The restaurant at NoMad London is located inside a former police station.
NoMad Hotel made quite the splash when it opened in New York – until, all of a sudden, it closed in 2021 after close to a decade. So, where to next? London, baby! NoMad Hotel London then opened opposite the Royal Opera House in 2021 – I suppose if you run a successful hospitality business in NYC, Britain will let you have the really good postcodes. NoMad London and its new bar, Twenty8, are a warren of grand, carefully decorated rooms that feel a bit like you’re visiting one of those Upper East Side apartments in Gossip Girl. It’s all very cool and quietly confident.
Some of that confidence might come from this road’s history. The hotel is located on Covent Garden’s Bow Street, which has been closely associated with policing since the 18th century, when a magistrates’ court opened. And then, in the following century, the Metropolitan Police opened a joint police station and magistrates’ court at – yes, you guessed it – number 28. Wouldn’t you be feeling all cool and confident if you had the authorities on your side?
As is the way of things in London, this extremely old landmark is now a fabulous den of iniquity for grown-ups with money to burn. And so, what was once a large loading bay for dropping off prisoners (I’m not exaggerating) is now Twenty8’s lofty atrium dining room, resplendent with columns and cornicing, plush fabrics and palms. That’s quite a glow-up – and perhaps a comment by NoMad on how it’s always possible to turn your life around after doing time and make a sumptuous success of yourself. Or maybe it’s just a nice dining room.
This quiet style extends to the presentation of Twenty8’s food. Our Lamb Tortellini starter was far daintier and more understated than I was expecting: a fistful of walnut-sized, peach-hued pasta parcels bobbing about in a mint-green bowl filled with a meaty broth. It was light but deliciously savoury.
Elsewhere, a main of seared Atlantic cod and wild garlic arrived in a vibrant broad-bean-green sauce. It released a trickle of soft flavours and textures that evoked swanky harbours and rich people in boat shoes with no socks on. In other words, it had been engineered to work wonders on a hot summer day with a chilled glass of white. That theme continued with the Lobster Pasta – a no-fuss, generously proportioned proposition, the plump butter-splashed meat freshened up with chives. The menu is brief yet broad and classic – a prawn cocktail here, a chicken Milanese there.
The menu also has a raw bar section – oysters, razor clams, live Orkney scallops – which will beg at you innocently from the page to be paired with sparkling wine. So it’s handy that there are approximately ten of those by the glass, including a brut rosé from the Finger Lakes in New York State and two from Kent. There's a brilliant variety of non-sparkling wines by the glass, too, featuring a few more from New York but mostly concentrating on Europe.
Elsewhere, you can enjoy a pre- or post-dinner drink in the repurposed monolith that is Side Hustle – an elegantly appointed bar that transports you to cocktail hour in Manhattan. It’s all classic dark woods, emerald wall panels and large hanging globe lights, but the setting is studded with cheeky and unusual photographs dotted about the place. It's aiming for on-trend but sumptuous – imagine a rich uncle with no children, as a bar. Sunlight beams in from high windows, but you can’t actually see out, which makes the whole thing feel thrillingly exclusive – like you’re at a party that the Covent Garden commoners outside don’t know about. It has the same effect as The Ivy restaurant's trademark jewelled windows, not too far away on West Street.
Side Hustle must be having quite the party every day, given that its cocktail list is fuelled by Mexican flavours: tequila, mezcal, and some absolutely excellent white asparagus tacos. The white asparagus season is unfortunately a fleeting one, but judging by these tacos, the kitchen can probably do delicious things with most ingredients. Interestingly, there’s also a mini-menu of Tequila Martinis, which is pretty unusual, to say the least. If you come to NoMad, don’t miss this bar.
GO: Visit www.hilton.com for more information.