Do you know about the culinary revolution in Kensington

Once a foodie wasteland, Kensington is experiencing a culinary revolution. Kay Plunkett-Hogge tucks in    
Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash
Photo by Bruno Martins on Unsplash

‘There’s nowhere to eat in Kensington.’

Such is the debate I’m enjoying with someone who earns her crust right here on the High Street. She namechecks the chain restaurants, the overpriced stale delis, the ubiquitous sickly sweet cream of Caffé Concerto, her anguish visibly building.

Yet I beg to differ. After all, we’re enjoying this dispute over avocado vinaigrette and Stilton mousse at Kensington mainstay Maggie Jones’s, which has been slinging such food with aplomb since the year I was born.

My chum is the same age that I was when I first dined here. And you find me desperate to avoid saying anything that begins, ‘Well, back in my day…’ The problem is that ‘in my day’ I worked in fashion, not in food.

And there was many a night of pouring models and actors into 192, Clarke’s or Kensington Place, or dodging the flamingoes while dancing debauched at the lamented Roof Gardens. But while Clarke’s and Kensington Place remain, they’re hardly beloved by the Instagram crowd, and The Famous have decamped to Annabel’s, still wearing their sunglasses.

Still, change is afoot in the culinary wilderness between Knightsbridge and Shepherd’s Bush. Dishoom opened its sixth restaurant here at the start of this year, pumping out bacon naan rolls and unctuous dahl. Enoteca Rosso, an all-Italian wine bar featuring a chef with a Michelin-starred background, was hot on its heels. Cool Danish bakery Ole & Steen, famed for its vanilla custard spandauer, has opened its doors opposite the nearly complete Japan House, a cultural centre with a yakitori and sushi restaurant inside.

Then there’s the recently revamped Launceston Place, with the Pierre Koffmann-trained Ben Murphy leading the kitchen. Widely hailed as one of the country’s top up-and-coming chefs, Murphy has a clear vision for the restaurant’s future.

Enoteca Rossa

‘My aim is to put Kensington back on the map,’ says Murphy. ‘Although it is a fine dining restaurant, I want Launceston Place to be fun, with people leaving with a smile on their face and, most importantly, wanting to return.’ There’s no doubting that he is achieving his goal. But why Kensington — and why now?

‘I think Kensington is the new Mayfair,’ says food writer and broadcaster Jonathan Phang. He’s well placed to know. Phang began his career making desserts on the night shift at well-known Kensington spot Witchetty’s in the Eighties. With a career arc not dissimilar to mine, in fashion and then food, he has seen the impact of the city’s dining trends up close. ‘Londoners can’t afford those areas any more, and neither can the restaurants.’

For all its affluence, Kensington still retains a neighbourhood feel and a strong base of local customers. Unlike Mayfair or Knightsbridge, it has not been as aggressively developed, something that appeals to Murphy. ‘Launceston Place has such a great history, which is what made it so interesting. The building dates back to 1839,’ he says.

Maggie Jones’s

This connection to architecture also appeals to Dishoom co-founder Shamil Thakrar. ‘I’ve always admired the art deco Barkers building on Kensington High Street,’ he says of the location for Dishoom’s newest branch. ‘It’s absolutely beautiful. And Bombay is very rich in art deco architecture, second only to Miami.’

Ole & Steen has been drawn to the neighbourhood for similar reasons, opening its new branch in the old Midland Bank building, and saying, ‘We fit right in.’

As for Maggie Jones’s, it has weathered Kensington’s time in the darkness of London’s dining trends because it remains consistently good. ‘You can’t fake that level of intimacy and friendliness,’ says columnist India Knight. ‘Also, onion soup and fish pie by flattering candlelight: what’s not to love?

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