Hawksmoor Guildhall, London

For a long time, Hawksmoor has been the leader of the pack when it comes to big beefy dishes. The Guildhall restaurant has topped a thousand listicles, coming out in pole position for both best steak in London and best breakfast - which is a full on glut of every meat imaginable. But when it comes to things like burgers, you often hear people asking "why would you get a burger at Hawksmoor?" This is the hallmark of the uninformed diner. Just because a restaurant excels at one form of cooking does not preclude it from being equally excellent at another. We expect that there will be a similar reaction from some sectors now Hawksmoor Guildhall has extended its seafood options. You should disregard them. 

Mitch Tonks is Britain's undersung king of seafood and has supervised the menus at Hawksmoor's Knightsbridge and Mayfair outlets. Drawing on a wealth of experience in his Devon restaurants (which has led him to write two cookery books), he's collaborated with Hawksmoor's head chefs to create some iconic new dishes. On a recent visit we descended the dark wooden staircase and took our handsome oxblood leather seats in the dining room, which seems to stretch on forever, its dark oaken wall panelling occasionally punctuated by a stained glass window.  

After a pair of Champagne Charlies, we were excited to try some of the new flavours on the menu. Octopus carpaccio was a delight to look at, its razor thin slices fanned out along the plate like an open artichoke, topped with fresh tomato, garlic and basil. Hawksmoor is also showcasing some seasonal dishes, and the steamed asparagus was exceptional. Topped with a hollandaise which contained glistening gobbets of duck egg, it was everything that you want from an otherwise unassuming dish.  

Moving on to the mains, we had a side order of lobster mac and cheese with a golden gratinated crust as well as a royal bream roast cooked in paper garlic, rosemary and chilli. After all of the earlier cant, we felt we would be remiss not trying at least a little beef, so split a small fillet steak with béarnaise, which was as delicious as ever. The evening came to a close with peanut butter shortbread encasing a molten peanut butter and caramel centre, crowned with an orb of peanut butter gelato. 

Hawksmoor is at the top of their game but continue to innovate. It was great to taste this taking place at one of their most popular locations. 

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