One year of married life has already passed, how time flies when you’re loved up and having fun. What better way to celebrate our first year wedding anniversary than at the world-class Michelin star, Ritz Restaurant at The Ritz London? To be honest, this wasn’t our first choice, we were supposed to be in Barcelona and had already booked a table at our favourite restaurant in the city, Botafumeiro but decided to extend our trip in London for another week and experience one of the most exquisite fine dining experiences one can ever experience The Ritz Restaurant.
My husband has developed an obsession with everything to do with The Ritz London and Hotel De Paris in Monaco. It all started over Christmas when we became regulars at the Cigar Lounge at The Ritz, a newly opened extension of the hotel in London. There’s something about The Ritz London, it’s special, a fairytale world of decadent opulence, one of the landmark hotels in London. It’s everything that Mayfair represents, rich heritage and lavish luxury.
I made the booking directly through their reservations office over the phone as their website was showing no availability online. A deposit is not required, however, you’ll need to provide a card for the reservations team to keep on file. On Saturday evenings, The Ritz Restaurant currently has a “Live At The Ritz” event that adds a little live jazz and entertainment to your evening. We were so excited and looking forward to this evening to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary.
Dress – Rat & Boa / Shoes – Stuart Weitzman / Clutch – Wilbur & Gussie
The Ritz London first opened it’s doors in 1906 and is considered to be the best 5-star hotel experience in Mayfair. From the moment you step out of your black cab and hear “Welcome to The Ritz,” by the doorman, you automatically feel like you’re somewhere special, unlike anywhere else in London.
There’s also a dress code. You cannot wear sneakers or jeans and men must wear a jacket and tie.
The Ritz Restaurant’s Saturday night, ‘Live at the Ritz’ is one extravagant affair, as you can imagine. As we walked into a dining room full of guests, we were ushered to our table for two in the front row of the dancefloor and live jazz music. Chandeliers hung from the ceilings and were dimmed, adding to the romantic ambience, the perfect setting for our first wedding anniversary. How can we even top this, I wonder.
You have two variations of the menu to choose from, the set menu is £129 per person or you can select from the A La Carte Menu that also includes an extra £35 per person entertainment surcharge. We opted for the latter.
A little warning ahead if you do choose to dine here, it will set a whole new benchmark on future restaurant experiences.
For a starter, I had the ‘Langoustine Á La Nage and Bronze Fennel.‘ I looked over to my husband and told him that this is a game changer and I’ll never be able to have langoustines elsewhere again, they simply melted in my mouth.
While my husband selected the beef tartar, a typical choice for him.
For main I had the sea bass (with courgette, crab and basil) after deliberating whether to have that or the native lobster. A bit of a first world problem to have but our waiter kindly recommended the sea bass noting that I wouldn’t regret it. He wasn’t wrong.
For his main meal, my husband chose the tournedos of the beef cooked medium. I recall him saying that having a steak elsewhere will never be the same again.
For dessert, we had the crepes Suzette that were literally made in front of us in the dining room. To order this for dessert you need to order from the beginning of your dining experience. The Maitre d’hotel prepares the crepes before your eyes in a bit of a fiery spectacle.
As you can imagine the crepes were absolutely perfect.
The Ritz Restaurant also surprised us with an anniversary cake that we happily ate in bed the following morning for breakfast.
If you’re looking for the ultimate romantic, lavish and intimate evening out with a loved one, I couldn’t recommend The Ritz Restaurant and The Ritz London more. The more I visit, the more it feels like home.
The Ritz Restaurant
Address 150 Piccadilly, St. James’s, London W1J 9BR, UK