Lanes of London, Mayfair

Lanes of London – Park Lane’s Relaxed Bistro:

Park Lane isn’t noted for well priced places to eat. Home to many of London’s finest hotels, for the most part those who chose to dine there do so in the knowledge that it won’t be a budget affair. So I was curious when I was invited to review Lanes of London.

The Brasserie is pleasantly designed, with a mixture of seating including the comfy banquettes where we chose to settle. And the menu is a mixture of small plates and main courses with what seems like a truly international collection of dishes. While I was busy trying to work out what to eat my companion was chatting happily to our waiter. In the end we picked a number of dishes to share so we could explore the diverse menu

If I have any criticism, it is that the menu is eclectic and it’s quite hard to decide what to eat.  The mixture of different cuisines and different sizes of dishes makes for something of a pot pourri.  And, by presenting the small dishes by price, somehow it seems even more complicated.  Fatoush salad at £5 for a generous ‘small plate’ is excellent value and very tasty

And probably the lamb koftas (£7 for a plateful) were the right thing to order alongside that

But of course we both wanted beef brisket sliders with roasted bone marrow, horseradish cream (£8)

And it would have been hard not to try the crispy soft shell crab, fennel, chilli and apple (£8.00).  

And who wouldn’t want Masala Fries.

So as you can see we’ve now been to the USA, Japan, Morocco and India, in five small plates. And whether they really made a good tasting menu I’m not entirely sure. Of course, had we been ordering sensibly we might have done better by picking big plates (rather more conventional bistro fare), or by making an effort to pick dishes from a similar cuisine. But that wouldn’t have been nearly so much fun.

To finish the meal we shared a chocolate tart – a never fails dessert.

My impression of Lanes of London? It’s a fun place that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The food is very good and suprisingly good value for this part of town. I could see Lanes of London being a great venue for a girls night out or for a family gathering, because it’s friendly and relaxed. And there’s a choice of so many different cuisines that no one could be unhappy.

The menu we ate from is available all day, while there is a special brunch menu and of course given the location, an afternoon tea.

Lanes of London
140 Park Lane, London
W1K 7AA
Telephone:
+44 (0)20 7647 5664