The Quality Chop House, Clerkenwell
Despite existing in a city where food and interior fashions are in constant flux, the Quality Chop House has remained the same since 1869. The building is listed, so nothing can be changed: inside, you’ll sit on the same high-backed oak benches as its first customers, though cushions have thankfully been added. The menu respectfully includes steaks and chops of the kind the restaurant would originally have served at lunch, but there is now more in the way of smoked cod roe doughnuts, olive oil ice cream and Roscoff agnolotti.
thequalitychophouse.com
Wiltons, St James’s
Wiltons started life as an oyster barrow in 1742. After a century selling seafood, the family received an alcohol licence in 1840 and became proper restaurateurs. Today, the restaurant is renowned for one of the finest seafood and game menus in London. “We see our role as custodians,” says Jason Phillips, director of Wiltons Holdings. “It is a privilege to honour the traditions that have stood the test of time, every service, every day.”
wiltons.co.uk
Julie’s, Holland Park
On its opening in 1969, and for the next 40 years, Julie’s was the kind of place where you might see Mick Jagger or Kate Moss at the next banquette, or Tina Turner dancing on a table – her heel made a dent that was reverently never repaired. After a brief spell out of fashion, the French-style bistro is back in the limelight after a relaunch in 2024 by Tara MacBain, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef. “Taking on Julie’s has been deeply emotional,” she says. “You feel the weight of its history the moment you step inside – not in a daunting way, but in a protective one.”
juliesrestaurant.com
