Willett’s Restaurant

Last Updated on July 13, 2026

British Bistro dining – Willett’s at The Cadogan

4.8 out of 5.0 stars

‘Technical excellence with a bit of fun,’ explained our server about the approach at Willett’s, the recently refurbished bistro at The Cadogan, serving British cuisine with a side of British humour. Executive Chef Michael Turner, formerly of The Savoy Grill and the River Restaurant, presents his classical excellence, which shines through every course. Formerly The LaLee, Willett’s opened in April, and the restaurant has been transformed into a greenhouse-inspired, English pastoral ambience. From the heritage green and blue crockery, through the sage colours, and linen café curtains, there is a sense of peace and tranquillity.

Guests enter through an atmospheric and attractive bar, which was humming at lunchtime, walk through a narrow passageway alongside the open kitchen, and into two rooms that comprise Willett’s restaurant. Here, the atmosphere is more genteel except for David Bowie and The Beatles, amongst others, on the soundtrack. Considering the bucolic feel of the room, I did wonder whether some British classical music might be a more appropriate soundscape for this beautiful space. The lovely room has high corniced ceilings, an original fireplace with a large mirror above and a quartet of oversized vases with purple and green blooms on the mantelpiece. Gorgeous contemporary lighting adds visual interest, and alongside our table were three huge, aged steaks on a glass-covered trolley, one of which became part of our lunch. 

The cuisine at Willett’s is modern British, and guests can select from a well-priced lunch menu (£32 for two and £36 for three courses) or an à la carte menu. Sustainability, seasonality and zero waste are all part of the kitchen’s commitment. Throughout the meal, seasonality was evident through some fabulous use of summer fruits. The kitchen buys in entire Scottish ex-dairy animals, and nothing goes to waste.

From the cocktail menu, which featured several non-alcoholic options, we selected a Bloody Mary Martini, spicy with cherry tomato halves on a silver skewer. My Pimm’s Royale was the perfect refreshing start in a British bistro, and I loved the ice cubes – one encasing a strawberry and the other a ribbon of cucumber.

The fun began with the amuse-bouche. As it is customary in Britain to welcome guests with a cup of tea, Chef Turner has created a whimsical tea-and-biscuits introduction to his menu at Willett’s. Two teacups were placed on the table while a tomato consommé was poured from a teapot. Nestled on the saucers were lookalike brown, bourbon biscuits which turned out to be filled with caramelised onion. Utterly delightful and equally delicious, the consommé was both refreshingly chilled and evocative of summer, with tomatoes at their prime. I felt I had landed in a scene from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

We appreciated the guidance of our server, Adrian, who is one of the most engaging waiters I have encountered. When he suggested we begin the meal with sourdough crumpets, I was sceptical. To my mind, crumpets are for afternoon tea, but since we had begun with tea and biscuits, we followed the advice. Do not miss the crumpets as a starter course; it was exciting, delectable, and full of surprises. We were presented with the full set of five toppings, which was a light meal in itself. Our server advised us on what order we might eat them – a bit like a cheeseboard. Each serving was attractively presented with three mini sourdough crumpets –  toasted and buttered – along with a quenelle of topping. Dressed Dorset crab was a summertime treat, light, sweet, citrussy and juicy. Fabulous. Duck liver parfait was served with a cherry jam for summer. The parfait was rich and creamy; don’t miss this one. The cherry jam was tart and a perfect pairing with the rich duck. I would happily buy a few jars of this jam should Chef Turner ever decide to bottle it.

Penny Bun mushroom was topped with shavings of Wiltshire truffle. One of the quenelles was a verdant green and, curiously, was named Gentleman’s Relish. What a treat this was: the salty anchovies tempered with butter, parsley and chives, all combining into a fabulous mouthful on the warm crumpet. We kept the marmite butter for last. Neither my husband nor I are marmite fans, but this quenelle could convert sceptics.

Our second starter dish at Willett’s was Scottish langoustine cocktail, Marie Rose sauce, London lettuce, pink grapefruit. This was a lovely taste of summer, with a hint of nostalgia. Served in a glass coupe, four plump, shelled langoustines were dressed with a well-seasoned Marie Rose sauce alongside a fresh and crunchy salad of diced lettuce, avocado, and pink grapefruit.

The kitchen sent out another starter for us to taste, which brought the British seaside to our city table. Hand-dived Orkney scallop ‘scampi’, tartare sauce gave scampi a sophisticated polish. Beautifully presented in a scallop shell, on a pool of excellent tartare sauce sat a scallop, coated with Japanese breadcrumbs and deep-fried, topped with pipetted lemon gel and home-grown micro herbs. The Venus de Milo came to mind as I ate this sweet and tender scallop.

The main courses were full-flavoured, well-presented and delicious. I ordered grilled monkfish shank, sea vegetables, and peppercorn sauce. This was the first time I had eaten monkfish shank, which looked resplendent served on the bone, sat above a caramel-hued peppercorn sauce, which I would usually associate with a steak. The sauce was well-spiced, complementing, not overpowering, the flavour of the monkfish. The greenery of the sea vegetables added colour and additional flavours to this fine dish.

My husband had intended to order the 350g bone-in sirloin from the menu. Our delightful server persuaded him to try the 800g sirloin that was sitting in the meat trolley alongside our table. It was beautifully cooked, medium rare, and deeply flavoured, almost gamey. The meat is aged in-house between 45 and 75 days. The spice rub was perfectly judged, not overly salted, and sweetness was added by the roasted garlic cloves and shallots strewn over the steak.

We ordered two sides to accompany the main dishes. Triple-cooked chips were fat and Jenga-style, well-seasoned, crispy on the outside and fluffy within. Hipsi cabbage with smoked almonds was light with a generous topping of chopped smoked almonds. The kitchen sent out two further sides, including an Isle of Wight tomato salad – a multicoloured selection of heritage tomatoes, fresh, sweet and crisp in a light vinaigrette – along with Tenderstem broccoli perched on a green goddess dressing and blanketed with crispy shallots.

The sommelier introduced us to a choice of 137 wines by the glass from the extensive wine list. We put ourselves in his enthusiastic and deeply knowledgeable hands and, after enquiring about our likes and dislikes, he brought us two reds to taste. The first, Ferraton Cornas Les Eygats 2021, was deeply smooth with spicy undertones. The second was a surprise – London Cru Cabernet Noir 2019, from London’s first urban winery in Fulham. How lovely to drink a London wine in a British bistro with every course showcasing the best of British ingredients.

From the seven options on the dessert menu, we chose a lemon posset with raspberries and a chocolate mousse with English strawberries. Lemon posset is a quintessential British dessert that, not unlike the langoustine cocktail, might go in and out of fashion but is always delightful to eat. This one was light and lusciously lemony, not overly sweet. The tart flavour was accentuated by a quenelle of raspberry sorbet dusted with lemon zest. There was a slight crunchy texture which seemed to be a shortbread biscuit ground to the consistency of sand. A fabulous dessert.

The dark chocolate mousse with English strawberries was served in a glass coupe with a cascade of shaved chocolate. I found the mousse to be slightly dense and too sweet for my taste, although I am aware that mousse aficionados divide in their preference for a very light or denser texture. Our server had suggested that we try the rice pudding with apricot jam, but we demurred. When he brought a serving out just for us to try, once again, I was taken aback. This was perhaps the best rice pudding I have eaten – it was lightly bruléed, resulting in a caramelised and crunchy topping. The apricot jam added colour, texture and fruitiness and turned what I associate with cold weather, winter desserts, into a summer special.

Three and a half hours into the meal, I thought we might still be at the table when the dinner service began. Our sommelier appeared with a bottle of Hattingley Valley Entice dessert wine, an English wine made in the ice wine style. It was beautifully floral and fruity on the nose, and a perfect way to bring this vast and excellent lunch to a close. When the trolley of petit fours arrived, resplendent in tiers of colour and delightfully tempting, I had reached beyond my limit. Adrian kindly packed up the five petit fours into a little box, and we ate them in the evening at home. Each was gorgeous – a square of Rocky Road, a chocolate and orange bonbon, lavender chocolate fudge, a strawberry jelly with strawberry sugar, and, one last surprise, a passion fruit and mango caramel, in what looked like a plastic wrapper but turned out to be edible.

Our meal at Willett’s was excellent from start to finish. This is British cuisine served with top-quality seasonal ingredients, transformed through Chef Turner’s technical excellence and good British humour into the sort of food that made me very happy. The ambience of the dining room, plus the talent of the staff – from the server to the sommelier to the maitre d’ – all added to a relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. With its location close to Chelsea, Knightsbridge and Belgravia, and particularly within the five-star The Cadogan, Willett’s is a fine addition to the restaurant scene in this part of London.

Willett’s, 75 Sloane St, London SW1X 9SG

Tel: 020 80897070