Riviera Restaurant, St James’s review
Our FLO London subscribers who love art and fine food must put this restaurant on their radar. Riviera is touted as La Cote D’Azur in the heart of London and with this week’s scorching weather we could very well have been on the French Riviera. Ideally located amongst several art venues and London Landmarks this Mediterranean-influenced restaurant in St James from the Zandi brothers’ Emerald Hospitality Group (Como Garden, Zuaya and El Norte) is surrounded by the chic galleries of St James, Christie’s, the Royal Academy, The Ritz and Buckingham Palace.
Riviera Restaurant, St James’s. Image credit Jack Hardy
The golden hued entrance at street level is spacious and diners are welcomed by a receptionist and a space with handpickedart from the owner’s private French collection. While Riviera is not housed in one of the more elaborate neo renaissance style buildings one finds in St James’s, all is forgotten once you are whisked upstairs by lift and enter the beautifully designed restaurant upstairs. The advantage of Riviera being in a modern building is the floor to ceiling windows giving alight filled room by day and night views overlooking the architecturally stunning buildings on St James’s Street by night.
The L-shaped room wraps around with the windows of the building and is a tasteful blend of textures, A bar in the corner has tall tiered oval open backed shelves to not obstruct views. The mirrored wall opposite brings a sense of spaciousness and is hung with a standout piece of textile art, ledges at the base of the windows around the room are filled with statement organic decorative pots, plants and ceramics. An asymmetric hexagonal light wood floor combines with areas of geometric contemporary carpet are design details which simply add warmth and elegance all at once. The only interior faux pas is perhaps the fake flower arrangement on the bar, being a florist in my other life it always saddens to see this. I would say always go with no flowers rather than fake flowers.
Riviera Restaurant, St James’s. Image credit Jack Hardy
We were sat at a table laid with crisp white table linen and hand painted blue and white plates to begin a very enjoyable evening in comfortable armchairs with a view to a harmoniously buzzing kitchen. Dinner begins with a combination of classic white and seeded baguette and homemade whipped butter while we peruse menu options and the wine and cocktail list which presented with one too many creamy sounding cocktails hence, we decided our best bet was to save it for the end of the meal. Two glasses of bubbly soon landed at our table. After walking through London’s 31-degree heat that day the Crémant d’Alsace couldn’t have tasted better.
We enjoyed Truffle & Goat Cheese stuffed Courgette Flowerwhich oozed with generous amounts of cheesy filling and a perfectly light crisp batter and a well-matched honey drizzle. I enjoyed a stunning and delicately plated Seabass Carpaccio with Truffle Ponzu. The amounts of elegantly sliced fish were generous, and the sauce was sensational - not too thin like a simple ponzu sauce and not too thick to be gluggy but just right and able to coat each piece of fish and tickle the taste buds. Neither had noticeable amounts of truffle flavour but I was not mad at it. Neither dish needed truffle, which at timescan be slightly overpowering. I’m saying this as a truffle lover.
Octopus Chimichurri and Triofe Pesto pasta. Riviera Restaurant, St James’s. Image credit MTotoe
My vegetarian dining partner enjoyed the Triofe Pesto pasta cooked perfectly, using a pasta shape which holds the sauce well. Slightly pricey at £29 but one can assume the pasta was perhaps homemade, and we are in St James’s after all. I thoroughly enjoyed the Octopus Chimichurri atop a cauliflower puree. This was an extremely generous portion with four tentacles, and the chimichurri was flavoursome and paired ever so perfectly with the tender octopus. This was the star dish of the day for me. Glancing through the menu it travels along the Cote d’Azur and continues to Italy with more Italian influences dishes like Vitello Tonnato and pastas of Veal Ragu Rigatoni and the stunningly plated Riviera Whole Native Lobster Pasta we saw pass our table and the Parmesan Wheel is rolled out for the Bucatini dish.
Dessert was a simply perfect Crème Brûlée for two. Smooth, delicious and speckled with vanilla, topped with a perfect round of lavender shortbread I will continue to dream about. The hint of lavender was just right and the crumble of the biscuit masterful. Sometimes it is about getting the very simple things right. I had ordered the Paradis de Mangue cocktail to go with (that’s Mango Paradise to you and me) described on the menu as Mango Vodka, Vanilla Liquor, Passion Fruit, White Choc Foam and Mango Powder. The last two ingredients were absent on the cocktail, and while they should change the description on the menu, I won’t hold it against them as it was a lovely cocktail and as I mentioned earlier, they had one too many foamy/creamy style cocktails on the menu anyway.
Riviera Restaurant, St James’s. Image credit Jack Hardy
As if staged to demonstrate Riviera is a place for everyone to enjoy, we noticed a model cross section of diners from two female friends catching up, an older couple dining with their adult daughter, two men catching some dinner post work, and a younger couple with their young son and solo female diner. One could be intimidated dining in posh St James’s but it is an environment everyone can enjoy and be made to feel comfortable.
We can highly recommend an evening here despite prices sitting slightly on the higher end of the spectrum, it is to be expected in this area of London, but I’d say worth it for such a faultless meal in such a beautiful space.
Location: 23 St James’s Street, London SW1A 1HA. Website: riviera-london.co.uk Instagram: @rivieralondon
Review by Natascha Milsom
