Avenue, London Review

Avenue Restaurant, aptly promoted as ‘Manhattan Meets Mayfair’, can be found on the ever popular St James’ Street, London. Recently refurbished, we had heard excellent things, and were very much looking forward to exploring what the restaurant has to offer.

The interior design at Avenue is certainly impressionable, with a beautifully modern theme. Crisp white and a deep teal make up the majority of the restaurant’s colour scheme, which is both relaxing and striking. It certainly meets up to their ‘Manhattan Meets Mayfair’ ethos.

A certain focus point of the room comes in the form of an island in the center, filled with bottles of wine and accentuated by a suspended arrangement of wine glasses. It’s a gathering point, where customers can loiter whilst enjoying a glass of wine.

“The freshness of the ingredients really shone through.”

When we arrived, we were keen to get down to business, and began our evening with a couple of pre-dinner cocktails. We began with a ‘Sentimental Melody’, which is a fruity blend of white rum, orange curacao, elderflower liqueur and cranberry.

We then moved on to sample both a ‘Sidecar’ and a ‘Kentucky Express’, with the ‘Sidecar’ providing a sharp and refreshing blend of cognac, lemon juice and triple sec; and the ‘Kentucky Express’ providing our evening pick-me-up, in the form of espresso, coffee liqueur and a large measure of bourbon. The ‘Kentucky Express’ was actually the firm favourite - it was served with a touch of homemade vanilla sugar, which gave it a subtly sweet edge.

After our cocktails, we were keen to settle down for dinner. To start, we opted for the fried soft shell crab with avocado, arugula and chipotle mayo, and the shrimp cocktail with a Bloody Mary dressing. Both the starters were beautifully presented, and the freshness of the ingredients really shone through. They were beautiful.

For our main courses, we opted for the New York Strip steak with peppercorn béarnaise sauce and pastrami butter; and the Filet Mignon. As side dishes, we opted to try the macaroni cheese with blue cheese and parmesan, and the whipped carrots with butter, which were exceptional, and a real highlight!

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Avenue, which I would describe as both fun and delicious! The atmosphere in the restaurant was perfect - buzzy yet relaxed - and looking around, it was obvious that everyone was enjoying their time there. It’s well worth adding to your list of restaurants to visit in London.