The Ivy Café

The Ivy – long a louche favourite of London’s bold-faced glitterati, society mavens and pap-shy stars who love the privacy offered by its opaque stained glass windows – has opened an outpost in Marylebone.
Taking over the former space vacated by The Union Café, the small café has been designed by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio almost like a diffusion line in the sense that the DNA of the Soho flagship skates just below the surface: there is the same chummy clubby Art Deco feel thanks to the row of pendant light running down the length of the narrow room, vintage red leather banquettes, cartoon portraits, and geometric marble floor tiles.
The all-day menus are overseen by head chef Sean Burbidge (ex-Pétrus) and cover every gastronomic pit-stop from breakfast (and weekend brunch) through to cream tea and post-prandial cocktails.
On offer is a comprehensive blend of mod-English and Italian- and French-lite – shepherd’s pie, scones and baked rigatoni Provencal mixing it up with ham hock fricassee, Mallaig kipper with parsley butter, and a chocolate bombe drenched with hot salted caramel sauce.
Meanwhile, the antique pewter top bar is a perfect perch for people watching while sipping a London Spritz infused with Earl Grey gin and prosecco, or a lethal elderflower vodka mixed with cucumber and cider sparkle.
INFORMATION
Website
ADDRESS
96 Marylebone Lane
London W1U 2QA
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.
-
Ballman Khaplova creates a light-filled artist’s studio in upstate New York
This modest artist’s studio provides a creative with an atelier and office in the grounds of an old farmhouse, embedding her practice in the surrounding landscape
-
Italy’s most famous recipe book gets a revamp for its latest edition
‘Il Cucchiaio d'Argento’, or ‘The Silver Spoon’, is Italy's best-known recipe book: artist Olimpia Zagnoli and cultural design studio Bunker collaborated on a new look for its latest edition
-
Messika marks 20 years with a high jewellery collection inspired by Namibia
The Terres d’Instinct high jewellery collection, unveiled at Paris Fashion Week, is a riot of colour and bold forms
-
Refreshed China Tang at The Dorchester remains a love letter to 1930s Shanghai
Twenty years since it first opened, the beloved Cantonese restaurant in London has been subtly reinvigorated, pairing Haipai style with cosmopolitan decadence for milestones yet to come
-
A sculptural reimagining of hospitality takes over the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
The Mayfair Design District has curated a tactile exploration of nature and form across the quietly sumptuous London hotel
-
Labombe by Trivet reinvents an unforgettable Cool Britannia hangout
Is London hospitality about to hit peak 1990s revival? The Como Metropolitan has unveiled a new dining room on the site of the former Met Bar
-
Wallpaper* checks in at the wonderfully unfussy Swan Inn, Fittleworth
As the night’s draw in, this cosy English inn deep in the Sussex countryside beckons
-
The world’s largest capsule hotel opens in the heart of London
With nearly 1,000 capsules across five floors, Zedwell Capsule Hotel Piccadilly Circus promise cocoon-like calm above the city’s loudest square
-
Ministry of Sound embraces theatrical brutalism with its new members’ bar
Studio A-nrd dresses the south London superclub’s new No Velvet Rope Society in tactile layers and stark details
-
St. John and the London Book Review’s new café makes for a delicious pairing
St John’s new bookshop-based café will offer tasty delights from the bakery, to enjoy at the table or take away. Bookmark this perfect spot for reading, eating and book browsing
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Mason & Fifth, Westbourne Park
A cultural hub disguised as a hospitality concept, Mason & Fifth’s latest property in west London is ambitious, youthful and extroverted