Humble Chicken

Reimagined and expensively renovated in 2025, this Frith Street den is a high-gloss ode to Michelin dining. Following the refit, capacity has shrunk to just 13 guests with a staff-to-customer ratio usually reserved for the ultra-rich. There’s no awkward shuffling around on your bar chair here; the team will tuck you in at the solid cherry-wood counter, hand you a peppermint-infused refreshment towel and ask you to select your preferred sake vessel, while the omakase-style menu reflects the taught, obsessive energy emanating from the open kitchen. There are Orkney scallops, foie gras, and top-shelf tuna for fine-ingredient fiends, but also a humble steamed mussel riff with tiny slivers of avocado tucked inside in a way that’s far more striking to look at than it is to eat. The bread course – a representation of chef Angelo Sato’s Japanese/German heritage – is a whole picnic laid out with tremendous care: fresh shokupan, pickles, pig’s head terrine, apple butter, truffle butter and pigeon-liver parfait, though this is notable for its overall complexity rather than individual flavours. That said, we found the savoury finale – a feast of pigeon in six parts – showcased high-end cooking that couldn’t be bettered. After an outrageously fun and varied arrangement of petits fours, a bill of a few hundred pounds per head (at the very least) might bring you back to earth. One for the star hunters and the luxury-lovers.