Last Updated on April 4, 2025
The City’s Best Kept Michelin Star Secret Still Shines Bright
5.0 out of 5.0 starsAngler restaurant is an old favourite. In the heart of the City of London, on the top floor of South Place Hotel, it’s a charming and tranquil space, complemented by a rather fabulous semi-outdoor terrace where you can enjoy a pre or post-dinner drink. As the name suggests, it has a strong pescatarian bias and an emphasis on seasonal ingredients and modern British cooking techniques. The dishes are beautifully presented and focus on fresh, high-quality produce that highlights the ingredients.
The current Head Chef at the Michelin-starred Angler restaurant in London’s South Place Hotel is Craig Johnston, who came to fame in 2017 when he competed in MasterChef: the Professionals and became the youngest-ever winner at the age of just 21. He then joined Marcus Wareing at the Michelin-starred restaurant Marcus at the Berkeley hotel, where he worked his way up to head chef and held the role for two years until the restaurant closed at the end of 2023. Johnston joined as Head Chef in 2024, taking over from Gary Foulkes, who left Angler to join Cornus in Belgravia .
The most obvious sign of success for Johnston and Angler was that the restaurant retained its Michelin star in 2025. I was curious what, if anything, had changed. We went along one Saturday evening to check it out and were delighted to find that nothing was lost, though there were a few notable additions.
Angler is the kind of restaurant where a tasting menu comes into its own – and, while there’s an option for eight courses at £155, we agreed that five courses (£85) would be a better choice for us. As with many tasting menus, there are little extras throughout the meal, which starts with a selection of amuse-bouches and ends with petit fours.
A pretty cornetto of Tunworth cheese laced with pickled wanuts and topped with candied walnuts kicked off the meal nicely and was a great foil for the glass of fizz we were enjoying.
My favourite was a delicate tapioca cracker with seaweed, topped with a potato crisp emulsion, an unusual, light morsel with an Asian influence. My companion particularly liked the crispy Iberian pig’s head with barbecued apple ketchup, smoked bacon and tarragon; it was full of umami and a deeply complex, if tiny, morsel.
The third amuse bouche, a pretty Montgomery Cheddar and caramelised onion tart, was picture perfect, with a delightfully crisp pastry shell housing the rich filling.
Potato and polenta sourdough came with nutty, light, whipped brown butter – delicious, but we virtuously tried our best to avoid eating too much, knowing there was more to come!
Our wines were helpfully paired for us by the Restaurant Manager, Mladen Mladenov, who told us he’d joined Angler via Elystan Street, having worked with Craig Johnston at Marcus. For our first course, we enjoyed a glass of 2023 Riesling Kabinett, Purist, Alex Pauly, from Mosel, Germany. Grapefruity, with well-balanced acidity, this was an austere mouthful, not in the least peachy, which paired beautifully with the spectacular tuna tartare with ginger dressing, toasted sesame and pepper puree. With immaculate spicing this was a delicious and refreshing start to the meal.
Next, a 2022 St Aubin, Sylvain Langoureau from Burgundy in France to pair with the native lobster ravioli. I loved this dish with the rich and fragrant spiced lobster bisque offsetting the ravioli, which sat on a bed of braised fennel. The perfectly al-dente pasta was stuffed with chunks of tender and delicate lobster, making a thoroughly decadent dish. The elegant, carefully oaked Burgundy, with characteristic white flower and fruit notes and good minerality was the perfect foil.
Newlyn cod came with caramelised celeriac puree, salt-baked celeriac, stuffed chicken wing, crispy fried lovage and a rich golden chicken butter sauce.
This is obviously not a pescatarian dish, but we were assured that if a guest is hoping for a pescatarian tasting menu, that is accommodated by swapping this dish for one of the a la carte options.
The cod was perfectly cooked, firm but flakey and buttery and the paired wine, a 2022 Viognier Gramercy Cellars from Washington State USA that was an excellent match. Fresh, clean and aromatic, it paired nicely with the rich, buttery chicken and fish, without overwhelming the celeriac and lovage.
We both loved the palate cleanser pre-dessert of blood orange ice with elderflower and champagne, laced with morsels of popping candy.
For dessert, the Pecan parfait was nutty perfection, with a delicious mouthful of Comice pear, a light nutty mousse and a fresh dollop of mascarpone on a pecan nut crumble.
Paired with a glass of honeyed Tokaji Edis Szamorodni, Disznókó Dorgó, we were in dessert heaven.
There was more to come in the form of a tiny 70% chocolate crémeux from the eight-course menu, with milk chocolate nougat and salted caramel cream
And finally, a trio of petit fours, pictured here the pine nut Financier, but no less impressive, toasted coconut and Thai tea and yuzu with white chocolate. Perfect with coffee before we made our way home.
It’s no surprise that Angler has kept its star. We love the introduction of a few more carnivorous options to the menu, while the restaurant does stay true to its pescatarian theme. Everything is as it should be – and more. Many thanks to Craig Johnson and Mladen Mladenov for an evening of excellent food and exemplary service.
Angler Restaurant
South Place Hotel,
3 South Place
London EC2M 2AF
tel:020 3215 1260
Leave a Reply