Famous London Restaurants: Fera - Simon Rogan goes wild in Mayfair

Simon Rogan goes wild at his Michelin-starred Mayfair outpost
Fera: The name means wild in Latin
Ben Norum12 December 2017

Our guide to the London restaurants with big reputations. This time we visit Fera, a restaurant with a penchant for nature set within Claridge’s hotel.

The backstory Londoners had been waiting for Simon Rogan to come to the capital for some time when he launched this site back in 2014, replacing Gordon Ramsay’s longstanding restaurant within one of the capital’s most iconic hotels.

The launch followed two year pop-up restaurant Roganic in Marylebone, as well as successes at L’Enclume in Cumbria and The French in Manchester — the former is Rogan’s flagship with two Michelin stars.

Less than a year after opening, Fera received a star of its own and was also given a rare 10 out of 10 score in the Good Food Guide.

For the lovage of it: Deep-fried stewed rabbit

What’s on the menu? Intricate and delicate dishes based on wild and foraged food are Rogan’s signature, and the elaborate menus here are among his most striking in terms of both flavour and appearance.

Deep-fried fritters of stewed rabbit with a vibrant green lovage sauce are a stand-out from the ‘snacks’ section, while assorted, beautifully-coloured beetroot with roe deer, blackcurrant and hemp is an earthy but light dish which shows that veg and meat can happily sit side by side on a plate and share the limelight.

A mackerel tartare, laced with coal oil and served with seaweed, fennel and marinated tomatoes again plays with how deep, robust and mineral flavours can be wonderfully refreshing.

Mackerel tartare: Coal oil is intense but refreshing

One of the restaurant’s greatest triumphs is in finding a superb balance between delicate plates of food and bold flavours — the food might be daintily stylish but it’s not sheepish either.

The atmosphere When Fera first opened, a lot of fuss was made over the fact that it eschews tablecloths in favour of bare wood surfaces.

Whether or not that sounds like the most significant thing to you, it is an important signal of the atmosphere the restaurant is trying to achieve. Yes it’s plush and there’s a real sense of occasion — it is Claridge’s after all — but what it isn’t for a moment is stuffy or uptight.

Who goes there? The rich and famous and the mere rich do make up a proportion of Fera’s audience, but Rogan’s clever cooking ensures that less fat-walleted foodies willing to splash out also feature prominently unlike at some top hotel restaurants in London. Expect a fair bit of food photography going around you.

Cheque out Starters from £18, mains from £28, desserts from £13. A seven-course tasting menu costs £110 while a good-value three-course set lunch costs £39.

Famous London restaurants

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Visit standard.co.uk/restaurants for the latest news and reviews from London’s food scene.

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