Sloane Street welcomes Willett’s: British cooking, beautifully done

Willett’s, the new bistro opening this week at The Cadogan,a Belmond Hotel, is named after the family who built the townhouse in 1887 — a detail that roots it firmly in Chelsea lore. The menu follows suit: undeniably British and starting, quite properly, with crumpets.

The room, refurbished by Studio Shayne Brady, keeps the original 1887 herringbone floors and adds heritage greens, antique mirrors, linen café curtains, and bronze detailing. There is an open kitchen, chef’s-counter seating for those who like to keep an eye on proceedings, booths for smaller gatherings, a reworked bar for drinks and snacks, and a terrace besides.

In the kitchen is executive chef Michael Turner, who joined The Cadogan in 2025 from The Savoy Grill. In a stroke of culinary genius, he has chosen to place crumpets at the heart of the menu.

Served savoury and sweet, they’re available at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and at the bar, topped with duck liver parfait with Yorkshire rhubarb, Dorset crab, Penny Bun mushroom with Wiltshire truffle, or delightfully old school Gentleman’s Relish, that most idiosyncratic of English spreads made from anchovies and spices. It’s delicious. 

“The focus is on redefining British classics, taking dishes people know and love and elevating them through technique, sourcing and attention to detail,” Turner explained. “It’s generous and warm. I want every guest to feel as though they are in my home.”

The rest of Turner’s menu moves through the British canon with the unassailable confidence of James Bond, Lady Bracknell, old Etonians and the late Queen’s corgis: Sutton Hoo chicken and morel pie with mashed potato and gravy, unapologetically; cider-battered gurnard with chip-shop chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce; Wye Valley asparagus with fried duck egg, morels and wild garlic; and a beef Wellington for two.

Then pudding, which is where Willett’s begins to enjoy itself. It may read like a nostalgic school menu, but the execution is another matter entirely: jam roly-poly with woodruff custard, lemon posset with raspberry sorbet, rice pudding with Yorkshire rhubarb jam, Granny Campbell’s sherry trifle. Add a British cheese trolley that comes with the distinct sense that leaving promptly would be an error.

At last, a hotel restaurant with the confidence to put pie and pudding at the centre of things.

Willett’s, 75 Sloane St, SW1X 9SG

belmond.com/en/dining/europe/uk/london/willetts