Apricity
68 Duke Street
London
GB
W1K 6JU
Apricity sees veteran chef Chantelle Nicholson launching her first standalone restaurant on Duke Street, with an environmental approach unparalleled in Mayfair.
What's the draw?
Zero waste but make it fashion seems to be the prevailing ethos at Apricity where, during a Thursday lunch, you can watch a carousel of professionals scope out the space for private events and photoshoots. There is something particularly inviting about the room that chef patron Chantelle Nicholson has manifested from the remains of a fashion outlet. Looking to create a dining area that is as low carbon as the rest of Apricity, the paint has been scoured off the walls to create so that they range in colour from champagne pink to eggshell, while almost every facet of the design is reclaimed, from zeppelin-esque pendant lighting crafted from oyster shells to chairs made from coke bottles to a gorgeous rebar gantry freighted with potted plants. The room as much as the food makes the statement that this project is sustainable from tip to tail.
Nicholson worked for both Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing before buying out Tredwell’s from the latter in 2018 and winning a Michelin Green Star in 2021. Tredwell’s closed to make room for Apricity, which won the same award in 2023. The painstakingly seasonal, zero waste, fine dining restaurant seems to be the culmination of the Kiwi chef’s professional efforts and vision, and does a service to Mayfair’s renascent dining scene.
What to eat?
There are a variety of tasting menus on offer and, with a restaurant of Apricity’s conceptual heft, we’d be remiss not to recommend ordering one. That being said, we ignored our own rulemaking and went a la carte. Lunch kicks off with oat and fennel seed lavash made from unused bread, and a ‘wasted’ dip of carrot, cardamom and cumin gleaned from the offcuts of other recipes. The crackers are perfectly crisp and the dip scans as high-spec hummus. It all feels very intentional. This focus is carried across the entire menu, including an ultra-unctuous Korean-inspired side of mac ‘n’ roasted cauliflower kimcheese. Hyper-seasonality is on display in a starter of Isle of Skye hand-dived scallops with confit egg yolk and staff-foraged Allwoods new season garlic and three-cornered leek pesto. Butter-poached Cornish hake with cuttlefish and joy choi leans Indonesian with a sambal butter. We wait 15 minutes for the Esmeralda milk chocolate mousse to bake. When it arrives, slathered in miso and brown sugar custard, we’re happy we did. In fact, it feels like I’ve waited my whole life for this mousse.
What to drink?
From Ryan Chetiyawardana’s sorely missed Cub to newcomers like Viajante87, zero waste and sustainable cocktail bars have very much become a thing, and Apricity keeps up with the best of them. Don’t believe us? Have a sip of the Sproutini, which infuses 58&Co gin with sprout leaf, adds a dash of London Dry vermouth and a pickled sprout. It’s as good as any Gibson. Otherwise, we were very happy with an ice cold glass of chenin blanc / semillon blend from Wasted Wine Club. The company works with talented, independent winemakers to make sure that all of their crop goes to good use and in the case of their collab with South Africa’s Alex Macfarlane, it definitely does. The blend is packed with rich, toasty flavour that pairs perfectly with the spring seafood fare we choose from the menu.
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