Rules are there to be broken

The second coming of the high-low restaurant, where chefs pair martinis with burgers, is here, finds Will Hosie

- Will Hosie

A NEW wave of restaurants is taking over the capital. They serve burgers, meatballs and beer on tap, together with martinis, cod’s roe and white asparagus. A purist might wince at such a mishmash of identities or imagine the sort of place that's decked out in Farrow & Ball’s Elephant’s Breath and costs upwards of $50 a head without wine. One of those qualms is valid: expect to pay about £70, more if ordering cocktails. Yet there’s none of the staid, unremarkable pallor of yesteryear’s fad restaurants, the sort that took themselves too seriously and requested that punters do the same. Instead of strangled chatter and flawless—sometimes soulless—service, the atmosphere is warm: think raw-plaster walls, panelled ceilings and candlelit tables.

A high-low restaurant’s menu is reassuringly expensive and its atmosphere is unsnobby. Chefs aren't afraid to pair dishes from the American diner with those more often seen in Michelin institutions. The onus is placed not on groundbreaking cuisine, but on having a Good Time. Benjy Leibowitz, who co-owns One Club Row in Shoreditch, E1, traces this evolution back to New York, US, where he cut his teeth at The NoMad, a luxury hotel in Manhattan. ‘Londoners have traditionally gone out for dinner because they're looking for culinary excellence,’ he explains. ‘Something they couldn't make for themselves at home. In New York, the main reason why people go out for dinner is to have fun.’