Restaurant in London, United Kingdom
Low-waste Mayfair cooking that earns its price.
Apricity is a low-waste, vegetable-led British Contemporary restaurant in Mayfair, holding a Michelin Plate (2025) and a 4.7 Google rating. At £££, it sits a full price tier below most Mayfair neighbours and delivers seasonal, farm-sourced cooking that rewards repeat visits as the menu rotates. Booking difficulty is moderate: a week to ten days ahead is usually sufficient.
If you have been to Apricity before, the honest answer is: go back, but go at a different point in the season. The menu rotates around what British small producers are harvesting, which means the restaurant you visited six months ago is meaningfully different from the one you would walk into today. That seasonal discipline is the whole point, and it is what makes a second visit worth planning with the same care as the first.
If you have not been: Apricity is one of the more considered low-waste, vegetable-led restaurants in London, holding a Michelin Plate (2025) and a 4.7 Google rating across 462 reviews. At £££, it sits a full price tier below most of its Mayfair neighbours, which makes it considerably easier to justify.
Apricity sits on Duke Street in Mayfair, surrounded by the kind of boutiques that charge four figures for a single item of clothing. The room pushes back against all of that: bare plaster walls, small café tables, light fixtures that read as deliberately unfinished. The aesthetic is not accidental. It matches the kitchen's logic, where nothing is wasted and the produce, rather than the décor, does the work.
The cooking under Chantelle Nicholson and Eve Seemann is vegetable-led but not vegetarian-only. The menu at any given time will reflect what small British farms are producing right now. In practice, that means dishes built around whatever root vegetables, brassicas, or alliums are at their seasonal peak, prepared with techniques that extract maximum flavour from ingredients that other kitchens might discard entirely. The signature 'wasted dip' at the start of the meal is a direct expression of that philosophy: offcuts and trim turned into something you would order again by choice.
Seasonality at Apricity is not a marketing claim. The menu shifts in ways that matter: a late-autumn visit might bring miso-roasted cabbage with pickled kale in a smoked emulsion, or baked celeriac on Black Badger peas with cultured gochujang. Earlier in the year, expect the kitchen to lean into the comparative brightness of spring produce. For explorers who track what British growing seasons actually produce, this makes timing your visit a worthwhile consideration rather than an afterthought.
Fish and meat do appear. A pollock tartare with pickled kohlrabi and broken linseed cracker has been noted by multiple sources for its freshness and sharpness. Lamb, when it is on, is served with beetroot and labneh. These are not token concessions to non-vegetarians; they are treated with the same sourcing rigour as the vegetable dishes.
Desserts lean savoury by most conventional standards. If you arrive expecting rich sweetness, you will be surprised. Rhubarb with raspberry granita and cashew cream, or a plum and rapeseed tart without the usual almond richness, signal that the kitchen's preferences run throughout the entire meal, not just the savoury courses. That consistency is either exactly what you want or worth knowing before you sit down.
The wine list covers just over 100 labels, focused on growers who prioritise biodiversity and soil regeneration, earning recognition from Star Wine List (ranked in both 2024 lists). Wines by the glass have been noted as good but somewhat narrow in range across textures and fruit profiles. If wine breadth matters to you, the bottle list is the stronger option. The floor staff are notably assured, running service without writing orders down, which either reads as impressive precision or faint theatre depending on your tolerance for that sort of thing.
The menu is accessed via a QR code on a stone tablet at the table. Keep your phone charged.
Booking difficulty is moderate. Apricity does not require the two-month advance planning of a Michelin-starred room, but it is not a walk-in option either. A week to ten days ahead is a reasonable lead time for most slots; weekend evenings may require more. For comparison, getting a table at CORE by Clare Smyth or Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library demands significantly more planning. If your travel dates are fixed, book as soon as they are confirmed rather than waiting.
| Detail | Apricity | CORE by Clare Smyth | Sketch (Lecture Room) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price tier | £££ | ££££ | ££££ |
| Cuisine | British Contemporary, low-waste | Modern British | Modern French |
| Booking difficulty | Moderate | High | High |
| Michelin recognition | Plate (2025) | 3 Stars | 2 Stars |
| Dress code | Smart casual | Smart | Smart |
| Address | 68 Duke St, Mayfair, W1K 6JU | 92 Kensington Park Rd | 9 Conduit St |
See the full comparison section below.
If your interest is in where British contemporary cooking is heading, Apricity is one of a small number of London restaurants making a genuine argument for a different direction. For wider context, the low-waste, farm-direct approach that defines this kitchen also appears, in different registers, at places like L'Enclume in Cartmel and Moor Hall in Aughton, both of which push further into tasting-menu territory and carry heavier Michelin weight. Closer to London, Hand and Flowers in Marlow and The Fat Duck in Bray represent the more technical end of British cooking if that is where your appetite runs.
Within London itself, if you want a less formal version of seasonal British cooking at a lower price point, Anchor and Hope is worth considering. For something closer to Apricity's price and ambition but with a different tonal register, Café Deco is a reasonable alternative. For British contemporary cooking with more geographical reach, see also Jaan by Kirk Westaway in Singapore, hide and fox in Saltwood, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, and Dog and Gun Inn in Skelton.
For the full picture of what London has to offer across restaurants, hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences, see our full London restaurants guide, our full London hotels guide, our full London bars guide, our full London wineries guide, and our full London experiences guide.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Apricity | £££ | — |
| CORE by Clare Smyth | ££££ | — |
| Restaurant Gordon Ramsay | ££££ | — |
| Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library | ££££ | — |
| The Ledbury | ££££ | — |
| Dinner by Heston Blumenthal | ££££ | — |
Comparing your options in London for this tier.
The room is deliberately unpretentious — bare plaster walls, wooden café tables, a rustic aesthetic that signals the kitchen's ethos rather than Mayfair's usual formality. Dress tidily but do not feel pressure to dress up. This is not a jacket-required room in the mould of the neighbourhood's more traditional restaurants.
One to two weeks ahead is usually sufficient for midweek, but weekend tables at a Michelin Plate restaurant in Mayfair go faster than that. Book as soon as your plans are fixed. Apricity is not at the two-month scramble level of a starred room, but it is not a walk-in option either.
The menu is seasonal and rotates around British produce from small artisan farms, so specific dishes change. Based on documented descriptions, the kitchen's strengths run toward vegetable-forward courses and fermented or pickled preparations — the 'wasted dip' at the start is a signature. If fish or meat is on, the pollock tartare and lamb have drawn positive editorial notice. Go with the season rather than hunting for a specific dish.
Apricity's format favours those already aligned with low-waste, vegetable-led cooking — if that is your preference, the format works well and the kitchen has the creativity to justify a full progression of courses. If you are expecting a more conventional fine dining protein-led structure, the experience may feel unfamiliar. The Michelin Plate recognition (2024 and 2025) and Star Wine List rankings confirm the quality is there.
At £££, Apricity sits in the mid-to-upper range for London dining without carrying the premium of a Michelin-starred room. For what the price delivers — a Michelin Plate kitchen, a curated biodiversity-focused wine list, and seasonal British cooking from Chantelle Nicholson and Eve Seemann — the value holds up. If you are weighing it against a full-starred experience, the gap in formality and price makes Apricity the more practical choice for a regular booking rather than a once-a-year occasion.
For vegetable-forward seasonal cooking at a similar price point, Apricity has few direct London equivalents. If you want more conventional fine dining at the same Mayfair postcode and are willing to spend more, The Ledbury and CORE by Clare Smyth are both starred and more protein-centred. For something plant-focused but at a higher price and formality tier, Sketch's Lecture Room is in a different category entirely. Apricity is the clearest choice if sustainability and seasonal British produce are the actual draw.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
