Famous London restaurants: Texture

Relaxed Michelin-star dining with an Icelandic edge
High-ceilings and high-octane cooking: Texture
Ben Norum12 December 2017

Our guide to the London restaurants with big reputations. This time we visit Texture, a Michelin-starred Marylebone favourite.

The backstory Texture first arrived on the scene in 2007, when its relaxed approach to fine-dining and Nordic flare made it something of a unique proposition for London.

It is run by chef patron Agnar Sverrisson, who trained in his native Iceland before joing the team at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire, where he held the role of head chef.

What’s on the menu? The dishes at Texture are imaginative, intelligent and playful in equal measure, with contrast playing a leading role.

Contrast: Chargrilled pigeon is paired with bacon popcorn and puréed sweetcorn

Wye Valley asparagus comes with goat’s curd, olives and frozen goat’s cheese ‘snow’ — boasting winning contrast across flavour, texture and temperature. Chargrilled pigeon is paired with bacon popcorn and puréed sweetcorn. And a dish of lightly salted Icelandic cod is matched with mellow avocado and piquant chorizo.

Smoking: Black Angus beef ribeye

A menu highlight is the Black Angus beef ribeye which is theatrically served on a twig and moss-strewn wooden board, billowing with smoke. It comes with horseradish, girolles and ox cheek as well as some exemplary chips. The fact that a main course comes with chips is exemplary of just how unpretentious this Michelin-starred restaurant is.

The restaurant pairs its food offering with a vast and varied Champagne list.

The atmosphere Handled wrongly, the high-ceilinged, pale-coloured dining room at Texture could be austere, and its nature-a-like wooden decorations pretentious — but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead calming Scandi vibes blend with a chatting crowd to create a dining room that is at once smart and casual, chilled but serious. It is obviously not just Agnar Sverrisson’s menu that embraces contrast.

Who goes there? Given that Texture’s combination of creative cuisine and Champagne come at a cost, it is not surprising to find an abundance of corporate types with easy-going expense accounts. But the interesting dishes mean there’s also a strong foodie contingent willing to splash the cash on a special occasion. A number of celebrities have also been known to put in an appearance.

Cheque out The tasting menu, which includes five courses plus extras, costs £85 per person. Matched wines are an additional £59 or £79. The a la carte menu has starters from £15.90 and mains from £29.90.

Find it 34 Portman Street, W1H 7BY; texture-restaurant.co.uk.

Famous London restaurants

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