Trivet

Jonny Lake and Isa Bal spent more than a decade at The Fat Duck, Lake as executive head chef and Bal as head sommelier, before opening Trivet on a quiet corner of Snowsfields in October 2019. The name is an old word for the iron tripod that steadies a pot over a fire, and the partnership works on the same principle: Lake's precise, seasonal cooking balanced against one of London's most thoughtful cellars, a 400-plus list Bal arranges chronologically by the first mentions of wine in literature. The restaurant took its first Michelin star in 2022 and a second in 2024.

The room is warm and unshowy: oak panelling, herringbone floors, a marble-topped wine bar along one wall and an open kitchen behind the pass. A mustard-yellow banquette runs through the private dining room, and a covered street terrace looks across to the red-brick Guinness Trust Buildings. It reads as a neighbourhood restaurant that happens to hold two stars, which is much of its appeal for a private event.

For gatherings, the Mustard Room seats up to thirty beside the kitchen, with the option of full curtained privacy or a room open to the daylight, and works for standing drinks and canapes for around forty. The whole restaurant, wine bar and terrace included, hires exclusively for up to seventy seated. The kitchen builds menus around the occasion, and Bal or a member of his team can lead a pairing or a tasting through the evening.