Sketch

Sketch is several venues wearing one address, and knowing which one you have booked matters more here than almost anywhere else in London. Mourad Mazouz opened it at 9 Conduit Street in 2003, and it has been one of the most photographed buildings in Mayfair ever since.

The Gallery is the room everyone knows: the pink one, hung with David Shrigley drawings, who also designed the tableware. It serves afternoon tea and dinner and it is where the queue for the egg-shaped lavatory pods forms. It is genuinely a good room, but you should go in understanding that a substantial part of the experience is the design.

The Lecture Room & Library upstairs is the serious one, overseen by Pierre Gagnaire. It took its first Michelin star in 2005, a second in 2012 and a third in 2019. It is a completely different proposition from downstairs: formal, expensive and one of the most ambitious kitchens in the country.

The common mistake is booking The Gallery expecting the cooking that made the reputation, or booking the Lecture Room expecting a fun night out. They are not the same restaurant.

Our verdict: the pink room is the best-designed dining room in London and worth seeing once. The Lecture Room is where the actual cooking lives.

Go if: you want either great design or great cooking, having decided which. Skip if: you want a quiet neighbourhood dinner.

Book well ahead for afternoon tea. 9 Conduit Street, Mayfair.