STK London – Strand

STK London occupies the ground floor of ME London, the Foster + Partners tower on the Strand where Covent Garden gives way to Theatreland. When it opened with the hotel in December 2012 it was the New York steakhouse group's first restaurant outside the United States, and it still runs to the same idea: a serious steakhouse crossed with a late-night lounge. The main dining room curves around a sunken floor of white leather booths, tall blossom trees and magenta cove lighting, with a resident DJ playing through dinner and on into the evening.

The room changes character as the night goes on. Early sittings suit pre-theatre dinners and corporate tables; later the lights drop, the music builds and the neon-lit cocktail bar takes over. The kitchen turns out prime steaks alongside the group's signature plates, and the whole place is built for a crowd rather than a hushed one.

For private events the restaurant divides into several spaces. The Bistro seats up to 120 beneath a wall of framed monochrome portraits, the main dining room takes 130, and a glass-partitioned Private Dining Suite with its own illuminated STK screen holds 30 for a seated dinner. Booked whole, STK takes 250 seated and up to 500 standing, with an in-house sound system and DJ setup already in place.