There are some very famous restaurants in London, but frankly I am struggling to think of another London restaurant that actually has directions to it on a real London tube sign inside the station.
So how did this place become so famous? It opened in 1976 and simply nothing else in London was like it. Remember Corbin and King had yet to work their magic at Le Caprice and The Ivy, let alone the Wolseley, albeit Mr Corbin could be found working at the time in this very place. Hotel restaurants were either stachy and stiff (and that was just their inedible food) or hushed temples to michelin star French gastronomy. Neither of which could be called cool. In contrast, Langan’s not only looked cool but was cool.
And into this languor exploded Langan’s—an all day, cool, relaxed brasserie which was really the key celebrity hangout of that time. Stuffed with original modern art – you could and can dine beneath Hockney paintings – everyone from Duran Duran to the Sex Pistols found their way across its portal. I suspect the sign in the station was just there to help the paparazzi as no way did the celebs get there by tube.
It also had an audacious menu – who then knew or believed that you could serve sausages and mash with champagne or fish pie with martinis? A brave new world it was, and everyone loved it. Then, as always happens, the world moves on a bit, other restaurants come and go, but what of Langan’s, the grande dame of Stratton Street? She’s still there, but have the years been kind and what has become of her?
Well the feeling of sliding through the revolving door brings waves of memory. Cloakroom to the right, bar straight ahead and a coterie of welcoming hostesses preside regally over the reservation book at the lectern to the left. Now this is how I remember it.
It is also full at 7pm on a weekday, which no that many places are. Not the same celebrity crowd as in its heyday, more a Mayfair crowd of hedgies, well heeled tourists and visitors and the odd seriously wealthy oil traders. Nary a pop star to be seen, but expecting the past is to chase a ghost. I lived opposite The Odeon in Tribeca in the 90s, and much as I wished the characters of Bright Lights, Big City could still be found in there, all I found was the same great onion soup and New York strip steaks. And somewhere I spent a lot of time. Go and pay homage next time you are in Manhattan.
Landan’s feels similar to me. It is a restaurant that cannot overcome it’s fame, and can never recapture that moment in time. But it still a great place to eat: proper napkins no tables large enough to host a smorgasbord of food. Heavy cutlery and napkins. And the same sort of menu that, without a doubt, makes you weigh up the possibility of ordering everything on it.
Which even I cannot, but what we did have was excellent – after an excellently dry martini I should add. We had a deep, rich devon crab with a mayonnaise infused with the flavour of the brown meat, and a crisp perfect shellfish cocktail that could have graced the Waldorf Astoria. Then for main courses we dallied and debated – I love the sausages here, the fish pie is, if you like seafood as much a I do, perfection plus mash or roasted cod with saffron braised barley and roasted pepper rouille.
However, we had eaten from the sea, so time to move on land and after considering the expansive grill options, we came to the “sod it, it is 2026 after all” conclusion – we ordered the beef wellington. Which was epic. Precise pastry with just enough width to enclose but not so much as to leave any soggy spots encased a sublime tranche of fillet steak smothered in fois gras. Cooked to dark red perfection it was accompanied by mash and the mineral tang of spinach offset by a dark, unctuous truffle sauce. They brought more of the sauce when I asked.
There is a reason wellingtons are back in vogue, and when you get one this good, this precise you know exactly why. A really fantastic dish.
After that puddings were a bit of a stretch, but we manfully (or stubbornly) made our way through Yorkshire rhubarb crumble with vanilla custard and an apple tart with chantilly, crumble, pecans and Honey Caramel. The head was willing. The tummy was beginning to go on strike. But they were very good.
It is all proper food this. The room is still as beautiful as ever. The serving staff are friendly and know their onions (alongside the other ingredients). Get over the fact that it’s not 1976, or 1986 – if you remember those years, and I do, you’ll be glad is 2026 – and go back to Langan’s the next time you are near Green Park and Mayfair and fancy a meal where you want to eat every dish.
And if you need any final convincing, I offer two extras.
First, if you ask nicely they will show you upstairs where there is a very red private bar and club, which best of all opens out onto a secret terrace. In the middle of Mayfair, where you can have a martini, a cigar and some snacks. It is beautiful and it is outside. In Mayfair.
Second, they have a keenly priced prix fixe menu – three courses for £40 including dishes like smoked salmon, onion soup, the cod I described above and (holy of holies) ile flotant! That is a bargain, with the best bit being that you can order from this menu from noon to 6.30pm and also from 9pm. So after a few drinks around town you can head here and have a brilliant late supper for less than forty quid each. That is one of the best bargains I have seen all year, and if you don’t try it then basically there is no helping you.
Langan’s Brasserie Stratton Street, Mayfair, London W1J 8LB – 020 7491 8822 – [email protected]
Monday – Friday: 8.00am – 10.30pm, Saturday: 12.00pm – 10.30pm, Sunday: 12.00pm – 9.30pm