Royally good: Models of the Prince and Princess of Wales are among the attractions at Madame Tussauds
(Picture: Getty Images)The history of the real-life Madame Tussaud ought to have produced a tourist attraction along the gruesome lines of the London Dungeon rather than the world’s most famous celebrity waxworks. During the 1790s, Marie Tussaud was employed to make death masks and whole body casts of the most famous victims of the French Revolution, including Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Marat and Robespierre.
Following the Revolution, Madame Tussaud toured her ghoulish exhibition throughout the British Isles before settling on Marylebone Road as a permanent home, where it remains today. The current royal family rather than the guillotined French aristocracy are the star attraction these days but you’re still as likely to get a photo op with a waxwork of a dead celebrity (David Bowie) as a living one (Beyoncé).
Real-life people, of course, need somewhere to eat, and Madame Tussauds is just to the north of Marylebone, one of London’s finest food districts. A wander down Marylebone High Street and a detour along its junctions with Blandford Street and Marylebone Lane offers rich pickings for the hungry, while one of London’s best farmers’ markets pitches up every Sunday morning on Aybrook Street. But for something closer to the house of wax, read on to discover the five best places to eat near Madame Tussauds. We guarantee that none of these restaurants will leave you feeling like a dummy.
Fischer’s
Fischer’s former owners Jeremy King and Chris Corbin were on a two-man mission to convince Londoners of the merits of Mitteleuropean cooking not only at this Austro-Hungarian themed café but also The Wolseley and The Delaunay before losing control of their restaurant empire earlier this year. Fin-de-siècle Vienna remains the theme at Fischer’s, however, where schnitzel, sausages and Sachertorte rule the menu and the leather banquettes and dark wood panelling lay on the gemütlichkeit as thickly as the whipped cream on top of the apple strudel. Not as pricey as you might expect — salads clock in at under £15 — and the smart staff won’t bat an eyelid if all you want is a plate of the signature kaiserschmarrn cherry pancake with a hot chocolate. Breakfast and brunch are good shouts, too.
How much? Three courses approx £45
How far? A five-minute walk
50 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5HN, fischers.co.uk
Phoenix Palace
A Chinese restaurant like they used to make them, Phoenix Palace’s stone lions keep an eye on a regal red and gold interior illuminated by Chinese lanterns and attended to by brusquely efficient staff. The only thing that isn’t resolutely old-fashioned is the size of the bill, though the high prices on the lengthy Cantonese menu are matched by high quality, whether one comes for daytime dim sum or evening à la carte, and there’s a £42.90 set menu to keep the cost in check. Classics of har gau, soft-shell crab, mixed seafood noodles and soya chicken are done as well here as anywhere in the capital, veggie and vegan choice is excellent while even the most jaded palate should find something of interest on the chefs’ special menu. Super-handy for both Baker Street and Marylebone stations, too.
How much? Dim sum around £5 per plate, starters around £13, main course with rice around £20
How far? A five-minute walk
5-9 Glentworth Street, NW1 5PG, phoenixpalace.co.uk
La Fromagerie
When people fantasise about foodporn, they’re probably imagining somewhere like La Fromagerie, a cross between a deli, restaurant and wine bar but also, more importantly, one of London’s finest cheesemongers. There are sandwiches, charcuterie, baked goods and mountains of cheese to take away but if you can’t wait to get any of the goodies home, No 6, the in-store café, serves them on the spot along along with a cracking line-up of hot dishes. Everything is made from excellent ingredients, from breakfasts (until 11.45am) of organic scrambled eggs on Little Bread Pedlar sourdough with Goldstein smoked salmon to lunches of superior soups, salads and sandwiches — or simply abandon yourself to a cheese coma, whether a gooey mound of fondue and raclette or a French or British cheeseboard. Note that the café follows the shop’s daytime opening hours, except on Friday evenings.
How much? Breakfast dishes around £8, lunch dishes around £13, cheeseboards from £11
How far? An eight-minute walk
2-6 Moxon Street, W1U 4EW, lafromagerie.co.uk/marylebone
Opso
Classic Greek cooking gets the contemporary treatment at Opso, where traditional dishes are brought up to date for modern metropolitan tastes. Consultant chefs Georgianna Hiliadaki and Nikos Roussos won two-Michelin stars for Funky Gourmet in Athens, so know what they’re doing: tarama with squid-ink crisps or yellowtail crudo with smoked aubergine ahead of lamb shank with fresh black truffles or octopus stifado with caramelised onion. A long, marble canteen-style table takes up the centre of the contemporary room, with more conventional tables and chairs around the edges. The all-Greek wine list (including 10 by the glass) can be sampled in the adjoining bar alongside cocktails based on Greek liqueurs.
How much? Three courses approx £55
How far? A seven-minute walk
10 Paddington Street, W1U 5QL, opso.co.uk
Jikoni
Jikoni is the Swahili word for kitchen and the first clue that there’s more than meets the eye to this apparently Indian restaurant in Marylebone. Kenyan-born and London-raised chef-patron Ravinder Bhogal draws on the flavours not only of Britain and East Africa but India and the Middle East to create what she calls a “no borders cuisine” as likely to feature lamb and harissa sausage rolls and prawn toast Scotch eggs as native lobster moilee and smoked pomegranate quail. The homely interiors feel just as personal as the cross-cultural cooking, all mismatched crockery and floral tablecloths. A short brunch menu includes spicy takes on waffles and pancakes while, to drink, there are European wines, house cocktails, seasonal lemonades and single-estate teas.
How much? Three courses approx £45
How far? An 11-minute walk
19-21 Blandford Street, W1U 3DH, jikonilondon.com
