Review: Novikov, Mayfair — Her Favourite Food & Travel

May 11

May 11 Review: Novikov, Mayfair

Style Points: 5/5
Price: £££
Overall: 3/5

Located in the heart of Mayfair, Novikov is prolific restaurateur Arkady Novikov's first foray into the London restaurant scene.

This spacious venue houses a lounge, an Italian restaurant and an Asian restaurant set in different rooms and both offering different menus. The interiors are designed to ultimate perfection and the high quality and presentation of the decor reflect the high end status that Novikov have.

As a result, at Novikov you receive great attention and care as you enter the door, meet with the reception/cloakroom and are shown to your seat. Each table is allocated a main waiter/waitress but others offer help throughout your dining experience.

Would I Want Seconds?

The menu here is extensive and it can take a considerable amount to time to choose your preferred selection of dishes.

To start, we got stuck into the cocktail list while chomping on warm salted edamame beans and an accompanying sauce. I ordered the Russian Doll, which came in an actual Russian doll - amazing!

Then we moved onto ordering the food and I choose the Novikov duck salad (£17), which was delicious as the duck was crispy and the pomegranates brought it to life. Additionally, the waitress tossed the salad at the table when it arrived making it seem even fresher.

My guest had the spicy seafood soup - Tom Yum Kun with prawn and Chilean seabass (£9) which was a hearty helping of Asian flavour. The fresh fish was flavoured with a spicy kick creating a lively dish full of depths of flavour.

For our mains, despite being told the black cod and Szechuan prawns are amazing I choose the Scottish salmon teriyaki (£14).

The salmon is served medium but I asked to have it medium well. It arrived a lovely pink and slightly blackened on the top which was probably a bit more on the well done than I had expected. However the fish was soft and a pleasure to eat.

I also ordered wok autumn vegetables (£11) on the side, but for my tastes there were a little bit slimy, however Chinese vegetables generally tend to be quite limp rather than crunchy. We were also were given a small bowl of soy to enjoy.

My guest chose the four pieces of Welsh lamb cutlets (£31) and kimchi fried rice (£8). The lamb cutlets were not as tender as they could have been but had great flavour and the rice was very tasty and not overly spicy. We were both unable to finish our meals (gosh what's happening to me these days) but were excited about the dessert menu. In fact, it's all my guest could speak about all day!

My guest decided to try the banana crumble served with salted caramel ice cream (£8) and when it came it did not disappoint, the banana was sweet and soft and the buttery crumble was crunchy. In fact there was a good balance of banana and crumble which doesn't always happen with fruit crumbles. The dish came with salted caramel and what seemed to be a flambéed slice of banana, which thinking about it was probably just garnish and not for eating!

Again, even at the finest of restaurants dairy free options are far and few between, so it's a scoop of mango sorbet for me and I can barely finish the single scoop. At this point I'm bursting at the seams and definitely ready to order my cab.

Could I Afford Seconds?

Novikov is synonymous with high end restaurant and is probably one of the most well due one in London and in the UK due to its celebrity clientele. But with status, comes a price tag meaning that Novikov is not for casual mid-week dining but must instead for is a one-off glamourous treat.

Overall: 3/5

Once you’ve chosen between the Italian and the Asian restaurant, the menu at each of these are extensive and I suggest studying and choosing beforehand unless spontaneity is your strong suit.

Also despite the price tag and the usual clientele, as well as the fact that they also have a private jet menu too, should you need dinner delivered straight to the runway the service, our service was hit and miss. This occurred to the extent that our wine was never delivered to us and I’m not quite sure if they charged us for them.

As a result Novikov is type of restaurant you would go to once and you would go for the experience of it rather than anything else.