There's never been a time when I wouldn't pay attention to my surroundings when eating out in London. Recently, though, as restaurants in the British capital increasingly compete for design credentials and meticulously curated collections of paintings, feasting on the interiors of my fought-for reservations has become an even greater part of the dining experience. And one that, believe it or not, allows the plates served up on their tables to taste even better.
As the old saying goes, we eat with our eyes, too, and the trendiest restaurants in London take that mantra very seriously. At natural wine bar Goodbye Horses in De Beauvoir Town, folkloristic motifs bring soft swathes of white fabric to life across its see-through curtains and sprawling bar counter frieze. CARBONE London's subterranean walls were painted to narrate the story of the famous New York red sauce Italian between reality and myth, with spirited guests, overflowing dishes, and champagne buckets gathered into a white-tablecloth fantasia. Meanwhile, at The Emory's abc kitchens, Damien Hirst's The Secret Gardens Paintings (2023) series adds a bucolic touch to an otherwise hyper-glamorous address.
Restaurants like these charm us with the dose of escapism we all crave as residents of a huge, never-stopping metropolis like London. But that doesn't mean there is nothing we can take home from them to make our own dining rooms feel just as inspiring, memorable, and characterful.
1. Start Small — Opt for an Elegantly Curated Gallery Wall
Take, for example, the softly glowing interior of Charlie Mellor's recently unveiled Italian trattoria Osteria Vibrato — an instant classic in London's Soho — and its striking gallery walls.
A former opera singer-turned-restaurateur, for his second opening in the city, the owner decided to share a glimpse inside his personal art collection, completing the wood-paneled cream walls of Osteria Vibrato with colorful figurative and abstract paintings sourced in collaboration with local gallerist Cedric Bardawil. A dozen pieces sharing a distinctive yet complementary palette, presented inside artisanal frames, and styled to leave just enough room for each to stand out without feeling overcrowded.
It is a choice that, reviving the linear modernist bistro look of the establishment through considered splashes of color, shows how much of a difference even just a handful of beautifully framed artworks can make to a dining room's ambiance.
Paired with mismatched chrome candelabras and a vintage sound system, the canvases hanging at Osteria Vibrato contribute to its old-school allure. Inside, you'll find sleek terrazzo floors and emerald and chocolate tones, all serving as the backdrop to a journey through Italy's regional flavors.
When I visit, we kick off the meal from the islands, with starters of melt-in-your-mouth Sicilian red prawns and nutty aged ricotta from Sardinia, to travel north for a heartwarming treat of cotechino with plum mostarda and crushed swede. Next comes a generous portion of creamy risotto with 30-month Parmigiano Reggiano, rounded off with a cup of espresso and freshly baked amaretti. These are traditional dishes, offered within a dining room that looks equally timeless without ever feeling old.
2. Go Whimsical — And Let Yourself Be Captured by a Mural
A signature of many of the best bars in New York, murals are now taking over London. Although due to its scope, this style twist may be harder to integrate into your home's interior scheme, it's got something to teach you about the importance of balancing sophistication and whimsy.
From the outside, Holy Carrot, which has been open in Shoreditch's Spitalfields Market for just over four weeks now, looks like a quirky, papier-mâché sculpture of a restaurant, with organically shaped pendant lights cast from paper and hand-painted, cream and chocolate brown-tinted curtains imagined, like the rest of the establishment, by trailblazing British designer Faye Toogood.
Once in, though, it's clear the effect works because it's countered by a neutrally tinted, elegant dining room, crafted with smooth dark woods, cement flooring, and white glazed tilework.
Focused on fire cooking and fermentation, the nourishing, seasonal menu of Holy Carrot is enough to infuse the space with color — creatively plated salad leaves cover up a heart of luscious ricotta, smoked vegetables are turned into moreish pickled slices and purée, and tofu is given the "sexy" treatment (i.e., is spiced up with mustard greens and carrot xo).
But where the taste lacks (though, really, it doesn't), its fantastical murals step in, giving both the bar counter and kitchen pass a slightly surreal, hypnotic feel.
Andreas Christodoulou, the founder of London-based studio House of Dré, who designed the interiors of Crafted, a boutique design hotel in East Sussex, knows what artful pieces like Toogood's mushrooms-inhabited frieze can bring to the table, literally. He stresses the role that color and lighting play within them.
The dining room of the stay "is a much darker space with limited natural light," he explains, but rather than fighting that, they embraced it. "We leaned into the idea that it would primarily be experienced in the evening, with a flickering, candlelit quality. The deep regal red introduces a sumptuous, almost theatrical atmosphere that elevates what was previously quite a tired room, and in doing so, it transforms dining into something immersive."
It is completed by a dreamy ceiling mural where stars, swans, and doves float against a cerulean background. "We wanted guests to look upward and feel a connection to something celestial, subtly tying them back to the outdoors," Christodoulou explains. The work of local artist Chiara Perano, the indoor 'sky' expands the dining room past its physical walls.
3. Embrace Surfaces as Your Canvases
For Vietnamese restaurant and bar Bánh Bánh Brixton on Coldharbour Lane, House of Baby's Joseph Losper and Tomio Shota (of Lai Rai fame) foregrounded an even more radical approach to incorporate art into the dining room.
Rather than simply relying on framed canvases, the multidisciplinary duo transformed entire textural surfaces into masterpieces, carving, painting, or frescoing walls to include tranquil vignettes of life and idyllic, botanical references throughout the eatery.
A collaboration with Hanoi-born artist AP Nguyen, Bánh Bánh Brixton delivers a sharing feast directly in an environment gathering stylistic cues from Vietnamese modernism (to learn more, consider jumping on our travel guide to Hồ Chí Minh).
"Conceived as a single, immersive artwork, the restaurant blends together materials like wood, paint, metal, plaster, and food within a space that guests physically engage with," creative director Shota explains. This exploration, he adds, extends into the paintings as well: "materials such as metal leaf, sand, iron oxide, and powdered shells are combined with motifs related to food culture," interpreting the entire space of the restaurant "as a canvas."
The approach for the restaurant, House of Baby's director Joseph Losper says, was driven by a desire to craft "an environment that feels new, yet carries a nostalgic warmth."
"Our work celebrates the subtle elsewhere, new worlds, parallel to ours, with their own, quieter rhythm," he shares. "It's somewhere to convene with friends or family, slow down, and share a meal. A space designed for connection, tucked away from the hustle and bustle."
And what else can you wish for from your dining room?
In other London news, V&A East just opened its doors in Stratford, and it's an unmissable spot on the weekend itineraries of art, design, and architecture lovers alike.
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