Twenty Two restaurant review: All of Mayfair should be like this
Monday nights are reserved exclusively for television binges and reluctant visits to the gym. All Londoners know this. You only venture out when a friend is visiting from out of town or when there’s a client dinner, and then you need somewhere to go that you can stomach on a Monday.
Twenty Two is the sort of Mayfair gem that serves thoughtful food in a stylish setting but without the ostentatiousness of ‘new’ Mayfair. Without the exhausting show put on by restaurants like Sexy Fish a short walk away on Berkeley Square, where I could never imagine having a quiet dinner early in the week. In short, dear reader, Twenty Two allows you to chill out. No one needs provocatively named restaurants on a Monday.
Past the doorman and almost every table is full – not that you’d know from outside. The best restaurants don’t let passers-by in on their secret, they stay discreet by keeping windows tinted and dining rooms tucked away using clever interior design. It’s not to be obnoxious, it’s to create that element of surprise when diners walk through the door. And like Scott’s down the road, it’s thrilling to enter Twenty Two and discover a whole world that’s invisible unless you know.
It’s easy to see why Twenty Two is full. There’s a gentle elegance about the place, attracting diners just as interested in good food as a thoughtful environment. The walls are an inviting sky blue, an unusual shade that feels warmer than you’d think, and a night spent in the low-slung pastel yellow chairs makes four-hour dinners feel half their length.
The menu offers a “Mediterranean flourish” to British food and that description gets it spot on. A Devonshire crab salad had great swathes of crab meat hidden within more varieties of greenery than could be crammed onto a classroom biology poster. Grilled tiger prawns were so big you could see them from outer space; with their richly sweet intensity, they took me back to memories of Sicily.
We threw in a beef pappardelle pasta that was generous with meat, and then continued the sharing vibe with salt baked Cornish red chicken served with girolle mushrooms, tarragon, peas and truffle shavings. Fans of Duck & Waffle’s whole roasted chicken will take comparison notes and this comes out favourably. There’s an argument to be had over which statement chicken sharer is more comforting but I fall on the side of Twenty Two: we were pulling strips of meat off the bone long after we were full.
And then suddenly it was 11.45pm. I’d like to spend all my Mondays at Twenty Two. Lifting a fork is far more fun than lifting weights.
For more information or to book Twenty Two restaurant visit the website