The Wigmore — Restaurant in London

On 28/06/25 I was in London for the day visiting a friend and made the effort to travel half an hour on the tube in excruciating heat for a chance to eat a legendary foot-long cheese toastie, supposedly one of the best in London if not the whole UK.

I arrived, was shown to a comfortable table, given a kilner bottle of water and a little copper bucket filled with ice-cubes. 'Nice touch' I thought, 'excellent service' it turns out they charge you three quid for the water, even though there's no evidence it isn't the same swill out the tap that's already been drunk by a few million Londoners, so that was frustrating. Still, at this point, I don't yet know I'm being fleeced, it's a beautifully designed space in a grand building, so I'm just psyched for my cheese toastie. The waitress asks me if I have any allergies or food intolerances, I say no, because the menu specifies cheese toastie with a bit of mustard. I ask if they can do it without the mustard. She says I'll barely taste the mustard and they can't change anything, which is a major red flag for anyone assuming the food is made fresh.

So the main event arrives and it's possibly the most beautiful cheese toastie I've ever seen in my life, served on a wooden board with a cast-iron press on top, and I could not be more excited to sink my teeth into this thing. And she's right, I can barely taste the mustard, because it's choc full of red onion and tiny gherkins. Who the hell puts onion (and gherkins) in a cheese toastie and doesn't call it a cheese and onion (and gherkin) toastie?? I'm not allergic to alliums, just very autistic about weird unexpected textures in my food, but some people are, and it was a nasty surprise that left an even nastier taste in my mouth. When will all these fancy gaffs realise that listing ingredients, especially allergens is far more important than making their elegant embossed menus look as minimalist as possible?

Unable to request that they take the toastie away and make it without the onions, I had to endure the humiliation of trying to remove them manually with a fork. Luckily no-one initially seemed to notice or care. The sad thing is, were it not for the residual onion flavour, it probably would have been the best cheese toastie I'd ever eaten. The sourdough was browned to perfection, with the combined flavours of its three cheeses complimenting each other beautifully. As is the challenge of any toastie, the ratio of ingredients hit that sweet spot that creates neither an oozing, greasy mess, or a dry, charred biscuit that scratches the roof of your mouth. I was beyond gutted that my experience should be spoiled by the unexpected and unwelcome appearance of nature's two worst vegetables.

While the guys sitting next to me were offered the deserts menu, I was not, clearly the waitress clocked me as just another cheese toastie tourist, and didn't want me hogging the smallest table in the room for any longer than I had to. I was brought a bill that already had a graduity added in assumption that I was happy with the service and while I know this is standard practice in many restaurants, the Wigmore styles itself as a pub, I don't recall tipping anyone at my local without it being entirely optional. This combined with the £3.00 charge for water that I never asked for made the whole thing and enormous waste of £20.

For anyone looking for alternative cheese toastie recommendations, the actual best one I ever had was from a foodtruck parked on Kings Barns beach in Fife, not only was it delicious but they never tried to foisten onions on me...

A few weeks back, I got the opportunity to try out the Wigmore, an opulent British Tavern, sitting off Regent’s Street. Honestly, the interior is absolutely beautiful with alluring painting leather upholstery and emerald green interior, this is one elegant tavern, that screams of British authenticity.

I am still doing dry January, so I opted for a Blackberry and Raspberry tavern lemonade. The lemonade was so sweet and bursting with flavour as the blackberry really shines through and gives off a dark candied taste.

My guest opted for the ginger tavern lemonade but described this lemonade as having a more bitter taste afterwards. He later switched to the blackberry and rosemary after.

For starters, we shared the masala-spiced Scotch egg with dahl relish. The presentation of the Scotch egg alone makes you not want to disturb its craftsmanship, as the Scotch egg is so artistic. However, once bitten inside the centre is soft and dewy with the egg being well seasoned and is slightly poached. Due to its Indian origin, the dahl relish sat well with the masala spices and made the scotch egg slightly spicy but still enjoyable to eat. This is a must-have from the menu!

Salmon is one of my favourite fishes, so I was bound to choose the smoked salmon with crème Fraiche and rye bread. I forgot to ask them to take off the crème Fraiche before serving, as I cannot eat crème, so overall it was not my favourite. I did enjoy the bread, although it was rye, it was still moist and savoury. The salmon needed a bit more flavour.

Lastly, we ordered thick fat chips, with bloody Mary salt, which sounds like a strange combination but you can actually taste the bloody Mary.

For my main, I had the duck leg with braised lentils. The duck leg shell was crispy on the outside but soft and broke easily once cut into. I loved how moist and full of flavour the inside of the duck leg is and tastes better once dipped in the braised lentil sauce. The braised lentil sauce also had pieces of finely chopped pork inside which soon became overwhelming. This dish brought back childhood memories of primary school dinners. However, this main is very filling, and I would recommend no starters when having this main.

My guest chose the ham and parsley pie with champ mash but decided to remove the mustard from his main. I managed to get a taste and this is a must-have dish! The pie is crusty on the outside but the inside of the pie is succulent, mixed with pieces of ham and parsley sauce. The mash compliments the pie as the taste is creamy and sweet.

Overall, the food at the Wigmore speaks for itself, as the dishes are British inspired and very rich in flavour. Definitely, a restaurant to try out if you want to taste authentic British food!

Price: ££

What to wear: Smart (I wore a faux fur jacket, t-shirt, leather pants and heels)

Ambience: I went during the afternoon, so there were meeting and...

The Wigmore is a gorgeous British pub on Regent Street, part of the 5 star Langham Hotel. The main bar area was buzzing when we arrived without being too hectic. It was a lovely pub to relax from the hustle and bustle of Central London.

The Wigmore has created a drinks list from the team behind Artesian (also part of the Langham) including a fine selection of wines, cask ales and craft beers. Of course, there is also a decent cocktail selection. We sipped on one of our favourite cocktails – a Bramble (£10.50) with Bombay Sapphire gin, blackberry liqueur, lemon, sugar as well as a Pink Lemonade.

The Wigmore has a small intimate dining area which sits 20 covers. With sittings at 6pm and 8pm, it offers a quintessential British pub experience. With the menu overseen by Michel Roux Jr, we knew we were in for a treat.

The menu is split into snacks, mains and sides. We ordered the Ham Croquetas (£5.50) which were perfectly crispy on the outside and deliciously creamy inside. The British Cured Meats board from Cannon and Cannon (to share) (£19) was fantastic. There were a variety of meats including chorizo and salami as well as large pieces of crispy flatbread.

We also eyed up the Masala spiced scotch-egg, dahl relish on another customer’s table. With vermicelli noodles, this was a twist on the classic and looked amazing.

We were also drawn to the Cornish plaice, peas, potato, brown shrimp butter sauce (£13). The plaice was tender and was complimented by the beautiful sauce. This was such incredible value for the quality of the fish.

We finished off our lovely meal with a tangy and fresh Lemon and raspberry posset (£5). It was light enough not to feel too full!

We were so impressed with this lovely British pub on Regent Street. The smaller dining room felt intimate and special, the service was super friendly, and the food was top notch at very...