Hawksmoor Air Street

Hawksmoor’s Piccadilly branch occupies a genuine Art Deco set piece on Air Street, ten commissioned stained-glass windows running floor to ceiling and looking out over Regent Street, which makes it one of the more visually striking rooms in the group’s now-sizeable UK estate. Two minutes from Piccadilly Circus tube, it does brisk pre- and post-theatre trade alongside its regular dinner service.

The menu splits fairly evenly between steak and seafood rather than running as a pure steakhouse: Brixham Market supplies the fish, and dishes like roasted scallops with white port and garlic, coal-grilled Dover sole, and whole native lobster with garlic butter sit comfortably alongside the butchers’ cuts sold by the 100g. Sides, cheesy Tunworth mash, creamed spinach, buttered English greens, follow the format the whole chain is known for. Starters lean towards the classics, potted shrimp and bone marrow both regularly recommended by staff to first-time visitors.

Sunday roast here has twice been voted best in the UK by external polls, and it draws a dedicated following distinct from the regular steak crowd, worth booking specifically for if that is the meal you are after. The room fills quickly around matinee finishing times given the West End location, so a table either side of the theatre rush tends to be a calmer visit.

Cocktails are handled by award-winning bartenders and the drinks list holds up well against the food rather than feeling like an afterthought, which is not always true of steakhouses generally.

Set menus and lunch offers represent genuinely good value for the quality on offer, but à la carte steak pricing climbs quickly, and a handful of reviewers note inconsistency in meat quality on busier nights, a fair caveat for a kitchen working at this volume through a West End dinner service. It remains one of the more reliable choices in the area for a proper occasion dinner, provided the bill is factored in before booking rather than after, and the room’s Art Deco styling alone makes it worth a visit even before the food arrives, particularly at dusk when the stained glass catches the last of the evening light over Regent Street.