La Môme at The Berkeley review: a splash of high camp
The Berkeley’s newest restaurant, La Môme, is best when it leans into eccentricity, but the food needs work, says Adam Bloodworth
The Maybourne Group run the very plushest London hotels. Their newest, The Emory – London’s first and only all-suite hotel – charges north of a grand for an entry-level room. It opened last year as a modern counterpart to Maybourne’s two legendary properties, Claridge’s and The Connaught.
The group’s fifth London hotel, The Berkeley, which has just launched a new restaurant called La Môme, lacks the brand identity of its siblings. But then again, it’s hard to compete with Claridge’s reputation as Princess Victoria’s favourite knees-up spot and The Connaught’s claim to having run the World’s Best Bar.
Not that the hotel isn’t formidable. At the end of 2023 it closed its restaurant, Marcus at The Berkeley, when it still had a Michelin star. That’s quite the statement, and in place of Marcus arrives La Môme with its promise of transporting weary Londoners to sunnier climes by way of food and vibe.
The Berkeley’s new restaurant achieves one of those things. With a Mediterranean menu touting the flavour and colour of the French Riviera, La Môme says ‘bah-humbug!’ to the dreary grey colour pallette of Marcus’ restaurant. Photographs examining the lives of socialites and celebrities by late US photographer Slim Aarons line the walls, and the sofa banquettes are now orange, red and forest green.
La Môme at The Berkeley London: the eccentric cocktails are best
A very enthusiastic man plays classic pop and rock hits from a shiny white piano. Even the cushions have a funky, vaguely noughties style. White tablecloths remain, however, because I suppose there can be too much fun, and if you’re charging £59 for a king crab salad (more on that later) then you want to give off ‘but the food is actually very serious, thank you very much’ energy, too.
So, how did we get here? Gloria and Circolo Populaire heralded a new era of hedonistic dining over the last couple of years, suggesting that even if you’re extremely posh, no one’s above singing Toto’s Africa over their amuse bouches. When Mayfair and Mahiki closed, and clubbing went out of fashion, restaurants like these assumed the mantle, offering a relatively tame brand of escapism for those with fat wallets. But like Gloria and Circolo Populaire, La Môme at The Berkeley is unlikely to get a Michelin star.
La Môme is at its most transportative when it leans into its eccentric USP. The Fizzy Lollipop cocktail was the best of a very good cocktail list. It’s like a grown-up Haribo
The food tends towards style over substance. Bread arrives with thyme snippable with scissors, which is kinda cute. Next, a decent tuna tartare, presented startlingly on a multicoloured plate. Of the rest of the starters, the squid was dry, and the king crab salad, costing a flatly ridiculous £59, fails to find the right avocado to crab ratio. It ends up being a challenge for two of us to get through all the oily avo, which is most of what’s on the plate.
The nut-crusted rack of lamb was presented on a mini barbecue that wouldn’t stop smoking even though the managers tried twice to halt the hazard. Crusted with pistachio, walnut, hazelnut, cumin, lemon and thyme, it was overpowering, though we did get a laugh out of trying to get the thing to stop sending billowing smoke signals into the gods. The black truffle macaroni, meanwhile, was hard work, tasting strangely claggy.
Read more: The Emory London review: is this more fun than Claridge’s?
La Môme is at its most transportative when it leans into its eccentric USP. The Fizzy Lollipop cocktail was the best of a very good cocktail list. It’s like a grown-up Haribo, containing tequila, berry liqueur, raspberry cordial and cherry soda; it snapped, crackled and popped and was great fun – the type of joyous escapism I’d hoped to find in the food. The chocolate fondant pud was also really nice.
The piano guy hadn’t noticed that his foot was banging so hard on the wooden base of his instrument that it was hard to talk over it. In the row of seating below him, a lady wearing sunglasses and off-the-shoulder fur walked in at 10pm and ordered a steak. It was hard to tell who wanted to be looked at more. La Môme is where to go to be the star of your own show. To embrace – as the kids would say – Main Character Energy. If you have no interest in that, don’t bother.
To book a table at La Môme at The Berkeley, go to the-berkeley.co.uk/restaurants-bars/la-mome-london