Apricity

Should You Book Apricity?

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, it is what makes a second visit worth planning with the same care as the first.

At £££, it sits a full price tier below most of its Mayfair neighbours, which makes it considerably easier to justify.

The Portrait

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.

Ratings and Recognition

• Michelin Plate: 2024, 2025
• Star Wine List: ranked #1 and #2 (2024)

Booking

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.

Practical Details

How It Compares

See the full comparison section below.

Worth Knowing

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, 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.