One Blue Sky

Elistano’s. The restaurant directly below my apartment. It’s popular, always busy and often lively with song – usually the strains of “Happy Birthday to You…” In the summer the frontage opens onto the pavement and the happy sound of chatter curls up through the air as invitingly as the scent of the food. Elistano’s is Italian, the menu rich with freshly cooked fare, and the bill surprisingly slender considering the location. Chelsea isn’t a generous place for the budget conscious.

 

Look to your left, two doors away, and you find another restaurant, Pellicano. It’s also Italian with open frontage and a loyal clientele. But unlike Elistano’s with its homely ‘this could easily be my own kitchen’ feel, Pellicano’s is silver-service with stiff linens and dapper, uniformed staff.

Beyond the secluded entrance is a cosy atmosphere of reverent dining – the menu is superb and the service attentive but discrete. It’s perfect for the dates to impress or to gather with well-behaved children for Sunday lunch.

Walk further on to the left, and you find a branch of Maison Blanc the popular patisserie chain created by Raymond Blanc. The front tables are always taken, and the queues on Sunday mornings are not for the faint-hearted. Pastries are baked on the premises and there’s a heart-melting selection of chocolates and sugar-bound treats on offer – gift wrapped for special occasions.

Step out of Maision Blanc, turn back to Elistano’s and a few doors ahead, you find the exclusive façade of Tom Aikens. On the inside, you’re treated to top-end, mile-high cuisine served with maximum efficiency. It’s easy to move around the airy space designed by Anouska Hempel – the moody textures are soothing on the eye and the staff blend in like chameleons. You can taste the tannin long before you’re handed the wine list, and the weighty menu reads likes a romantic sonnet. It’s well deserved. Tom’s cuisine is delightful, seduction on a plate. Forget the Michelin stars and various awards for excellence. The menu and the meal experience are beyond question. Word gets round without the need for accolades.

Around the corner from Tom Aikens is an off-shoot, Tom’s Kitchen, a busy and cheerful eaterie which opened a year ago. It’s on Cale Street, and if you take the long way round to get there, you’ll pass the Chelsea branch of myHotel on the corner of Elystan and Ixworth. It’s so discretely placed you barely notice. Stop in to sup at the coffee bar. The raised balcony looks out at the glass fronted gardens of Crown Lodge secluded appts (pictured below) reputed to be the most exclusive/expensive in west London.

1. Elistano
2. Pellicano
3. Maison Blanc
4. Tom Aikens
5. Tom’s Kitchen
6. myHotel Chelsea

Image credits: Hypnotic-Aubergine, Camies