The Best Restaurant Bathrooms In London
I never leave a restaurant without a visit to the loo. Not often is this because I actually need to go, but because I believe that a bathroom says a lot about a restaurant. How much they care, what kind of investment they’ll put into their guests, whether they are sanitary. It’s a place for a breather, a crucial corner of the venue, and I have a couple favourites. Why not?
I believe that a bathroom says a lot about a restaurant. How much they care, what kind of investment they’ll put into their guests, whether they are sanitary.
The Audley Public House
Whether it’s the man in the corner smashing the keys, the comfortably full pub floor, or the upstairs art collection — The Audley will never not deliver on style. Their basement bathroom is no different. In a moment of overwhelm post waiting at the bar for a Guinness, a break in their red tiled, arched ceilinged, almost acid like loo is one that is so distracting you forgot what the anxiety was all for in the first place.
Where: 41-43 Mount St, London W1K 2RX
Website: www.theaudleypublichouse.com
Café François
I think I underestimated what I might find as I walked down the corridor toward Café François’s lavatories. Upon opening, you’ll find a cave crossed with a space ship. Grey and silver pillars hold up the otherwise corporate-esque ceilings, back lit mirrors performing wonders on the skin. It almost feels like a raindrop might fall from the cieling, hit the tile, and echo through the whole thing. So pleasingly liminal.
Where: 14-16 Stoney St, London SE1 9AD
Website: www.cafefrancois.london
Nopi
I probably don’t even have to write this excerpt. Nopi, behind Sketch (which I will not be including) is the father of all bathrooms-acting-as-independently-designed-room-rooms. A trippy array of mirrors doesn’t make it clear where the room starts and where it ends. That in mind, it did not make my fragile heart panic; instead, I looked around in wonder at all the mes in the room, having a pleasant two minute dissasociation before going up to order another cocktail.
Where: 21-22 Warwick St, London W1B 5NE
Website: www.ottolenghi.co.uk
Brasserie Olivia
I love a monochrome bathroom, it seems. Where The Audley is red and Café François is silver, new kid in the block, Brasserie Olivia, is orange. Not orange in a rainbow, sunshines, and sorbet kind of way; orange in a sultry, sexy, return to your candlelit table kind of way. A thoughtful addition to an already incredibly thoughtful experience from the French at La Nouvelle Garde.
Where: 1 Sloane Square, London SW1W 8EE
Website: www.lanouvellegarde.com
