The chef in charge of this restaurant, has a 3 star Michelin restaurant in Spain just outside Bilbao. The food was delicious and the staff really friendly and the service of excellent. The steak was out of this world. Would highly recommend.
I’ve been meaning to go to Eneko at One Aldwych for a while now and having missed meeting chef Eneko Atxa (of Azurmendi, #38 in this year’s World’s Best Restaurants) last Summer, I vowed to visit before Autumn started. Having not read the menu before going, I was in a big mood to be surprised. Tapas, after all, is a thing I like and know a lot about.
The Food Connoisseur
+4.5
Typing the word Eneko into the search engine links you to a Wikipedia page, where it says Eneko is a Basque masculine given name meaning my little dear. The Eneko I’m writing about is, of course, the acclaimed three Michelin star chef Eneko Axto. His restaurant Azrmendi is currently placed at No 16 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Setting a high bar for my 2017 dining expectations, dinner for two at Eneko, Basque chef Eneko Atxa’s One Aldwych outpost, was a delicious experience of sophisticated flavour and elegant display. The Txerri Boda Pork Festival starter (chorizo on milk bread, glazed sweetbread, and suckling pig tempura, £13) served in a lidded wooden box was a thoughtfully complete mini feast in itself. Flavours were subtle but deep. Textures, yieldingly tender. An equally tasty starter course but one far more dramatic in presentation was the Memories of the Bay of Biscay (oyster, crab, and wild prawn tartare, £15), brought to table amid wafts of dry ice haze.
I absolutely adore Aldwych and Covent Garden. I’ve never really worked out exactly where the line is drawn and defined between the two areas, but I’ve always said if I decided to move on from Chelsea, it would be to Aldwych – that area immediately just passed St Clement Danes RAF Church. It’s the real central London, directly in the centre of north, south, east and west – yet no matter how busy it gets (apart from the cars) you never really feel it. And so when I heard about Eneko, perched on the corner in my favourite part of London and serving one of my favourite styles of cuisine – I got a little excited.
One of my favourite London hotels, One Aldwych manages to combine grandeur with boutique hotel charm. In addition to the much loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory afternoon tea, their two restaurants have always been a good option for meeting friends for a meal. I’ve never eaten badly at One Aldwych, though the old downstairs restaurant was more functional than exceptional. All that is set to change with the newly opened Eneko, a restaurant with a Basque pedigree from Eneko Atxa , the chef at Azurmendi, a three Michelin-starred restaurant in Bilbao.
Basque cuisine already exists in London, but has never had such an intense assault on raising its profile. Whilst a couple of new spots have popped up, Eneko appears to be the one all are pinning their hopes on. Squid ribbons and courgette broth. Eneko Atxa, who has the pleasure of being at the helm of three Michelin star Azurmendi Bilbao, brings his traditional Basque country cuisine to One Aldwych Hotel. Dangerously close to ME London with its STK, Radio Rooftop and Cucina Asellina, having been to two of the three, I don’t think Eneko will have a problem establishing itself as the go to hotel restaurant on this Aldwych corner.
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Basque cuisine already exists in London, but has never had such an intense assault on raising its profile. Whilst a couple of new spots have popped up, Eneko appears to be the one all are pinning their hopes on.
Eneko Atxa, who has the pleasure of being at the helm of three Michelin star Azurmendi Bilbao, brings his traditional Basque country cuisine to One Aldwych Hotel. Dangerously close to ME London with its STK, Radio Rooftop and Cucina Asellina, having been to two of the three, I don’t think Eneko will have a problem establishing itself as the go to hotel restaurant on this Aldwych corner.
On entering its separate entrance, you are greeted by a staircase bringing you to the reception desk and bar area. Follow another staircase down to the lower ground floor, you are greeted by a large sweeping room with booths, high ceilings around the edge and what feels like the floating bar above. This is very reminiscent of the former Isola restaurant in Knightsbridge.
The staff are well trained and the service is on the formal side. This is a fine dining restaurant but with traditional food. Not sure if the service style would be called authentic in the Basque region, but to the discerning diner who will be able to afford this menu it is probably more welcome.
The food was interesting. There were some dishes which certainly spoke of Basque wonders, some with tricks (steam created by oxide nitrogen), but all had a common thread of being thoroughly enjoyable even at the trial stage when we dined.
A special occasion type of place simply because of the price. Definitely worth treating your other half or parents. Definitely setting the bar for Basque dining.
I'm rather partial to Basque cuisine, but it had been a while since I'd visited a Basque restaurant, especially as there aren't very many in London. So I was excited to try out the newly opened Eneko, at the One Aldwych hotel, where I stayed over my birthday weekend back in April. I took Edd along with me so we could have a catch up and 'last supper' before my move to Australia next week, and he declared it the best meal he's had! Seeing as he'd just returned from San Sebastian, I'd say this was pretty good going...
London is becoming the foodie place to be. That title currently belongs to San Sebastián. As the food capital of Europe, if not the world, San Sebastián and the Basque region ( with Bilbao) is home to the most three Michelin starred restaurants in the world. This city first came to my eyes during a series of Masterchef UK. The finalists were whisked away to northern Spain and were shown what quality was. This type of quality was about using nature and fresh ingredients to produce some exquisite dishes.
![5]( "Recensione")
I cannot explain how wonderful our experience was here! I have a gluten and dairy allergy. They were one of only 3 places I found in London that could accommodate both allergies. They made sure I had everything my family had and I wasn’t shorted anything. The service was incredible. The food….was incredible! We went to the Max Hatter tea the day before and it was awful for me. No scones, no substitutes. They gave me a vegan menu instead of just dairy free. None of these mixups happened here. I got to try my first scone and it was DELICIOUS! The pineapple spread that comes with the scones is out of this world. Try it even if you don’t think you like pineapples. It was one of the favorite things I had there 😅 Everything was honestly out of this world. I don’t even care for salmon either and the salmon was incredible. They offered us seconds as well before they brought out the next course. They kept the tea flowing. I had a different idea of what we’d experience based on pictures (I thought we’d have really crazy drinks and food with like smoking hot chocolate etc) but this was still an absolute delight. I am so grateful that my dietary needs were able to be accommodated with no issues or mix ups and I got exactly the same amount of food and type of food as everyone else. Highly recommend!!
We went here for the Gluten Free tea experience. Pio our server was very nice and helpful and made sure our daughter had a wonderful gluten free birthday experience. The maitre'd was also very generous and ensured we had a wonderful time.
My only slight criticism is that if you are expecting whimsy and fun related to Charlie & the Chocolate Factory it really only comes through in the food. The decor and ambiance is classy, which is nice but a bit different from what we expected.
Would definitely recommend the whole experience especially for those who are gluten free.
Great place to go if you're gluten free; really tasty sandwiches, scones (that actually taste like scones and have the right texture!) and beautiful desserts. All the staff were so helpful and friendly; I was given a gf chocolate cake for my birthday and they put lots of scones in a box for me to take away without me even asking!
I thought there would be more décor connecting this place to the theme…not quite as “kiddy” as I thought. Food wasn’t really child friendly on the children’s menu.
But, service was impeccable- they brought you whatever you wanted and didn’t charge extra (unless it was alcohol). Desserts were the best part!
Took my wife for a birthday treat, it was a nice experience but I think kids would enjoy it more. So the food was okay, savoury side of it was very average. Sandwiches were decent but again not my choice. The sweet which is the main event was very nice and fun to eat. Service was amazing, me and my wife only shared 1 Afternoon Tea between us which was quite filling. Servers offered us extra Scones (scones were amazing) and desserts which was a nice touch. You can easily share 1 between two people btw and save some money. You can order coffee and teas which is nice too.
Had an afternoon tea with champagne and I have to say it was fabulous. The food was both tasty and well presented. Our waiter was extremely knowledgeable of all the menu items and was so attentive to our needs that our teas were refilled before we even realised that we needed it refilled.
This was a fun High Tea for our family. We have 4 young children and they all enjoyed it. Small portions arrive, but you can refill on both tea and the main food. The desserts were a hit, including the cotton candy, which our two youngest had not had before. Scones were amazing, not what you typically receive at like a coffee shop. Would suggest as a nice afternoon lunch.
Really lovely birthday experience! The food was very tasty and the vegetarian menu also had lots of offer and replicated the other menu very well. I found all of the sweet treats very tasty too, I felt like the theme was lost a bit in the menu and it was more apparent in the decorations though.
Superb cakes, tea and champagne at the Charlie and the chocolate factory afternoon tea. Our waiter Pio was outstanding and kept the kids entertained as well as brought us seconds on lots of the sandwiches and cakes. Definitely recommend for any Roald Dahl (and cake) fans.
![4]( "Recensione")
Please note: After speaking with Finbarr, the food and beverage manager at One Aldwych, I've decided to change this rating from 3-stars to 4-stars. Fin was extremely nice and apologetic and he has said there will be lots of improvements to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory afternoon tea in the next 3 months.
There are several reasons for the low 3-star review: There were neither raisins nor fudge in the scones, there was nothing fabulous about the candy floss, two of the sandwiches used the same bread, and the sweet cakes weren't special at all. Only one cake was chocolatey despite this being a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory afternoon tea. The chefs really need to work on making better cakes and sweet offerings and the hotel needs to decorate the room in a tasteful way but with a fun twist to give it more atmosphere. Also, I've seen a chocolate fountain in some photos but we didn't see one. It would have been nice to dip some fruit or fudge in a fountain of melted chocolate.
We also ordered two bottles of water, one sparkling and one still, and as I was asking whether they were 250ml or much larger bottles, the waiter ignored me, walked away, grabbed the bottles and came back to plonk them on the table. We really didn't want such large bottles because we were drinking so much tea. In the end, my husband hardly touched his water and I forced as much as I could down so as not to waste it. We think 250ml bottles should be offered instead when people are drinking tea or champagne. The waiter asked us whether we wanted to take the bottles with us when we were leaving but we didn't want to carry big glass bottles around London and on the underground.
We also didn't think there were enough staff to manage such a busy coronation day. The staff were all very nice but rushed off their feet.The waiter also shoved our belongings out of the way when he placed our food on the table because he was in such a hurry to do everything. However, the service from the maître d' who greeted us and ran up and down the stairs all day was excellent. We've been to Claridges in London and their afternoon tea was exceptional. Unfortunately, this was a bit disappointing.The Rosewood London also offers an afternoon tea that looks incredibly creative and now I wish we'd eaten there instead.
Make a reservation
Order online
Find the best restaurant in London
An error has occurred! Please try again in a few minutes