Eight years after opening in Ibiza, Jul’s has crossed the continent to St James’s – a London neighbourhood more usually associated with hushed members’ clubs than the nightclub-adjacent restaurants of the White Isle. Greek chef and co-founder Christos Fotos has another Jul’s spin-off in Athens, called Humain by Jul’s, and there’s a strong Hellenic influence detectable here in everything, from the cooking to interiors that blend grand heritage architecture with Mediterranean touches of marble and mosaic.
Wallpaper* dines at Jul’s, London
The mood: Chiaroscuro and craft
Athens-based interiors studio ArcSet worked with the building’s existing architecture rather than against it. ‘The idea was to create a space that feels calm, grounded and original,’ says founder Ioannis Mourikis. ‘Rather than focusing on decoration, we worked with strong materials of stone, plaster and wood, and natural light.’ Byzantine and Roman details are referenced discreetly to connect the space to its Mediterranean identity without shouting about it: the blue walls, for instance, use natural stone pigment in the plaster rather than factory-produced paint. Lighting, too, has been handled with sensitivity to create a moody chiaroscuro of shadow and texture.
A 6.5m glass wine wall runs the full height of the ground floor; below, the bar, No. 11, functions as a laboratory where drinks maestros Dimitris Karapanos and Vasilis Sgouromallis develop cocktails through distillation and infusion, with flavour profiles to reflect the food coming out of the kitchen above.
The food: From the Aegean to SW1
Greek in instinct, Mediterranean in scope and grounded in British ingredients, Fotos’ approach is all about achieving balance. Octopus comes with prespa bean purée and pepper salsa; bluefin tuna tartare is spiked with blood orange ponzu and a beetroot and raspberry sorbet; silver cod arrives with corn velouté, fennel salad and chilli glaze. It’s not all so health-conscious: the slow-cooked lamb flatbread is topped with red onion jam, yogurt and Gruyère.
Drinks are taken as seriously as the wine wall suggests: the list draws on both well-established and small-scale artisanal European producers, including a dozen from Greece. ‘Just as there’s a deliberate restraint in the design,’ Mourikis says, ‘the food lets ingredients speak for themselves. Everything is refined, but quietly so – we didn’t want anything to feel excessive.’
Jul’s is located at 11 Waterloo Place, London, SW1Y 4AU, United Kingdom