Hawksmoor Seven Dials

Hawksmoor’s Seven Dials branch occupies a basement that was once part of Combe’s brewery, at one point the second largest brewery in London, and the brick vaulted ceilings and low lighting still carry a genuine sense of that industrial past rather than a designed pastiche of one.

Steaks are priced by weight rather than as a fixed dish, covering porterhouse, bone in prime rib, ribeye and other cuts cooked over charcoal, served with a choice of sauces and sides that include triple cooked chips, macaroni cheese and grilled bone marrow. The Sunday roast, built around dry aged beef with crisp beef dripping roast potatoes and proper Yorkshire puddings, has its own following entirely separate from the steak menu on other days of the week.

Cocktails get almost as much attention as the food, and the room, despite being underground, manages to feel glamorous rather than cramped thanks to warm lighting, generous spacing between tables and a genuinely attentive front of house team.

None of this comes cheap: a typical dinner for two runs to around £140 once sides, a shared steak and drinks are added up, and because steaks are priced by weight rather than as a set portion, the final bill is harder to predict in advance than at a restaurant with fixed price mains.

Booking ahead is close to essential, particularly at weekends, since this remains one of the more in demand steakhouses in central London rather than a casual walk in option, and last minute tables are rare even on weeknights.

Hawksmoor now operates several branches across London, and while the group prides itself on consistency between them, the Seven Dials site is often cited as one of the better rooms in the group for atmosphere specifically, thanks to the brewery vaults rather than the ground floor sites elsewhere. Vegetarian and non meat eaters are catered for reasonably well given the restaurant’s focus, but this remains fundamentally a carnivore’s destination, and anyone travelling with a mixed group of tastes should check the wider menu before booking a table built around the steak experience. Lunch deals, when available, offer a noticeably cheaper way to try the kitchen’s cooking without committing to a full evening steak dinner at the higher weekend prices.