Still Cool Britannia
“Park Lane is synonymous with worldly riches and fashionable life. Down its entire extent, from where it joins Oxford Street to the point at which it reaches Hamilton Place, great houses jostle each other in bewildering profusion on its eastern side, while on the west lies the Park with its mass of verdure, and, during the season, its kaleidoscopic ever shifting glow of brilliant colour.” Edwin Beresford Chancellor, The Private Palaces of London Past and Present, 1908
The Metropolitan Hotel and The Met Bar opened on Old Park Lane, which is parallel with Hamilton Place, just as Tony and Cherie Blair were entering No.10 Downing Street. Both Mets were an instant hit with celebrities. The bar closed in 2018; the hotel is still going strong. So is Nobu’s first European outpost on the first floor via its own discreet street entrance. The parent London Nobu has been joined by offspring restaurants and hotels in Portman Square and Shoreditch. There are 55 restaurants and 36 hotels in the group internationally now from Dallas to Dubai, San Diego to San Sebastián.
In 1987 Chef Nobu Matsuhisa opened his first restaurant in Beverly Hills. His Japanese Peruvian fusion food reflects his place of birth and place of training. Actor Robert de Niro soon joined him as business partner and together they embarked on world domination. The phrase “signature dish” might as well have been invented for Nobu as every other course is famous.
“I’ve got the best table in the house for you,” beckons the front of house at Nobu Park Lane. Always. The corner window table, the dining equivalent of the C suite. A personalised card with the traditional greeting “Irasshaimase” stands next to the crisply folded linen napkins. The direct view of Hyde Park is framed by the Four Seasons on the left and The Hilton on the right, that comforting proximity of five star luxury all around. The interior is a reminder that nobody ever did minimalism better than the Japanese. Park Lane is still synonymous with worldly riches and fashionable life.
