Isabel Mayfair

Isabel opened in 2017 behind a discreet frontage on Albemarle Street and has held its place as one of Mayfair's most theatrical rooms ever since. The ground-floor restaurant is the first thing you see: a canopy of polished brass domes overhead, hand-painted palm murals on the walls, dark timber, deep blue banquettes and a mirror-topped central bar that anchors the room. The kitchen works in a modern European register with Latin and Mediterranean accents, built around seasonal produce and served in any format from canapés to a full sit-down dinner.

The reason to come for an event is downstairs. The Dragon Room is a silk-walled basement lounge bar and private dining space, designed with a cinematic eye: lacquered surfaces, brass mushroom lamps, low banquettes in black and red, a mirrored back bar and a sculptural central column. A resident DJ plays here and the bar runs late into the night, so a dinner upstairs slides naturally into drinks and dancing below. It seats up to 55 cabaret-style and holds up to 120 standing, which keeps it in the intimate, properly private bracket rather than the cavernous one.

It is a strong fit for a private DJ night: an enclosed basement with its own sound system and dancefloor, a late licence, and the kind of design-forward interior that photographs well and needs no dressing. Decoration can be brought in by arrangement.