The best of Chelsea by the people who know - Cadogan

53 | FOOD AND DRINK | Restaurants
Gordon Ramsay, Daphne’s and Papillon,
so she has the skills to back up her
home-cooking. Best-sellers include the
Greek dish gemista (stuffed vegetables
with rice) and the Palestinian sayyadiyeh
(seared cod with cumin). There is also a
catering service.
Monday-Saturday 8am-9pm, Sunday
9am-8pm.
172 Walton Street, SW3 2JL
T: 020 7584 6866
www.baitykitchen.com
Baku
£££
A new Azerbaijani restuarant named after
the country’s capital. Run by Philippe
Moreau, who launched the Cheyne Walk
Brasserie and Eight Over Eight on the
King’s Road, it serves dishes from
Caspian sturgeon caviar to meat and fsh
kebabs and black cod pomegranate.
Monday-Sunday, 11am-2am.
164-165 Sloane Street, SW1X 9QB
T: 020 7235 5399
bakulondon.com
Beaufort House
Cocktail Bar and
Brasserie
Beaufort House
£££
The brasserie and cocktail bar on the
ground floor are open to the public, while
the rest of Beaufort House is a private
members’ club. The brasserie has an
all-day brunch menu and a dinner menu
made up of British and European dishes.
It welcomes families with young
children in the day and becomes more
of a bar in the evening. For the cocktail
bar, see Pubs, Bars and Nightlife.
Brasserie and cocktail bar open
Sunday-Wednesday 10am-12.30pm,
Thursday-Saturday 10am-1.30pm.
354 King’s Road, SW3 5UZ
T: 020 7352 2828
www.beauforthousechelsea.co.uk
Benihana
££££
Benihana Chelsea is part of an international
chain of Japanese restaurants
founded in 1964 with a theatrical flair,
where food is prepared and cooked at
your table on a Hibachi Grill. The
Chelsea branch opened in 1993.
The menu features mostly steak and
fish/shellfish dishes – often a combination
of the two. If you feel in the mood to
splash out, there’s even Wagyu beef.
There’s also a selection of hot and cold
appetisers, sushi and bento boxes. The
lunchtime dishes are generally cheaper.
Lunch: Monday-Saturday 12pm-3pm.
Dinner: Monday-Saturday 5.30pm-
10.30pm, Sunday and bank holidays
5pm-10pm.
77 King’s Road, SW3 4NX
T: 020 7376 7799
www.benihana.co.uk
Big Easy Bar.B.Q & Crabshack
££
A restaurant inspired by Gulf Coast
crabshacks in the US of A, Big Easy
brings American barbeque food to
Chelsea. The ‘theme’ idea might put
some people off, but it’s not just a gimmick
– the food has won fans and it’s
buzzy, with live music in the evenings.
The menu features steaks, fajitas, lobster,
ribs, burgers – and crab, of course.
Prices for mains are around the £15-£25
mark, unless you’re going for the top
steaks or a steak/lobster combo. There
are some good deals, too, depending on
the day of the week.
It’s happy hour at the bar at 12pm and
4pm daily, Tuesday-Friday 4pm-7.30pm
and all day on Monday until 11pm, and
the drinks list is cocktail-heavy.
Sunday to Thursday 12pm-11pm,
Friday and Saturday 12pm-12am.
332-334 King’s Road, SW3 5UR
T: 020 7352 4071
www.bigeasy.co.uk
Black & Blue
£££
Black & Blue, a restaurant group that
specialises in steak and hamburgers,
has taken over the site of the famous
Picasso café on the King’s Road.
Bluebird Restaurant
Picasso was much-loved by locals and
was a hangout for rock stars and celebs,
including the Rolling Stones and Eric
Clapton in the 1960s, and Bob Geldof
and Gordon Ramsay in later years.
The recession took its toll and it closed
in 2009.
The Black & Blue menu includes a
selection of light lunches and more substantial
meals, primarily steaks, burgers
and fish. There is an extensive wine list.
Sunday-Thursday 8am-11pm, Friday
and Saturday 8am-11.30pm.
127 King’s Road, SW3 4PW
T: 020 7351 1661
www.blackandbluerestaurants.com
Bluebird Chelsea
£££
Set in a striking 1920s Grade II-listed
former garage, this foodie hub has a
restaurant, a bar, a café (see Cafés),
an al fresco dining area, a food store and
a wine shop (see Shopping).
Terence Conran developed the
building in the 1990s as the Bluebird
Gastrodome, and it has since been
taken over by restaurant group D&D
London. There’s also a shop selling
clothes, accessories, gifts and furniture
and a spa in the same complex (see
Shopping and Spas).
The restaurant is on the the first-floor –
cut between the café and the al fresco
courtyard and up the stairs on the lefthand
side as you face the main building.
The à la carte menu is made up of
modern British dishes and classics with
a twist, and the desserts include grownup
takes on childhood favourites. There’s
also a lunch menu, a set lunch menu
and a Sunday lunch menu, as well as
bar snacks.
Lunch: Monday-Friday 12pm-2.30pm,
Saturday and Sunday 12pm-3.30pm.
Dinner: Monday-Saturday 6pm-
10.30pm, Sunday 6pm-9.30pm.
Bluebird Chelsea, 350 King’s Road, SW3