We at The Last Concierge hear the word ‘quirky’ being thrown around a lot in the London food scene of the 21st century. With the unstoppable rise of the amateur food photographer (and the equally unstoppable efforts of chefs and restaurateurs looking for the next viral hit), we’ve seen no shortage of weird and wonderful creations coming out of the capital’s kitchens, along with themed restaurants, outlandish ‘concepts’ and attention-grabbing pop-ups.

Needless to say, style has more often than not overtaken substance, and Insta-friendly food trends seemingly shift with the changing of the winds, leaving cronuts and raindrop cakes in their wake.

Sketch, which sits in a stunning 19th century three-storey townhouse on Mayfair’s perma-glamorous Conduit Street, is about as quirky as they come. It’s bold, and creative, and inexhaustibly camera-ready. It boasts millennial-pink banquettes, interiors seemingly plucked from Wes Anderson’s set design studio, and gallery spaces which have in the past given over to provocative artists, such as restaurant regular David Shrigley.

It also has three Michelin stars, which aren’t - by any means - given to restaurants lacking in substance, and which comfortably places it as one of the most highly-regarded eateries in the country. Quirky it may be, yet Sketch wears it very well indeed.

An Award-Winning Restaurant Hyper-Driven by Creativity

Fueled by art as much as it is powered by awe-inspiring tasting menus, fantastical afternoon teas, and Wonka-esque cocktails, Sketch London’s four dining rooms and singular cocktail bar are utterly and completely a singular vision, brought into technicolour reality.

That vision originally belonged to Mourad Mazouz, an Algerian restaurateur who rocketed to fame in Paris (having opened the envelope-pushing Au Bascou at the tender age of 26), and who put down roots in London in 2003. Ambitious, precocious, and exhibiting a turn-of-the-millennium attitude that feels as though it belongs in a completely different era than today, he bought the deeds for the dilapidated Conduit Street property with no business plan, no ideas, and no finger on the pulse of London’s foodie scene. More than fifteen years later, Sketch held a trio of Michelin stars, and the enviable reputation of being among the most beautiful, fascinating and in-demand restaurants on Earth.

We never tire of the beautiful, the artistic and the meticulous. Sketch has built a flawless reputation upon these three key values, and it continues to astonish and surprise its patrons with every plate, every glass and every flourish of iconoclastic extravagance. Let’s take a closer look at its assembled spaces and dining rooms, and dive deep into the unforgettable realm of this most extraordinary of multi-faceted Mayfair restaurants.

The Gallery: A Flagship Dining Room

The Gallery is, without a shadow of a doubt, both the flagship dining room at Sketch and the space in which the full Sketch manifesto can be felt most potently. Suffused in its iconic blush-coloured pink that, in the hands of designers lesser than the iconic India Magdavi, would be cloying, it’s a room which is at once comforting and edgy, and soothing yet thrilling – perhaps the Wes Anderson comparisons are appropriate, after all.

One cannot help but be delighted by the rebellious and riotous thumbprint of British artist Yinka Shonibare, whose original artworks adorn the wall and add to a faintly psychedelic, retro-futurist vibe. Of course, while one could easily see The Gallery as a literal art gallery, it’s what eventually adorns those plates that won Sketch’s flagship dining space its reputation. Three Michelin Star chef (and personal friend of Mourad Mazouz) Pierre Gagnaire was given carte blanche when it came to the menu, and he rose to the challenge of defining the dining experience at The Gallery in a way that only such a heavily-lauded chef could. The food is, simply put, spectacular.

There is a decidedly Gallic twist to proceedings, as one might expect from such a Michelin-baiting kitchen. Frogs’ legs are present and correct, and come delicately breaded atop a green spelt risotto. A langoustine tartare provides an elegant twist on a Parisian bistro classic, and the chef’s imagination shines through on dishes such as the pumpkin and passion fruit soup, served with a duxelle of porcini mushrooms, curried popcorn and corn ice cream… and that’s just the starters.

The rest of the menu demonstrates Gagnaire’s flair for recreating the familiar with 3-star panache. It also shows how Sketch fits neatly into the current trend for allowing fantastic British ingredients to shine, albeit with a handful of curveball cooking methods and glamorous flashes of inspiration tossed in for good measure. The Gallery offers lamb chops with smoked yoghurt sauce, whole turbot on a bed of seaweed, and veal milanese or sole meuniere for those seeking something a little less outlandish and a little more Mayfair.

Desserts are a celebration of fresh fruits and fine chocolate, once again in a nod to the Parisian roots of the kitchen team. Plum tart and sorbet, black fruit mousseline, and chocolate parfait with cassis coulis aren’t going to hit any headlines as regards the latest foodie trends… but they’re a powerful testament to the skill of the pastry chefs, and a lasting reminder - once again - that Sketch’s stylings come with a hefty dose of serious substance.

Afternoon Tea Par Excellence at The Gallery

Sketch’s home at Number 9 Conduit Street has always been a place where people come together, exchange ideas, and while away the hours in the company of great food and drink, and stimulating conversation. Indeed, the townhouse was once a meeting place for the Royal Institute of British Architects, and was later the building in which Millicent Fawcett, in 1869, held her first public meeting on the enfranchisement of women. Christian Dior had it as a personal hangout, and it remains today a hub of bohemian, stimulating, and artistic activity… all carried out over a plateful of delicious food.

All of this makes The Gallery a genuinely exciting location in which to enjoy a classic afternoon tea, albeit one with the kinds of twists and flourishes Sketch unfailingly presents to its clientele. The plush furnishings, the air of artistry, and the meticulous attention to detail make afternoon tea at The Gallery one of contemporary London’s leading foodie attractions, and a hugely popular aspect of what Sketch does so very, very well.

If you’re expecting the genteel kitsch that most of us associate with a traditional English afternoon tea, the team at The Gallery will be only too happy to subvert your ideals and delight your senses in wholly unanticipated ways. Gagnaire’s magnificently delicate sweet treats, sandwiches, and eye-opening amuse-bouche are everything you could ask for from a Michelin-starred afternoon tea setup. However, the holistic interactivity between Shonibare’s dream-inducing installations and Gagnaire’s creations makes the experience altogether stranger and decidedly more memorable. To take afternoon tea at The Gallery is to position yourself at the centre of a sculptural work, a piece of performance art that tastes every bit as thrilling as it feels.

The Lecture Room and Library: Another Level of Excellence

The Gallery at Sketch sets the bar remarkably high as far as Mayfair dining experiences and multi-sensory encounters with excellence go. However, move up a level - both literally and figuratively - of the 19th century townhouse, and you enter Sketch’s fine-dining restaurant, where that Three Michelin Star finesse truly sparkles.

Ambitious, far-reaching, and at the cutting edge of contemporary cuisine, The Lecture Room and Library is where Gagnaire and his team – which now includes head chef Daniel Stucki - truly flex their culinary muscles. Since achieving those all-important three stars, The Lecture Room and Library switched over to a duo of tasting menus (one of which is vegetarian) where, over six sumptuous courses, diners are taken on a flight of fancy which covers the best of both sides of the English channel.

It playfully matches uber-British ingredients like grouse pate with dreamy French twists, such as berry chantilly, John Dory, cockles, and razor clams with star anise and tomato ‘otti’. The vegetarian tasting menu is every bit as awe-inspiring, and follows in the same continent-hopping manner; ceps in marsala cream with confit egg yolk, breme and roscoff onion gratin, and ‘sand-grown carrot’ baked in salt crust with pear and passion fruit being just a couple of the highlights. Both tasting menus come with an optional wine flight, featuring such rare gems as a 1966 Chateau Leoville Las-Cases from St Julien, Bordeaux. Dessert is, as one might expect, a genuine wonder to behold. Listed as Pierre Gagnaire’s Grand Dessert, diners are presented a cornucopia of fifteen luxurious components, ranging from saffron ice cream to mascarpone with yuzu syrup, and from black olive jelly to confit cherries soaked in port.

Once again, the surroundings are both exquisite and surprising. The Lecture Room and Library is altogether more baroque than its counterpart downstairs, and there’s more than a hint of the Mayfair gentlemen's club about the place. However, in the tinted panels, deep pinks and purples, and sunset-coloured walls, there’s something rather exotic and sensuous about the place that befits its bold and impressive menu.

The Parlour: Vintage Elegance and Avant-Garde Creations

By day, the Parlour is Sketch’s idea of a patisserie, or at least their idea of what a patisserie would look like through the somewhat psychedelic lens of the restaurant’s design team. As night falls, it transmutes into a gorgeously decadent and eccentric bar, popular with those looking to sip cocktails and craft beers in a memorable setting.

Because this is 2020, and London’s dining habits have shifted massively over the past two decades, The Parlour is primarily known as a brunch spot… but what a brunch spot it is. Not only do you get to dine while sitting on chairs fitted with their own ballet shoes, but you get the chance to while away the mid-morning hours with waffles, and a stunning array of perfectly-laminated pastries. For those seeking something more substantial, there’s a Full English breakfast bolstered by black pudding and cocoa beans, and tempura poached eggs served alongside the ever-present avocado and house Bloody Mary or Champagne.

As the sky darkens across Mayfair, the cocktail bar lights up, and the mixologists come out to play. As you might have guessed, with Sketch being what it is, there is no shortage of inventive and unique alcoholic creations to sample. Perhaps the most ‘Sketch-like’ of them all is the wonderfully-named Lady d’Arbanville, which brings together elderflower liqueur, a duo of fine vodkas, and flavour bombs of Darjeeling tea for a rather boozy interpretation of an Edwardian English summer garden.

The Glade: Welcome to Wonderland

Self-playing neon pink pianos. A carpet of pine needles underfoot. Hand-carved oaken fittings. More velvet drapery than a Soho private theatre. From the moment you enter the Glade, Sketch’s lunchtime immersive dining space, it becomes abundantly clear that this really isn’t quite like any other restaurant in the world, and nor does it wish to be.

*The Glade, Credit Ryan and Robert Photography*

Rather impressively, The Glade’s menu manages to avoid the trappings of fantastical, ridiculous, or posturing creations, instead offering a rather genteel array of dishes that will appeal to a broad audience. It would, after all, be too easy to disappear down a rabbit hole of exclusivity, and thus subject itself to the whims of trends in danger of aging all too fast. As such, diners will uncover dishes such as satay prawns, braised beef cheek, and duck magret - all ideal for a light lunch date, or a place to take family members when visiting the city.

Sketch: Still Worth Every Iota of the Hype

Here at The Last Concierge, we know that London’s fine dining scene is the envy of the world; one which has been built upon a rigorous formula of formalities, etiquette, and - dare we say it - rather conservative design choices. The fact that Sketch manages to celebrate West London’s artistic and bohemian heritage - in often outrageous manner - while maintaining the exacting standards that won three Michelin stars, is nothing short of a triumph of peerless style alongside exquisite substance.

Sketch London: Equal Portions of Style and Substance