Caxton Grill

Restaurant & Bar in Westminster

8 / 10 from 1 review

Address

St. Ermin's Hotel
2 Caxton Street
Westminster
London
SW1H OQW

Telephone
0800 652 1498

Cuisine
Restaurant & Bar

Region
Westminster

Nearest Station

A stylish new neighbourhood restaurant in the St James's Park / Westminster area, the Caxton Grill is open for lunch and dinner throughout the week and breakfast and dinner over the weekends. With 72 covers and a private dining room for ten, the Caxton Grill offers fine quality, uncomplicated British food with European accents served with impeccable, friendly style in warm relaxed surroundings.

The first restaurant for talented young London chef, Hus Vedat, his concept for Caxton is for the food to be simple yet creative, elegant and familiar. A firm believer in the 'field to fork' movement, Hus monitors the provenance of all food served - meats from Laverstoke Park, fish from day boats in British waters and honey direct from the roof where 75,000 Buckfast bees have settled in happily. Signature dishes use a Josper grill, a Spanish design indoor charcoal oven that cooks at very high temperatures and delivers a distinctive smokey flavour to meat and fish.

Drinks and more casual meals are available throughout the day in the evocative, richly textured surroundings of the Caxton Bar - an original haunt of the Cambridge Five spies, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean - now stylishly redesigned and the first floor Caxton Terrace which overlooks the St Ermin's hotel's restored and replanted courtyard garden.

All In London Review

Caxton Grill’s Mediterranean-inspired British food is a winner

It’s an area associated with royalty and politics, however stuffy as that sounds St. Ermin’s Hotel is cool and modern. This relaxed atmosphere extends to the restaurant, Caxton Grill, decorated with earthy colours, wooden flooring and swirly floral prints hanging on the walls.

The kitchen is headed by Hus Vedat, a staunch supporter of sourcing products as close to home as possible. That’ll be why there are roughly 75,000 bees sitting atop the roof, responsible for inspiring September’s honey-based special menu. Bees aside, the menu is British with Mediterranean flourishes, and a big fuss is made over their Josper grill, a Spanish charcoal oven that cooks quickly at a very high temperature, imparting plenty of smoke which gives a distinctive flavour to meat and fish. It’s entirely justified, as the mammoth Aberdeen Porterhouse steak we chow down on is aromatic and juicy, a smoky, strong-tasting hunk of meat. The rabbit stew’s meat is delicate by comparison, paired with Josper-roasted chestnuts in a creamy, white wine sauce.

But it’s not just their grill that gets top marks; we also like the soft lamb sweetbreads paired with spicy beef sausage and girolles, and the beef carpaccio liberally sprinkled with Parmesan shavings, cress and a mustardy mayo dressing.

A spicy young red wine, the Riba Guda Crianza turns out to be from the chef’s own vineyard in Spain. Dessert is a mascarpone cheesecake, with a layer of white chocolate but no biscuit base, and a hint of spice provided by a chilli cherry jam.

It’s a simple enough menu, but it’s a winner. A three course meal for two with wine is around £120, and the restaurant is open every day to guests and non-guests of the hotel.

Reviewed by Leila
Published on Dec 12, 2011