Lucky Cat by Gordon Ramsay

Lucky Cat occupies a quietly grand corner of Grosvenor Square inside the London Marriott Hotel, designed by AfroditiKrassa as an Asian eating house drawn from the Kissa clubs of 1930s Tokyo — cafés that blurred the line between a gentlemen's club and a late-night drinking den. The bar wall is lined with 300 handmade ceramic cats, the bar front is cast in brass bamboo, and the main room runs from a raw bar and open kitchen to banquettes upholstered in dark velvet, with globe pendant lights strung at low intervals across an industrial ceiling. The overall effect is dim, cinematic, and genuinely atmospheric in a way that rewards arriving after dark.

For private events the restaurant separates completely into three named rooms off the main floor: Umi seats 10 at a round table on the mezzanine, Tochi fits 30 along a single banquet table with its own private bar, and Sora takes up to 40 guests at round tables with natural daylight and a fully stocked bar of its own. All three sit away from the main dining room, each with a dedicated hostess and access to the full Japanese small-plates menu. On selected dates the entire 160-seat restaurant can be taken exclusively for up to 400 standing.

The licence runs to 1am on private rooms (with TENs available for extension on exclusive hires), making it realistic as a late dining-into-dancing format. The kitchen is open seven days and the bar programme, built around over fifty sakes and Japanese gins, sustains a cocktail-led second act well into the evening. For DJ events the main restaurant floor, with its high ceiling and acoustically sympathetic dark surfaces, provides the most flexible space.