Odette's

Address: 130 Regent's Park Road, London, NW1 8XL, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7586 8569
Website: view Odette's website
Door: Make reservation
Style: Restaurant bar
Food: Set menu

Review

This neighbourhood restaurant has been in operation since the late '70s, but was recently taken over by celebrated Welsh chef Bryn Williams, who shot to fame when he was chosen to cook for the Queen's 80th birthday celebrations. Situated in the picture-perfect setting of Primrose Hill (home to Kate Moss, Jude Law and other UK 'brat-pack' 'slebs) this small venue sits in a mid-Victorian terrace of upscale cafes and shops selling designer clothes and luxury goods.

The bar is on the lower ground floor - go down the staircase immediately upon entering. If you are eating you'll need a reservation but not if you're just drinking. What awaits is a dark, candlelit, cosy space, with thick carpet underfoot, velour-covered furnishings and a lounge-cool soundtrack.

A short list of classic cocktails (cringe at the description of a Gin Martini as a 'Gintini') are made from a small L-shaped bar. Drinks are decent enough, if not exemplary. In fact, the service was surprisingly casual for such an establishment, with drinks passed over the bar, rather than brought to our table, and none of the touches that you'd tend to associate with drinks that cost about a tenner, such as napkins (cotton or paper).