Le Caprice, the legendary late 20th-century haunt of everyone from Hollywood and rock royalty to the real thing – Liz Taylor, Elton John, Princess Di – is set to be revived by Richard Caring at the Chancery Rosewood in the former US Embassy next year, but its soul will forever remain at its former St James’s site, now back under the control of original owner Jeremy King and reincarnated as Arlington. It’s the restaurant equivalent of a new engine being put under the bonnet of a vintage Aston Martin: it might look the same, but everything has been fine-tuned to perfection.
The mood: Party like it's 1989
If Annabel Croft and Alan Yentob, Nigella Lawson and Michael Caine are your idea of celebrity spotting, then the mood of late middle-aged nostalgia at Arlington will have you in raptures. First-timers may wonder what all the fuss is about (a primetime table is nigh-on impossible unless you have Jeremy King on speed dial) but for regulars from the King and Corbin glory days, Arlington is a reassuring resurrection. Much of it is new but designed to look like the old version, from the luminous set of black-and-white David Bailey prints to the mirror behind the bar which allows solo diners at the 12-seat counter to watch the table-hopping behind.
The food: modern European crowd-pleasers
The menu is a greatest hits for anyone who ate at Le Caprice or The Ivy in their 90s heyday: bang bang chicken or crispy duck salad followed by shepherd’s pie or salmon fish cakes. Nostalgia never tasted so good: eggs Benedict quiver under a buttercup-yellow hollandaise, pink-cooked calf’s liver comes with a piquant sauce diable, and for anyone who doesn’t wish to finish with the famous Scandinavian iced berries with white chocolate sauce, Welsh rarebit, bubbled up from the grill, functions as both cheese course and savoury pud.
Arlington is located at 20 Arlington Street, London
See more of London's newest restaurant openings
-
Five destinations to have on your radar this yearThe cultural heavyweights worth building an itinerary around as culture and creativity come together in powerful new ways
-
Dublin-based designer Cara Campos turns abandoned bicycles into sleekly minimal furniture piecesWallpaper* Future Icons: Saudi-raised Irish/French designer Cara Campos' creative approach is rooted in reuse, construction and the lives of objects
-
A Greek brutalist gem wows with its reimagining in AthensAthens architect Georges Batzios squares up to the renovation of a landmark Greek brutalist office block in the capital's suburbs; we revisit a story from the Wallpaper* archive
-
The most stylish hotel debuts of 2025A Wallpaper* edit of this year’s defining hotel openings. Design-led stays to shape your next escape
-
Neo-Gothic grandeur and decadent martinis await at Hawksmoor St PancrasThe dining room at the St Pancras London hotel has proved to be a revolving door for big-name chefs; now, it's Hawksmoor’s time to shine
-
Form... and flavour? The best design-led restaurant debuts of 2025A Wallpaper* edit of the restaurant interiors that shaped how we ate, gathered and lingered this year
-
At last: a London hotel that’s great for groups and extended staysThe July London Victoria, a new aparthotel concept just steps away from one of the city's busiest rail stations, is perfect for weekends and long-term visits alike
-
French bistro restaurant Maset channels the ease of the Mediterranean in LondonThis Marylebone restaurant is shaped by the coastal flavours, materials and rhythms of southern France
-
Sir Devonshire Square is a new kind of hotel for the City of LondonA Dutch hospitality group makes its London debut with a design-forward hotel offering a lighter, more playful take on the City’s usual formality
-
This sculptural London seafood restaurant was shaped by ‘the emotions of the sea’In Hanover Square, Mazarine pairs a bold, pearlescent interior with modern coastal cuisine led by ‘bistronomy’ pioneer chef Thierry Laborde
-
Montcalm Mayfair opens a new chapter for a once-overlooked London hotelA thoughtful reinvention brings craftsmanship, character and an unexpected sense of warmth to a London hotel that was never previously on the radar
