What's the draw
It's a members' club, but not as you know it: this brand-spanking-new subterranean club welcomes in not just the 'high-net-worth individuals' of The Ned or the creatives of Soho House, but everyone in between, too. As well as a big focus on music and entertainment (we are in Theatreland, after all), food and drink has been put front of mind thanks to contributions from chef Thomas Sellers, in a consulting role, and a bar and food programme that's spared no expense.
What to drink
Cocktails here are very good, and if you consider the drinks list – essentially classic cocktails given a twist – has been crafted by Mr Lyan's drinks agency, that's probably not a surprise in the slightest. Bradley's Margarita takes Patrón Reposado and London importer Quiquiriqui's mezcal and adds a punch of sherbet, lime and apricot – bitter on the palate but with a hard-candy sweetness to finish. The buttery House Old Fashioned mixes bourbon and cognac with maple syrup, pecan and a touch of lapsang souchong tea. Wine-wise, we were more than at home with a classic California chardonnay from the Russian River Valley producer Walter Hansel – all almond, vanilla and nectarine, and dangerously easy to drink.
What to eat
The menu here is short and sharp, with likeable-sounding items given haute-cuisine flourishes thanks to plating and ingredients. Like simple steak tartare, iron-y chunks of butter-soft aged beef with the gentle sting and slap of dijon mustard that follows it, spruced up with edible flowers and micro-herbs. Or a prawn and sea bass ceviche, lazily curing in acerbic, piney tiger's milk and topped with crisp radish. For mains, pan-roasted hake is excellent, but the star is the belted galloway sirloin, served as two doorstop slabs on their sides to expose its textbook marbling and precision medium-rarity, with 'potato terrine' (which ends up somewhere between pommes pavés and fondant potato) and an unctuous, Marmite-y pan reduction. It's simple, incredibly effective, and just as at home in The Court's cozy lounge, watching a master pianist belt out an impromptu cover version of 'Heaven is a Place On Earth' (our request, obviously) as it would be as the eighth course of a tasting menu in Copenhagen.
Annual membership: £600; mains from £15; wine from £28 by the bottle. 9 Kingly Street, W1B 5PH; thecourt.co.uk
