weirdly successful mixture. Topped off with a bottle of very decent New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, it makes for a very enjoyable supper.
Breakfast is served in the 3 South Place restaurant, the hotel’s casual spot, and it’s excellent; the chilli & lime avocado toast could give any Aussie brunch place a run for its money, and the full English is the stuff of legend, especially washed down with one of the decidedly fresh and top-notch juices on offer; the pain au chocolat remains one of the very best that I’ve ever eaten, too.
If the hotel ‘only’ offered room service and 3 South Place, it would still be an exemplary place to visit, one of the City’s most appealing and enjoyable hotels. But it has an ace up its sleeve, and it’s a top floor restaurant, specialising in seafood, appropriately enough called Angler.
Under long-standing executive chef Gary Foulkes, Angler has held a Michelin star for years, and deservedly so. It looks out, figuratively and literally, over the streets, which makes it an appropriately sky-high destination for the kind of long and indulgent lunch that once used to be de rigueur round here but has now passed into the ether along with limitless expense accounts and the like.
We kick off outside with a couple of top-notch cocktails, an Oscar Wilde, an appropriately glittering concoction of champagne and absinthe, and a Churchill Martini, which does pretty much what it says on the tin, and then it’s straight into a glittering tasting menu, which balances flavours and ideas with consummate execution.
Highlights are too many to list, but we were particular aficionados of the roast Orkney scallop, which comes complete with green tomato vierge, and the unctuous, moreish tuna tartare – and the dark chocolate ganache at the end is something for the sweet-toothed, as well. Those who are not fully paid up pescetarians will appreciate the presence of the squab pigeon, which gives a carnivorous bite to proceedings, but the whole thing is paced beautifully, served with charm and style.
There are also two wine pairings, priced at £130 and £200, both of which will compliment the meal superbly; the only question is whether you opt for the more inexpensive one and have excellent wines, or try the dearer one and have the finest wines and vintages available to humanity. We had the former and it was exquisite, with a wonderful Sauternes and unusual but delectable New Zealand Sauvignon the highlights.
Angler, and South Place, are the kind of places that ought to be more widespread. A visit here will make you extremely happy, and that is the kind of top-end experience that is worth paying any amount of money for. Comfort, service and fine dining in one top-notch package – what else, frankly, is there, and worth asking for?
South Place Hotel, 3 South Place, London EC2M 2AF. For more information, including details of the restaurants, facilities and what’s on at the hotel, visit www.southplacehotel.com.
Photos by James Bedford
