Top 10 London restaurants for star spotting

While they may seem a world away from us mere mortals, celebrities get hungry too, and even have to eat sometimes.

Actor Kevin Spacey leaves Scott’s in Mayfair while former American president Bill Clinton waits in the wings to make his grand exit

This daily need provides the occasional opportunity to dine alongside these exotic creatures, observing their eating habits and choice of dining partner in the process, and earwigging on their conversation if you’re lucky enough to be at a neighbouring table.

For the dedicated stargazer, a little research goes a long way in upping the chance of an encounter.

Many can be found within the warm clutches of one of Richard Caring’s restaurants, from fish focused Scott’s and J Sheekey to old faithful The Ivy, while others prefer the more glitzy surroundings of Asian fusion restaurants Nobu and Hakkasan.

If you’re hell-bent on a sprinkling of stardust with your fries, read on for our round up of the top 10 London restaurants for celebrity spotting. Just promise to leave your binoculars at home. 

10: Novikov

Backed by Russian billionaire entrepreneur and friend of Putin, Arkady Novikov, the Mayfair restaurant that bares his name has become a honey pot for oligarchs and their model lovers. Opening his first venture in Moscow in 1992, Novikov has steadily built up his restaurant empire, and now has over 50 sites in the city – including the GQ Bar and Vogue Café – under his diamond encrusted belt.

His first London venture, a cavernous, 400-seater Asian-Italian hybrid, is populated with gazelle-like glamzons in six-inch Louboutins and slinky issa dresses. The restaurant also attracts a smattering of C-list celebrities keen to be papped by the same snappers awaiting the A-listers exiting Nobu Berkeley across the street.

The Asian side of the restaurant trumps the Italian offering. Filled with more wood than a lumberjack’s holiday home, in the glass-fronted kitchen, giant king crab legs poke provocatively out of ice, as if engaged in a synchronised swimming routine. Not to be missed on the food front are salmon sashimi in a yuzu soy dressing, crispy Peking duck salad with pomegranate, and rock shrimp with chilli lemon mayo. Visiting shortly after it opened in 2012, db spotted former England football manager Sven-Göran Eriksson patiently awaiting his coat in the cloakroom queue.

9: Hakkasan

Asian fusion restaurant Hakkasan remains a flashbulb friendly celebrity playground. Hidden down a quiet street off Tottenham Court Road, with its pounding dance soundtrack, the dimly lit, incense heavy space is more nightclub than restaurant, attracting the likes of Will Smith, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Calvin Harris and on-off couple Lewis Hamilton and Nicole Scherzinger.

Specialising in Cantonese cuisine, among the signature dishes at the glitzy haunt are roast silver cod with Champagne and honey, XO scallop dumplings, seared Wagyu beef and crispy duck salad with pomelo. The restaurant’s Dim Sum Sundays have become something of an institution, with DJs spinning until 6pm.

8: China Tang

The brainchild of dapper entrepreneur David Tang, this decadent dining room in the bowels of The Dorchester has long been a favourite of Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Topshop owner Philip Green and his daughter Chloe. Slightly lower down the celebrity ladder, db spotted Chris Eubank and Fabio Capello on a recent visit. What is it with us and brief encounters with former England football managers?

Evoking colonial Shanghai, interiors are warm and cosy, with oak panelling, Chinoiserie and spoken poetry in the loos the order of the day. Sporting impeccable uniforms, staff have been preened to within an inch of their lives and preside over the falling of every crumb. Dim sum is a popular choice for lunch, with honey-glazed spare ribs and steamed lobster dumplings stealing the headlines, while the Peking duck is a must at dinner. 

7: The Ivy

With roots snaking back to 1916, when it opened for business as an unlicensed Italian café, London’s former favourite celebrity hotspot still oozes old world glamour and with it comes a sprinkling of stardust. Having once played host to Hollywood titans Lawrence Olivier and Marlene Dietrich, today you’re more likely to see Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks Kate Moss, Gordon Ramsay and the Beckhams shimmying through the door. Losing little of its sheen over the years, the Covent Garden haunt is all wood panelling and harlequin stained glass.

According to insiders, the Cornish crab, shepherd’s pie and sticky toffee pudding are not to be missed. In keeping with its old school approach, free valet parking is offered to diners due at the theatre.

“The Ivy has a professional reputation that is envied beyond avarice. At every lunch or dinner, anyone who reads a Sunday paper will recognise a dozen relaxed, smooth-toothed, autocue animated faces, and the ones you don’t recognise are likely to be the movers and shakers, the fixers and dealers of the culture,” restaurant critic A.A. Gill wrote of The Ivy in 1997.

6: Nobu Berkeley

While Londoners are a fickle bunch quick to turn their attention to the next big thing, Nobu Berkeley has retained its allure and continues to draw A-listers in their droves, who can’t seem to get enough of Nobu Matsuhisa’s heavenly signature dish – black cod marinated for 24 hours in a sweet miso sauce. Co-founded by Robert de Niro, Nobu was always going to attract attention.

Perhaps the most famous celebrity “incident” to have taken place at the restaurant involved former tennis star Boris Becker, a Russian model and a broom cupboard.

Remaining a popular dinner date spot of the stars, predatory paparazzi can be found pavement pounding outside the restaurant most nights, keen to snap the likes of Daniel Craig, Lily Allen, Kate Moss, Elton John and George Clooney mid sushi roll. While the black cod steals the show, the rock shrimp tempura is dangerously addictive, as are the lobster tacos and Wagyu rump tataki.

5: Balthazar

 Bethnal Green-born father of five Keith McNally’s long-awaited London outpost of Balthazar opened on the site of the old Theatre Museum next to Covent Garden Piazza last April amid a whirlwind of hype. Offering all-day dining in an informal French brasserie-inspired setting, it immediately became a celebrity hotspot, attracting the likes of the Beckhams, Kate Moss, Cara Delevigne, Sienna Miller and Nigella Lawson, who goes wild for the lobster and black truffle risotto.

UK restaurant giant Richard Caring, owner of the Caprice group, approached McNally about Balthazar after beating The Wolselely owners Chris Corbin and Jeremy King to the site. Flattered by the offer, after much coercing, McNally agreed to open a sister site in the UK capital modelled on his New York flagship, which is frequented by Robert de Niro, Katie Holmes and Gwen Stefani.

Taking an egalitarian approach, Balthazar offers breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and brunch at the weekend with signature dish steak frites with béarnaise sauce making it across the pond. In addition is an abundance of fruits de mer and classic bistro dishes such as foie gras terrine, steak tartare and moules frites.

4: J Sheekey

Richard Caring’s temple to the edible treasures of the sea, J Sheekey in Covent Garden was originally owned by Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, who sold the restaurant to Caprice Holdings in 1998. With a bowler-hatted doorman guarding the entrance, “Sheekey’s” attracts a constellation of stars, from Hugh Grant and Kylie Minogue to Madonna, Kiera Knightly and Ewan McGregor, who add a dash of glamour to proceedings.

Interiors are modest and understated, with a sepia colour scheme, black-and-white photos of Hollywood icons lining the walls and brown leather swivel stools dotted around the central bar. Dishes at the Theatreland restaurant err on the decadent side, with the buttery fish pie having become a signature. Lobster thermidor meanwhile is rich and creamy, while the fish stew is pure comfort food.

3: The Wolseley

London’s first successful Grand Café, Chris Corbin and Jeremy King’s The Wolselely has been a hive of celebrity activity since it opened in 2003. Housed in a Grade II Listed vintage car showroom-turned-bank on Piccadilly, food critic A.A. Gill is so fond of the eggs benedict he wrote a book in the their honour.

Artist Lucian Freud meanwhile, was such a frequent visitor he was given his own table. The day he died (20 July 2011) the management paid its respects by covering his table with a black cloth and a solitary candle.

Designed by architect William Curtis Green in 1921, Corbin and King have kept many of the original features, including the black and cream geometric marble floors, Baroque ironwork and Doric and Corinthian columns. Inspired by the grand café’s of Paris, Vienna and Budapest, The Wolseley’s all-day dining approach broke the mould, making it a favorite celebrity haunt – Kate Moss and Bill Nighy are regulars.

The highest grossing restaurant in Corbin and King’s five-strong stable, the 140-seater venue is able to cater to a hungry diner’s every whim, serving breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and lashings of cake.

2: Scott’s

Another Richard Caring affair, the grand daddy of London fish restaurants, Scott’s in Mayfair is a particular favourite haunt of art mogul Charles Saatchi. It was here that the infamous throat-grabbing incident took place with his domestic goddess wife Nigella Lawson, which led to the couple’s separation. Undeterred, Saatchi can often be seen at Scott’s dining with his new love interest, Trinny Woodall of Trinny and Susannah fame.

Featuring an elegant marble topped crustacea and Champagne bar packed with beady-eyed, pink pincered blighters resting on beds of ice, celebrity sightings are a regular occurrence at Scott’s and are one of the restaurant’s guilty pleasures, with Kevin Spacey, Bill Clinton, Kiefer Sutherland, David Walliams and his model wife Lara Stone all regulars. Interiors are decidedly understated – oak paneling and inviting brown leather banquettes abound. And while the seafood is standout, Scott’s goes big on game in the autumn.

1: Chiltern Firehouse

There could only be one restaurant worthy of our crown. In the six months since it opened, hip hotelier André Balazs’ first London venture, Chiltern Firehouse, has become a magnet for megawatt stars, from David Beckham and Kate Moss to Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper – db spotted Jared Leto and chef Alain Ducasse on a recent visit.

Presiding over Château Marmont in LA, Balazs has brought that all-important soupçon of stardust across the pond, with the Marylebone restaurant, steered by Portuguese-born chef Nuno Mendes, drawing A-listers by the busload. The restaurant’s reception has been nothing short of rapturous to the point where mere mortals have to have Mendes on speed dial in order to secure a table, and even then they won’t be seated until 9pm.

Set within a red brick, late 19th century Grade II listed building, the space offers the intoxicating combination of a sense of seeing and being seen amid a veil of privacy. There are few dining rooms in London that offer such a palpable buzz as the Firehouse. Packed to the rafters with Hollywood stars and with an upbeat, Latin-centric soundtrack, dining here gives you a sense of being at the centre of the vortex.

With their American accent, dishes show off Mendes’ time spent cooking in the US, with many displaying the signature beauty and attention to detail that helped put his Michelin-starred venture Viajante on the map.