It is 27 years since Restaurant Gordon Ramsay opened in Chelsea, propelling its namesake patron to three Michelin stars and global domination as the most famous chef in the world. But if the London restaurant landscape is unrecognisable from 1998, so too is the city itself, something that can be appreciated from the 60th floor of 22 Bishopsgate this month, when Ramsay opens three restaurants, one bar and a cookery school on top of the UK’s tallest office tower. It feels a very long way from when Windows at the Park Lane Hilton was the summit of London dining.
Other new ventures this month demonstrate just as eloquently how things have changed in the past quarter of a century: a glamorous pub in Shoreditch, an all-day Indian on Shaftesbury Avenue and a Soho sandwich emporium opened by a classically trained chef. February might be the shortest month of the year, but it will be a tall order to top this lot over the next 12 months.
