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.
Mallory, Junior Food & Drink Editor
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
