Getting the camera out at the table can ruin a good meal - your food gets cold, your dining friends are put in an awkward situation and you manage to alienate yourself from the strangers at the neighbouring tables as you are silently labelled '
that' kid.
However, I brazenly went there anyway and twisted my friend's arm to not only pick up half the bill but to stay with me for the duration of the experience at
Pret a Diner - the temporary restaurant in Mayfair which requests not to be known as a pop up.
Housed in what was formerly a private members club just round the corner from the Ritz, the Pret a Diner people have taken over a beautiful space and filled it with art as a background to their Italian menu which offers diners the choice of 2 menus that essentially use the same ingredients but which are interpreted in different ways by 2 different chefs. On the night we went, it was Locatelli vs
Niederkofler, taking on veal, pasta and beef. The Niederkofler pasta was really delicious and unusual - a duck ragu with orange zest - miles better than the standard beef ragu with parmesan offered by Locatelli.
We were able to admire the art fixtures as well as cocktails courtesy of trendy 69 Colebrooke Row (
the bar with no name) but overall, nothing was worth the £90 per person bill when we chose the most inexpensive wine and had already put down £25 deposit per person before even arriving. In some ways it was quite a bad advertisement for
Locatelli's restaurant - it's one less restaurant in London I have to save for!
