Gazelle - Removed from website August 2021 (closed) - Mayfair, London

For years, Tony Conigliaro has been chief consigliere to London's bar scene - reinventing the cocktail wheel whilst offering sage advice to budding talents. His skilful, innovative drinks-making has taken him from 69 Colebrooke Row to the Zetter Townhouse to Bar Termini to Untitled. The former is where he first collaborated with Rob Roy Cameron - a Botswana-born chef who cut his teeth under Ferran Adria in the kitchens of El Bulli. However, where Cameron drilled down into Japanese cuisine in the distinctly Dalstonian cocktail bar, here he has created something both much more international and much more Mayfair. 

Situated on Albemarle Street which is quickly becoming a foodie destination in its own right, Gazelle is spread over three storeys with a reception area on the ground and a lift that swoops you up to the restaurant on the first floor and the standalone cocktail bar on the second.  The design mines the 1980s with aplomb. The walls pop in a rainbow of primary colours. Slick white marble tables are hemmed in by swooping red velvet chairs. Shiny brass pendant lighting and chandeliers illuminate swatches of exposed brick. In the cocktail bar upstairs darker, sultrier colours dominate with sensual photography and natural light emerging through glass block windows. It's the perfect situation to enjoy Tony's mixology. A dirty lemon martini was the perfect amalgamation of two seemingly distinct cocktails, however the champagne Red Amber champagne cocktail won primacy as the drink du jour. 

Plates are meant to be shared and there's no differentiation between starters and mains, however the dishes mentioned earlier in the menu are generally smaller. Of everything sampled, standout dishes included squid julienned so that it resembled tagliatelle, given a saline savour from cured guanciale and an earthy heft from fresh girolles. A fillet of monkfish was mesmerising to look at, served in a vivid emerald sauce of monkfish and burnt seeds. Beef slow-cooked and coated in a violet powder of juniper and salted plum was equally visually arresting, while a dessert of chocolate passion fruit and summer savoury was beyond sumptuous. Whilst cocktails pair very well with the gastronomy, there's a concise wine list with a number of natural selections that's worth a look. 

Gazelle looks poised to keep Mayfair palates tantalised for years to come. Well worth a stop whether it's for a beverage or a meal.