Autumn on a Plate - Seasonal Highlights for Your Guests
- lisahylton2
- 15 minutes ago
- 4 min read
As the leaves turn and a crisp air envelops London’s streets, the culinary world shifts into a richer palette. From stately dining rooms to cosy gastropubs, the capital offers a spectrum of autumnal experiences for your guests.
Timeless Traditions
Begin with Wiltons in St. James’s, a venerable institution where game season arrives with ceremonial gravitas.
Here, grouse is roasted with rashers of bacon, served with bread sauce and game chips — a scene of ritual and refined homage to centuries of British dining.
Then, cross over to Corrigan’s Mayfair. Encapsulating Richard’s love of wild game and fish (whether hunted, caught, or foraged), the restaurant is known for its timeless cooking in its purest form——paired only with the freshest seasonal ingredients sourced from trusted British producers, featuring classics such as the Royal Shellfish Cocktail; Roast Aylesbury Duck Breast with Hazelnuts and Rainbow Chard and Wild Turbot with Smoked Bone Marrow Agnolotti.
Not far from either, Quo Vadis marks the season with elegance. Grouse returns triumphantly, plated with gamely crisp strawberries, redcurrant jelly, and bread sauce. Seasonal touches like stone fruit purées and nutty autumn salads enliven the ensemble — all served within a charming Soho dining room animated by century-old glamour.
Gastropub Excellence
In Fulham, The Harwood Arms, London’s only Michelin-starred gastropub blends the comfort of rustic warmth with refined technique. Expect Berkshire fallow deer with smoked beetroot and marrow, or slow-cooked deer shoulder wrapped in bacon, offset with winter greens and roast potatoes. Its atmospheric hearth-side room makes it a quintessential autumn refuge.
Similarly attuned to tradition but with a soulful edge is The Jugged Hare, near the Barbican. Throughout the season, it honours Yorkshire red grouse in dishes like liver pâté on toast, Savoy cabbage with bacon, dense game chips, and a rich red wine jus — food that warms the spirit as much as the body.
Modern Mastery
Venture to Kensington and discover Kitchen W8, where game is elevated to art. From mid-August, Chef Mark Kempson presents beautifully roasted whole Yorkshire grouse with accompaniments like smoked celeriac, stuffed cabbage, damson jus, and rich liver and bacon — each element a testament to culinary precision and seasonal celebration.
Kitchen W8 celebrates the season with culinary precision. © Tolga Yilmaz
Equally contemporary is Trinity in Clapham, where Chef Adam Byatt renders less common game — snipe, woodcock — with meticulous attention to texture and flavor. Autumn dine here is less about tradition and more about refinement, each bite a dialogue between wild protein and thoughtful technique.
Refined Innovation
For something unexpected, step into Kanishka in Mayfair. From 12 August, Chef Ashok Kumar introduces game-season specials fused with South Asian flair: duck breast batak salan with rhubarb,chilli, rabbit kachori, and succulent venison, layered with spices and bold, inventive zest.
The Game Bird at The Stafford, also in St. James’s, treads the line between refined and playful. Its autumnal menus feel effortless: roast pigeon with turnip and barley risotto, for instance, is inventive without pretension—a fitting counterpoint to more technically driven venues.
Hotel Elegance
Autumn also renews itself at some of London’s finest hotel dining rooms. Brooklands by Claude Bosi, at The Peninsula Belgravia, reopens with an entirely new autumn menu. Bosi’s seasonal sensibility transforms game into experiences rather than dishes.
Not to be outdone, Michael Caines at The Stafford offers guests a signature seasonal menu blending Games’ traditions with Caines’s crystalline finesse — a definitive way to welcome autumn in the capital. Enjoy pan roasted duck liver. chicory, golden raisins, candied walnuts, orange confit, Gewurztraminer sauce.
Hidden Gems & Gentle Discovery
Not every exceptional autumnal game dish roars; some whisper. Fallow offers an understated, elegant approach: lesser-known meats, seasonal sides, quietly rich flavour profiles — a gentle invitation to exploration.
Hidden in St. James’s and infinitely refined, 45 Jermyn Street marks game with precision and discretion — perhaps a teal tartlet here, a venison loin there — always beautifully balanced and elegantly presented.
Rules, the venerable Mayfair institution, warms autumn with classic game and history: pheasant à la crème, saddle of venison, all served within walls echoing tradition and convivial warmth.
Since 1989, Boisdale of Belgravia has been one of London’s most distinctive restaurants. Housed in a Georgian townhouse, guests can savour a cigar on the heated terrace, slip into the secret Negroni Bar or host a gathering in one of the elegant private dining rooms.
The restaurant proudly champions Scottish cuisine, from Highland beef and wild game to Hebridean shellfish and British classics, paired with award-winning whisky and wine lists.
For visitors seeking the taste of autumn, gamely and gracefully, these restaurants are the best way into the heart of London’s most evocative season.
