Francatelli

Francatelli is the fine-dining room of St. James's Hotel & Club, hidden on a cul-de-sac off St James's Street. It is the restaurant London knew for years as Seven Park Place, William Drabble's long-held kitchen, reworked after a full refurbishment and reopened in late 2024 around the legacy of Charles Elmé Francatelli, the 19th-century chef who once cooked for the club and for Queen Victoria. Drabble stays at the pass, cooking a menu of modern British dishes drawn from Francatelli's 1846 book The Modern Cook.

The room is intimate by design, roughly two dozen covers over nine tables, and reads as a private salon rather than a restaurant floor. Grey velvet banquettes and tub chairs sit beneath a densely hung wall of early-20th-century portraits and figurative paintings; green-marble tables, brass edges and black-lacquered joinery carry the hotel's Art Deco character. A separate wine tasting room, added in the refurbishment, holds a central tasting counter and high banquette seating for sommelier-led pairings.

For private events the appeal is the scale: the whole restaurant takes an exclusive buyout of about twenty-six seated, with the wine room available for smaller gatherings alongside. It suits a seated dinner or a milestone celebration held in confidence, a short walk from Green Park and the St James's galleries. Hire is arranged directly through the hotel.