One Twenty One Two at The Royal Horseguards

If you’re looking to impress a dinner date then invite them to ‘One Whitehall’ where the suitably magnificent ‘Royal Horseguards Hotel’ awaits them. This five star venue is home to award winning restaurant ‘One Twenty One Two‘ (cleverly named after former neighbour Scotland Yard’s telephone number) and all guests get to pass through it’s grand marble lobby under glittering chandeliers making the entire evening a truly luxurious experience.

Once seated you’ll find the restaurant the epitome of understated elegance: classic contemporary design, music is soft and non invasive, diners whisper in hushed tones, even the waiters tip toe around- somehow never present yet always there.

As for the menu? It features exactly the type of traditional British cuisine with a french twist that one hopes to find in a top London hotel: diver caught scallops in a truffle soup, welsh sea bass cooked in cockles cream, slow roasted pork belly with buttered parsnips, rare venison on a cepe roulade , herb crusted bone marrow in a green peppercorn jus!! – making a choice is not easy! My companion and I opted to ‘surf and turf’, he braved the marrow whilst I suffered the scallops ( life’s hard! ) and both were divine. Everything we grazed on was cooked to perfection, they impressed not just in taste but also in appearance as all dishes arrived beautifully presented, ( I’d particularly recommend the sea bass and the beef fillet- we agreed these really stole the show).

Little added touches lift the meal into it’s award winning status: complimentary amuse bouche before your starter, a palette cleansing lime sorbet between courses, a selection of delicious homemade bread, sweet little petit fours for your coffee and perhaps best of all a sommelier on hand to match your wine to your course so no faux pas need be made. The staff are equally fantastic at recommended new experiences for the more adventurous diners: a golden Turin grappa to replace your usual digestif or a sparkling rose from Milan to replace your champagne? We gave them a whirl – there were no complaints, simply a warm rosy glow as we wobbled our way out the door. After the meal I checked out the hotel’s history and found out that the hotel provided the Secret Service with it’s HQ during the Second World War, so at less than £50 per head for a three courses you can pretend to be James Bond for the evening! Of course you need to provide your own Money Penny.

The Royal Horseguards
2 Whitehall Court, London. SW1A 2EJ