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27 September 2024Pillar of the establishment
Wiltons is a London legend, with a clientele to match and a commitment to producing memorable dishes crafted from the finest of British produce
I have to confess it is some years since I last visited Wiltons. The Jermyn Street restaurant was such a long-standing feature of London’s dining scene that I perhaps took it for granted, presuming it was so long-steeped in tradition that one could return after a decade and barely notice any change at all.
The place lays claim to being the oldest restaurant in London and can trace its origins back all the way to 1742, when it first began as George Wilton’s oyster stand on nearby Haymarket.
The history of the restaurant is so long that it inevitably touches on that of the city itself. It’s said to have been a favourite with officers en route to the Crimean War in the 1850s, it received its first Royal Warrant the following decade and (just about) survived the Blitz.
The menu is strong on classic British dishes, seasonal fish options and specialities such as lobster omelette
The latter was a close call. One night in 1942 a bomb landed so close that the then owner, a Mrs Bessie Leal, informed the assembled company that it was her intention to depart for Cornwall the following day, and did anyone want to buy the restaurant?
The banker Olaf Hambro happened to be dining there that evening and he took her up on the offer. The price of the business was added to his bill and that was that.
Hambro hadn’t got to be one of the best-respected figures in the City without knowing how to delegate. He promptly appointed a manager, Jimmy Marks, who was not only an expert in sourcing the best produce, but also a keen observer of society and human nature.
Aware that many of his customers came from the British aristocracy and would have been raised partly by servants, he rebranded his waitresses as ‘nannies’, sourcing uniforms to match. He briefed them to be polite, but somewhat brisk in approach and they became legendary, on occasion refusing to clear plates away unless diners had ‘eaten their greens’.
While the Hambro family is still running the show, times have (for the most part) changed and the nannies have been replaced by a well-informed, attentive and multi-lingual group of waiting staff who will politely provide a word of guidance if required.
Several years ago Wiltons was given a suitably understated refurbishment. With another establishment one might speak of a facelift, but somehow that word has a vulgarity about it that feels out of place here. The walls are paler, the artworks brighter and the booths are laid out in an elegant shade akin to British Racing Green.
With another establishment one might speak of a facelift, but somehow that word has a vulgarity about it that feels out of place here
Wiltons’ famous logo, Harry the Lobster, is still much in evidence; adorning the menus, plates and napkins and recalling the days when his creator, the illustrator George Gale, would, so the story goes anyway, exchange an artwork for his dinner; an arrangement that one senses is unlikely to be repeated any time soon.
The menu is strong on classic British dishes with lamb cutlets and mixed grill joining seasonal fish options and specialities such as lobster omelette (with a doff of the hat to Harry, perhaps). Oysters are still a major attraction, coming in from West Mersea on the Essex coast, or the Channel Islands and they are renowned for being as good as any in the capital.
Head chef Daniel Kent sees the restaurant as gently evolving as it looks at attracting diners beyond a well-established clientele of business leaders, politicians and the traditionally minded gentleman’s club brigade that still holds sway in the upscale St James’s district.
He adds: ‘We have to change because our client base doesn’t stand still, though we’ll always be using the best of British produce available.’
That means sourcing salmon from an innovative smokery in Hackney, east London, daily deliveries of meat and vegetables from neighbouring counties and the presence of an array of British cheeses for which the restaurant has long been famous.
The result is a triumph for the tastebuds in an atmosphere that is restrained and traditional without being overly stuffy. Wiltons is embracing the 21st century and, judging by the quality of those West Mersea oysters, its 18th-century founder would probably approve.
Wiltons can be found at 55 Jermyn Street, London, SW1wiltons.co.uk
Words: DH
