Where To Go When You Want To Get Dressed Up

This is London. You could rock up to most restaurants wearing your ‘gym clothes’—you know, those trackies that have definitely never met a cross trainer but serve as PJs, casual office wear, and an on-the-go blanket. And we like that about London. But sometimes, you want somewhere you can get dressed up. Somewhere you can get so fancy that you feel like an extra in The Great Gatsby, take entirely shameless selfies, and finally wear that satin jacket you bought when you were half-cut at a market in Barcelona. Here’s where to go when you want to get dressed up without ever feeling overdressed.

THE SPOTS

We’ve seen people in hot pink, feather-covered two-pieces at Bacchanalia, and we felt like the odd ones out. As soon as you step into the Disneyland-meets-Gladiators dining room in Mayfair, you’ll understand why your dressiest outfit won’t feel out of place here. The waitstaff are dressed in gimmicky Roman togas, there are naked marble sculptures coming out of the walls, and there’s a menu of Mediterranean-inspired dishes that range from a moreish tagliolini truffle pasta, to a £135 bone-in rib-eye steak. It won’t be the most memorable food you eat, but it’s perfectly nice. You're really here for the dramatic dining room feels like a movie set and the bathrooms that make the perfect backdrop for your IG thirst trap.

If there’s a whole lobster on the menu, it’s safe to wear a shiny suit. Those are the rules. And not only does this glitzy Spanish restaurant in Shoreditch have a giant 80-quid lobster paella so extra it could probably get a stint on one of the Real Housewives franchises, but it also has classic crowd-pleasers dressed up in their Friday night glad rags. Gooey little croquetas with a high-end Jabugo jamon hat. Spicy chorizo served on soft brioche buns with a quail egg to accessorise. And a perfectly cooked tortilla decorated with artsy squiggles of brava sauce. Basically, for boozy booth birthdays, big groups of colleagues out to impress their party-loving client, and high-energy meals that were always destined to end up with you all in a cab to the nearest bar, Bibo’s your guy. 

Quaglino’s in Mayfair has a truly inspiring history of getting Very Important People pissed and frankly, that is one of our favourite qualities in a restaurant. It’s featured heavily in Absolutely Fabulous, author Barbara Cartland once found a real pearl in an oyster here in the ‘30s, and Queen Lizzie popped by for a buzzing dinner in 1956. These days it’s still host to a live band, slick cocktails, and lots of outfits you definitely can’t put anywhere near a washing machine without some higher power screaming ‘DRY CLEANING ONLY’. It’s perfect for a night of lobster dishes and Sinatra singalongs with friends, but it’ll also work for a romantic late-night drink after a particularly schmoozy date.

Decimo is sexy. Like, the kind of sexy you’re aiming for when you wear that underboob wrap dress that inevitably ends up looking a bit ‘Tutankhamun’s Going Away Party’. It’s a high-fashion, Spanish-Mexican restaurant that has aptly hosted many a big-deal fashion event and is, well, high in the sky due to its 10th floor location at The Standard, London hotel. This is where you should go when you want to eat a caviar-covered tortilla under the guise of ‘baby deserves a treat’. Don’t skip the tacos, margaritas, or opportunity to miss your catwalk moment strutting across the restaurant by failing to call ahead and request one of the corner, top-view tables.

Every time someone turns up to Bob Bob Ricard in trainers, a tiny diamante-encrusted angel dies. Probably. This Russian-meets-British restaurant in Soho looks like a swish train carriage with royal blue leather and enough shiny detailing to match the actual sun. On top of its ‘press for champagne’ buttons, an excellent beef wellington, and a whole lot of caviar, this place also has plenty of flashy background potential for selfies that’ll make you look like a distant relation of the Dumas family.

Calling all miserable owners of wedding wear they never actually wanted to buy but refuse to sell on Depop. This seafood specialist spot will host you, feed you exceptional oysters, and make you forget all about being emotionally manipulated into buying that £200 bridesmaid dress despite your insistence that mint green really isn’t your colour. Joke is on the bride because you’re about to take it on one last glorious hurrah to the 14th floor of a Southwark hotel and get prawny juice all down the front. Godspeed. Outside of matrimony-related fashion vengeance, please know that the seafood here really is great and the views across London will bring that drama your outfit deserves.

You can’t turn up to Park Chinois in flip-flops. In fact, it would probably confuse the live brass band and they’d start an awkwardly sad rendition of Summer Nights from Grease. No, when you go to this Mayfair spot you can expect big prices, some decent Chinese food, golden live entertainment, and a crowd that thinks Aldi is the name of one of their mate’s eight pet St. Bernards. Basically, it’s a bloody good laugh, there’s no such thing as being overdressed here, and it has some of the best people-watching potential in London.

J Sheekey is one of London’s most classic West End restaurants with everything you’d want from a classic West End restaurant. Mirrored lamps you can check out your own banging outfit in? Check. Classy old-fashioned interiors that make you feel like Jordan Belfort might pop in from the outdoor terrace at any moment? Yes. Lots of lobster on the menu? Absolutely. If you’re looking to get dressed up without spending a small crustacean-fuelled fortune, then just order their excellent fish pie and a glass of wine. You’ll still have a great time.

Let’s play a game of word association. You want to look lit, hot, flame emoji... can you see where we’re going with this? Chiltern Firehouse is a restaurant and hotel in Marylebone that has a reputation for attracting the rich and famous. You know, those people who have to insure their own body parts and accompanying leather jean collection. And that could be you. For a night anyway. Be warned, this place is pricey and you’ll need to book ahead, but it’s worth it if you’re after somewhere to get a bit schmoozy in your Sunday best with a high chance of some celebrity spotting. 

Is it just us or is there something about a high cityscape view that says whack on your best shoes? Maybe the closer you get to the stars, the more you have to look like one. Who knows? But, Duck & Waffle is on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower, serves some pretty good British food with a twist, and importantly, is open 24 hours a day. That’s right, this place basically offers you an endless supply of hours to enjoy the fruits of actually making an effort with your hair, while checking out the London skyline. Winning.

The key to getting dressed up, is to never, ever look fancier than the room you’re in. Those are the rules. But who’s to say that you can’t rock up somewhere with a £20 prix-fixe menu in your glad rags? Thanks to all the pink tablecloths, gold detailing, marble pillars, and the ‘20s French brasserie feel, Zédel near Piccadilly Circus is grand enough to constitute wearing something really nice, even though the prices are all very reasonable. Also, there’s a cheese trolley, and from personal experience, we’d like to let you know that if you can wear sequins and eat from a cheese trolley in the same night, you’re living life right.

Your sister or your childhood nemesis, or your sister who happens to be your childhood nemesis, is visiting London and you just know they’ve made a trip to the dry cleaners before arriving. That’s what London is about right? Looking suave? Well, no. But at Kerridge’s, it totally is. This huge, slightly broody British restaurant near Embankment has oxblood leather booths, a statue of a gold suit in the middle of the dining room, is part of the Corinthia Hotel, and definitely deserves you—and whoever you’re with—in your finest attire. If you’re going all out, get the sharing lobster thermidor omelette that’s a casual £120.

You’re having one of those days, where inexplicably, you look fucking fantastic. You can’t waste this on popping to your local in trainers. No, you need somewhere sexy. You need somewhere like Yauatcha. This extremely glam Chinese restaurant in Soho serves excellent dim sum, like prawn cheung fun and their must-order venison puffs. You should also get involved in their in-house patisserie, which makes tasty desserts that are really good-looking. Just like you.

Having accidentally watched approximately 82,000 hours of Oscars coverage, you’ve decided that it’s bull that you can’t get dressed up too. Before you decide to start wearing a feather boa on the Overground in the hopes that someone asks you which designer you’re wearing, take your nicest clothes to Mayfair’s Gymkhana instead. This upscale Indian spot has a wild muntjac biryani that’s so good you’ll want it to stand up and give a Best Biryani speech just so you can clap for it. You won’t regret ordering the masala lamb chop either.

Go on, leave those jeans at home. They’ve worked hard all year. When you’re looking to wear something from the section of your wardrobe that rarely gets to see the light of day, Berners Tavern is a good place to start. Part of the Edition Hotel in Fitzrovia, this big British restaurant serves a very decent steak and looks like Louis XIV had a hand in the interior design. Expect Versailles-style moulded ceilings, countless gold-framed oil paintings, and the kind of lighting that makes you look 20% more like a member of the Hadid family than you do now.