Seen from the outside, The Cocochine could be many things. The glazed, tomato-red shade of its façade's precise tiling immediately roots the restaurant in the spirited and increasingly sophisticated gastropub scene of London — where it opened in March 2024 — and the UK as a whole. The scarlet, gold, and wood, along with the crafty canework of its exterior, give off an Asian-inspired vibe, while the discreet cafe curtains visible from the street and the lack of a browsable menu often have "mistaken The Cochine for a private members' club," I am told while stopping off for lunch at the eatery on an unusually warm, early March afternoon. Even before actually stepping inside the restaurant, situated in a four-story, brick-walled mews house in the quiet Bruton Place, a stone's throw from Berkeley Square and the bustle of Bond Street, visitors are already teased with multiple, contrasting stories. And that, I later find, is precisely the point.
A joint venture co-led by Tim Jefferies, the owner of the nearby photography gallery Hamiltons, and Sri Lankan-born chef Larry Jayasekara, who trained under some of Britain and France's most respected culinary innovators, including Marcus Wareing, Alain Roux, and Michel Bras, and previously served as the Head Chef of Gordon Ramsey's modern French fine dining hotspot Pétrus in Belgravia, The Cocochine is where they meet in the middle, and one of the best restaurants in London.
