Theatreland is not short of dramatic entrances, and Town has gone for the red lava columns. The curved green pass sits in the middle of the room like a stage set, and the ceiling glows as though a lunar module has docked above Drury Lane. The look leans a little Austin Powers. Do not let that put you off: the cooking underneath is serious about where its food comes from.
Parle's family tree
Stevie Parle went to Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland at sixteen, then cooked at The River Café, Moro and Petersham Nurseries, the kitchens that taught London to follow the seasons. He opened Dock Kitchen in Tom Dixon's showroom at Portobello Dock in 2009, and followed it with Rotorino, Palatino, Sardine, Pastaio and the cheerful Joy. Town, which opened on 12 May 2025, is what he calls the largest and most ambitious thing he has attempted. He has help: executive chef Olly Pierrepont, formerly of Luca and La Trompette, and head chef Andy Bright, from Kerridge's Bar & Grill, Saison and Fera. Merlin Ramos runs the wine.
“The kitchen sits in the middle like a stage, which on Drury Lane is a reasonable instinct.”
The room
North End Design, Samuel Hosker's studio, put the kitchen centre stage, which on this street is a fair instinct. Glossy red columns of Pyrolave lava ceramic frame the pass, a lemon-yellow group table sits beneath lightboxes, and the references run from Verner Panton to the Rainbow Room at Big Biba. There are three dining areas, and the central section, with its view into the kitchen, is the one to request. It works for a pre-theatre supper, but the food deserves more than a rush before curtain-up. Give it a long table and a free evening.
What to order
Start with the risotto of Kashmiri saffron topped with roasted bone marrow, the dish to order first, the marrow arriving in wobbly scoops. Before it, the potato sourdough comes with Town house gravy, hot Wildfarmed beef dripping for tearing and dunking. Isle of Mull scallops arrive with a smoked chilli butter that has real punch.
For the main event, the Wildfarmed ribeye with green sauce and house gravy is hard to stop thinking about, and a large pork chop served with onions, mustard and a burnt-apple sauce is the other contender, alongside pink fir potatoes roasted in beef fat. Fried sage leaves with heather honey and chilli, from Parle's own bees, are a crisp, sweet-hot snack, though the frying softens the herb's punch.
Save room for the Morello cherry clafoutis, the headline act, and allow around twenty minutes for it. If sweet is not your thing, the buttermilk pudding with honey-roasted nespole and elderflower granita has a lovely texture.
The honest hedge: the concept is a little all over the place in identity, portions are generous, so it is not a place for small appetites, and the clotted cream with the clafoutis is a touch much. Order in rounds rather than at once.
Where the food comes from
Beef is Wildfarmed, the regenerative farming business, and Town was the first to serve meat from its grass-fed herd in Oxfordshire. Cheese comes from Lost Valley Dairy, run by Parle's brother Mike and sister-in-law Darcie Mayland. Elsewhere the menu names East Kent asparagus, Seasalter clams, Romney Marsh hogget and Welsh lobster.
Drinks
Kevin Armstrong of Satan's Whiskers runs the bar, with pre-batched cocktails split into martinis, classics and lower-strength choices. The Direct Olive Martini and the Botivo Presse with elderflower and grapefruit are the ones to try. For a drink beforehand, Baudry Greene on Endell Street is close by.
London has spent twenty years learning to read farm names off a menu. Town lets the West End catch up.
- The vibe
- Space-age seventies set: red lava columns, central kitchen, glowing ceiling.
- The food
- Wildfarmed beef, saffron risotto with bone marrow, cherry clafoutis.
- The drink
- Armstrong's martinis, including the Direct Olive Martini; Botivo Presse for lighter drinkers.
- A tip
- Skip the pre-show rush and request the central section; order clafoutis early.
