Whits

New Year’s Eve in London is a mind boggling experience.

Do you make plans to go to the Thames and watch fireworks? Or do you book a table for a late night dinner? I think you can all guess what we chose to do. Dinner, always.

About a month or so before the big night, we were tirelessly looking into where we could go to dine that night. We wanted something special, but not too expensive. It was a party of six; J and I, my parents and J’s parents.

Prices around London were getting a bit extortionate. Some restaurants in central London (even on the outskirts) were upwards of £250-300 per person. These are places where their normal day to day prices were considerably lower. So, are you kidding?! Unless they were handing out gold along with our meal, I wasn’t too impressed by these options.

And then, in our own backyard, we found ourselves a winner: Whits.

Whits has rave reviews across the board. It’s highly ranked throughout London, and yet they were only charging £70 a head for a four course meal. Now we’re talking.

They also happen to be one of the friendliest and most accommodating spots in London… but I’ll get to that shortly.

We booked our slot for 9:30PM that evening. We wanted a late night dinner to ensure we were all lively for midnight.

So a little bit before our reservation, we bundled up and made our way to Whits.

It’s a cosy, comfortable restaurant tucked down a side street from High Street Kensington.

We were greeted warmly and shown to our table for the evening. Whits was buzzing. Couples and dinner parties were all gathered for this late night seating.

Our menus were brought over and we were able to choose our selection from a set menu.

Everything sounded exquisite and we hungrily made our choices.

We all started with an amuse bouche of smoked duck and red cabbage with apple and goats cheese curd. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually had duck in my life, so I was keen to try it.

It was warm and seasoned to perfection. It’s not something I would ever pick off of a menu, but I actually really enjoyed it.

Next up was our starters. Whits spaced out the evening really well. We took our time digesting between courses and were definitely ready for our next course when it came out.

I ordered the Langoustine and lobster ravioli with caviar and champagne sauce.

Talk about decadent. It was delicious, creamy and extremely rich. I truly enjoyed this dish, but honestly it could have been a main. I felt completely full after finishing it… and we still had a few courses to go.

The other starter of choice was Foie Gras with apples, apricots, plums, calvados sorbet and brioche melba toast.

The toast was a slightly lighter starter, and the Calvados sorbet (Calvados is an apple brandy by the way) was a great palate cleanser before the mains were to arrive. I tried a little of my mom’s dish and I can verify that this choice was also a winner.

And finally, our mains arrived. Everyone at the table except for me (dare to be different!) ordered the Roast Fillet of Beef. Look at this masterpiece…

And I ordered the fillet of sea bass over a bed of risotto.

The entire table raved, the food was phenomenal and the portions were epically large.

The risotto was delicious. However, I barely made a dent in it. I was so full from the lobster ravioli. I’ve never been good at pacing myself when it comes to eating… So I kindly asked that I get most of it boxed up to take home. Very American of me, but it was so good I couldn’t have wasted the meal!

The rest of the table said that they loved their dishes. I wish I’d tried a little bit, but I couldn’t even fathom eating another bite…

Until, of course, dessert.

We had our choice of either a hot chocolate soufflé or a cheese board with sorbet. Here’s the cheese board, the definite lighter option of the two.

But ummm I think you can probably guess what I opted for.

Hello beautiful.

It was like eating dreams.

We were the last to leave Whits that night, with a few minutes to spare before the clock struck twelve.

But I want to touch upon why you need to go here. The restaurant itself is small, cosy and inviting. The staff were beyond friendly and helpful. We know it’s New Year’s Eve, they may have wished they were out living it up instead, but you never would have guessed it.

And the real winners of the evening? The power couple who own Whits: Chef Steve Whitney and his wife Eva Barkasz, the restaurant manager. While we didn’t meet the chef, his wife Eva was throughout the restaurant ensuring that everyone had every last thing that they needed. She was friendly, making conversation with everyone, taking menu orders and offering wine suggestions (she picked an amazing Chardonnay for us, but I can’t recall what it was).

You can clearly see the passion behind Whits. The people, the food, it all ties together making this one of my top picks in London.

We’re lucky that it’s local to us, we need to pop in for drinks and a meal again soon.

So for Whits, it’s a glowing, positively raving review. We loved it.

Kelly xoxo

Whits
21 Abingdon Road
London W8 6AH
020 7938 1122