Martin Williams on his favourite Toast the City venues
Ahead of Toast the City this October, our restaurant columnist on his favourite City spots
Bank is almost unrecognisable from when I began my career in the area with Gaucho in 2004.
I went on to become MD of the brand before leaving in 2014 to take an entrepreneurial journey, founding M on Threadneedle Street. Fast forward to today and I am the CEO of the Evolv Collection, overseeing 33 venues, nine of which are in the Square Mile.
It’s fair to say I love running restaurants in the heart of London. So when it comes to ‘Toasting the City’ I have plenty of favourite spots, some of which I am the proud custodian, others I simply love visiting.
You can now vote for your own favorites in Morning Wire’s Toast the City awards at the dedicated website.
Toast the City: My favourite venues
Brigadiers
Since Bloomberg Arcade opened in 2017 (wonderfully curated by the late Richard Vines), many restaurants have come and gone; my favourite back in the day was Andrew Wong’s Kym’s. Over the years, I’ve remained a frequent visitor of the OGs of the arcade, not least Vinoteca, which is perfect for fine wine and an accessible lunch.
At the other end of the arcade sits Brigadiers. I regularly use the terrace after work, either to enjoy a goat tiki bun kebab washed down with a sundowner of Sancerre, or for a sneaky game of pool in the hidden bar over a glass of Pinot Noir and a Wagyu seekh kati wrap.
Brigadiers is an excellent ‘go to’ for either lunch or dinner. As with all JKS restaurants, the service is on point: attentive and caring. Chops, ribs and wood oven specials are outstanding, particularly the Achari beef shortrib, the tandoori lamb chops and the roasted goat shoulder. The wine list is also solid: try the Prophets Rock Pinot Gris, Otago for £80 if you’re in the market for a wine that stands up to and enhances spiced food rather than smothering it.
One Lombard
Before it became one of the City’s most recognisable dining rooms, 1 Lombard Street was a banking hall.
The grand, domed venue beside Mansion House inspired former banker Soren Jessen, who reportedly walked into the building in the late 1990s and knew immediately it should be a restaurant.
When 1 Lombard Street opened in 1998, the Square Mile wasn’t known for its food; aside from a handful of hot spots there was little serious dining to speak of aside from the recently opened Coq d’Argent by Sir Terence Conran. Jessen’s restaurant filled that gap and never relinquished it, going on to win the City’s first Michelin Star and becoming the address where deals were signed and bonuses celebrated.
I enjoyed a meal of elevated comfort food there last week: caviar on a rosti, short rib croquettes with bearnaise. It remains the place for generous portions of British seafood and meats. I’m not sure how it got there but a St John-labelled 2018 Pinot Noir on the wine list was a delight (£120).
As exclusively revealed in Morning Wire in June, 1 Lombard is currently in a sale process, with Richard Caring slated to take control, so it would appear this is the last chance to toast the venue in its current guise.
Coq d’ Argent
A deserved winner of last year’s Toast the City award for best roof terrace, my 1 Poultry venue remains best in class.
Chef Damien Rigollet has ruled the roost for over 20 years and continues to deliver beautiful Burgundian fare. This spring, his asparagus tasting menu was a culinary highlight of the year, best paired with Chateau Lamothe Bousquet 2018 (£100), while classic dishes such as escargots de Bourgogne, terrine de lapin (stuffed with pistachio), Dover sole and comté cheese tart are unbeatable.
The fondant au chocolat noir with pistachio ice cream has also made its name as a ‘City classic’.
Coq d’Argent has enjoyed a record summer this year, with the addition of a Laurent Perrier terrace and the Mirabeau ‘Long Lunch’ garden. The restaurant rightly remains one of the most popular in the Square Mile.
However, as revealed in this paper (what a lot of scoops my brilliant editor Steve Dinneen gets, eh?), the Sir James Stirling-designed building is being redeveloped and ‘The Coq’ will be flying to a new home a few minutes down the road at the start of 2027.
The One Millenium Bridge address is an incredible rooftop riverside venue overlooking The Bank of England, St Pauls and the Tate Modern. It’s a new, exciting chapter for the silver cockerel, but for now it deserves your votes for being the finest restaurant in the City. Well worth toasting!
Voting is now open for Toast the City, with categories including Best Restaurant, Best Breakfast, Best Bar, Best Boozer, Retailer Of The Year, Best Art Or Culture Attraction, Best Green Space, Most Fun Experience and Best Roof Terrace. Go to