The Chancery

How often should a restaurant get five stars when you’re denied a table?
Well, let me tell you our story.
Me and my three colleagues from the US just got out of an all-​day meeting, only to find out that it was raining, and none of us had umbrellas. Thus we Unilocal’d nearby restaurants, and found the Chancery, a 4.5 star restaurant, nearby. When we got there, it was clear that they were hosting many company holiday dinners. We asked about a table for four, and they checked, but they said they were totally booked and could not accommodate us. That is where the story at a regular restaurant ends.
When we asked if they could call us a taxi so that we could just go back to our hotel, since it was impossible to hail a taxi from the street because of the rain, a gentleman (whom I’ll assume was the manager or owner) said that he would call his friend at a nearby restaurant, and if they could accommodate us, he would walk us over IN THE RAIN. Well, they were booked too. So, we asked if they could call a taxi for us. This gentleman said that he would go out into the rain to get us a taxi and bring it back to the restaurant to pick us up. WHO DOES THAT? Sure enough, he disappears into the rainy night, while we wait inside the warm, dry restaurant. A couple of minutes later, a taxi pulls up, and out pops this gentleman to let us know that our taxi has arrived.
Wow. Again, WHO DOES THAT? Well, apparently, the folks at the Chancery do. Dear Sir, whomever you may be, I hope you see this review, and I hope you realize how much we appreciated your kind and generous gesture, and how much we look forward to visiting your restaurant the next time we’re in town. If your 4.5 star rated food is anything close to the level of service you provided to a «denied» customer, then it’s a gross injustice that your restaurant is not a 5 star restaurant.
Thank you again for helping us ‘mericans to stay dry on a wet London night. Your simple act of kindness was truly appreciated.

I really enjoyed my dinner experience here at The Chancery. I had already made reservations for a different day, but due to my fickle guests ended up moving that reservation on three separate occasions. The hostess was an absolute star and accommodated my changes without any hesitations.
The food is great — especially for the price! I enjoyed everything here from their wine selection to their helpful and attentive staff. Definitely will frequent again when I am back in London.

Great experience, the higlight of our stay here in London. Good service and great food. The tuna starter was the best entrée I ever had. Some of the components was not really for me, like the crumbs with the chicken but besides that the dishes were well composed. The wine we had recommended went well with the food. Our waitress was nice but was a little too fast to send out the next course. I would recommend this place to anyone!

I’m gonna write a full review later when I got time, but this place gave me too much satisfaction with its wonderfully delicious food that I can’t wait to give it back a 5-​star rating. In short, from starters to desserts, they were all superbly nice and tasty!

Pleasantly surprised by this restaurant.
The service was really good and the portion sizes were very reasonable.

Posh restaurant close to Lincolns Inn Fields. Went for a work ‘group dinner’ with a fixed menu that included an appetizer (I chose the mackerel), a main (I chose the beef) and a dessert (I chose the pistachio cake).
Service was attentive, fast and efficient. Food was well presented and tasty, but portion sizes were rather meager.
Nice atmosphere, well presented and tasty food and a generally nice all around venue. Nice for a work group dinner or a romantic night on the town.
Hint: watch your step around the dining room. A few odd placed small steps may trip you up.

Great place for a quiet dinner. The décor is very neutral professional — the perfect place for a business lunch. But works for dinner as well. Speaking of which, dinner and weekends are half price for the £35 three course menu, although be prepared for the 12.5% service charge to be on the full price and not the half price food.
The food itself is creative and beautifully presented, and tastes good too. Service is efficient.
A great choice for dinner in the area, which is devoid of other good dinner places.

If there were more stars to rate this place I wouldve already given them. I can just say that the service, the food and the atmosphere and decorations here are excellent.
I’ve been here few times already and its a great experience to pay a visit to The Chancery. My last one was about a week ago and it was great, I was there with few friends of mine and we were starving.
I my self had a starter and main, followed by a desert. Food was just fantastic, products were so fresh that it felt that the vegies were just harvested from the garden. Meet was high quality and I love how it was cooked with all the toppings, also had a nice bottle of red wine with the dishes. Prices were surprisingly low. Staff are nice, polite and welcoming. I strongly recommend this place!

For those who think that the food in Great Britain sucks, then you’ve probably never been to The Chancery or you have the palate of a billy goat. In either case you’re missing out because they serve some seriously good eats here.
We came on the recommendation of a friend and found The Chancery tucked away on a quiet street in what I believe is London’s financial district? The surrounding area (right off the Chancery station) was totally dead on the night that we went, but I was happy to see a lively crowd inside once we got there. Our friend made the reservation using Top Table and scored us a discount of half off of our prix fixe meal. It was only like £17 for all three courses and that was an absolute steal for the quality of the food and service.
To start we had the seared foie gras (sorry PETA folks) and sea scallops. Both were excellent, but our mains of sea bass and roasted pork were even better. The sea bass was perfectly cooked with super crispy skin and the meat was moist and flaky. The pork loin was even more amazing and had a heavenly ring of thick crackling around the outside… awesome stuff! The menu here is seasonal so they might not have the same options, but I’d definitely get both if they’re on the menu. For desert we ordered one of whatever they had and it was seriously like five different deserts on each plate. Everything was very good and it was like a party going on in my mouth as we tried all of the various offerings on the plates.
As for the restaurant itself, it was simple and elegant in décor. A nice place for a date or non-​casual get together I would say. The service was very good as well and with the amazing food it was a fantastic visit overall. I’ll definitely be back the next time that I’m in town and hopefully they’ll have that awesome roast pork crackling stuff on the menu… yum!

Beautiful hotel where luxe meets a modern day old school charm. How can you not love the pulpit room directions, the amazingly inviting beds, fluffy comforter, and chic ambience. Nothing not to love here.

Five stars does not do The Chancery justice. Excellent service, absolutely perfect food, this is the one place I take anyone I want to impress, including my foodie friends. They’ve all raved about it. And if you think that they often have offers for 50% off their limited menu, and take the tastecard during the week, then, heck, why aren’t you dining there every night? Well, Foie gras on perfectly toasted brioche slices on a daily basis would make for an expensive restocking of my wardrobe.
So yes. Go. Now. There are even palate cleansers between courses (not always, but often) and new things to try. It truly is a lovely place, well hidden just off Chancery lane. Well worth a visit.
Just don’t tell anyone! I’d like it to stay secret so I can still book myself a romantic 3-​course dinner for 2 for under £30/​person during the week.

I think this is my first 5* rating on Qype, and it’s thoroughly deserved. I’ve been to the Chancery three times over the past year and the food has been excellent every time.
Most recently I had roasted quail with sweetcorn pancake, cod and scallops, and chocolate tart for dessert. They all had much fancier names and descriptions, but I thought I’d put it in layman’s terms (not because I can’t remember).
What I really love is that they give you a surprise amuse bouche and a surprise sorbet to cleanse your pallet pre dessert. Very nice touch.
The service can be a bit French ah welcome back Monsieur Gardner, it is good to see you again I had never met this man before so found it a little sycophantic.
And they cheekily came over as we sat down with a bottle of still water and a bottle of sparkling water, to see which one we wanted. They were swiftly dispatched and told to come back with a jug of tap water, but this was their only slip up.
I’d recommend asking to sit on the ground floor, rather than downstairs better atmosphere and it has windows. I’m still not a big fan of eating in a basement!
At £34 for 3 courses, the menu is a little on the high side, but if you look carefully you can get this with a 50% discount. I’m not telling you when though, you’ll have to look yourself. I want to still be able to get a table here when I next try

I did enjoy the Chancery — very minimalist décor, not at all fussy and very friendly service… although I was really hungry and hadn’t quite taken note of the reviews pointing out the portions are on the minimalist side too. anyway what I did have was delicious — a little pre-​starter — a teeny cup of very flavoursome mushroom soup — and then for a main, roasted poussin breast in a very strong sauce, with some cep purée and a little pile of mash — although the stuffed cabbage thing was a bit underseasoned. I was slightly envious of my friend’s seared salmon with a little ravioli of crab — but when I’d asked the waitress what she’d recommend, she’d strongly advised me to try the poussin. Whatever — it was pretty good and at least I couldn’t resort to my ususal risotto-​or-​fishcake habit. I had the chocolate plate for dessert — a surprisingly nice chocolate ‘jelly’, a flaky cylinder filled with praline mousse and a rather overdone chocolate fondant — I guess with one so small, it would’ve been pretty hard to undercook it as I normally like. It was all very pretty anyway, as was my friend’s chestnut mille feuille. We had a 50% off deal so it was fairly reasonable, although I would have a bigger lunch if I go there again for dinner!

I love this place. Food is so so good! The menus change with the seasons and offer 2 or 3 courses for set prices. Sign up to their mailing lists and receive offers of 50% off making it an absolute steal as with delicious amuse-​bouches, you end up with about 5 courses. FANTASTIC!

Having noted previously good reviews, I may have over-​anticipated the visit to The Chancery.
The menu and wine list were generally good, as were the majority of the dishes ordered by the larg-​ish party I was in. I have to say that my own appetiser was stronger on presentation than taste, although the main course was fine.
However, the venue seems to be trying to accomodate too many covers, leaving a cramped feeling, and service is also suffering as a result — delays in gaining attention from wait staff were bordering on the unacceptable.

Went here for the first time recently and will be going back soon.
The meal got off to a rocky start with a booking mix up (their fault) and a very unfortunate drinks spillage incident. However, he maitre-​de was amazing and was amazing and stepped in to apologise and was very polite.
The food was fantastic and good value for what it was. Great place for dinner.

The last review of this place kind of covers all the bases. As I was there with him at the time I could literally copy and paste what Ryan B said onto here!
I’ll just say this; Best meal i’ve ever had… probably!
If you really want to impress somebody, have the finances (or a taste London card which gives you 50% off) then i can’t recommend it highly enough.
It’s even tucked away fom the main hub so you feel like you’ve uncovered a gem that few others know about.
5 stars all the way!

OH MY GOD!!! yum yum yum. if you like your food like a hollywood movie star (rich and sexy) then get yo ass down to this tasty modern british restaurant. Its £34 for 3 courses however monday and tuesday (or mon –thurs if you have a taste london card) you can get 50% off the food bill.
There were 3 of us eating for paul fs 30^th birthday so we all ordered a different starter and shared a mix of game and wild mushroom terrine, chicken liver and foie gras parfait and barbequed quail during ehich the conversation went like this: «mmmmmm, this is amazing, mmmmmmmmm, yum yum yum oh my god this is lush»
All of us had the Roast rump of lamb, crisped basmati
rice cake, date and apricot glaze for main and were possibly more impressed than the starter there was just enough lamb and it was cooked to perfection.
For dessert we had Chocolate fondant, prune purée
and baileys mousse which needs no further exlanation as to wether it was nice.
There is also a tasty little wine list here too.
My only gripe was that we had to sit downstairs which didnt have quite as much atmosphere however this was compensated for with a free glass of champagne.
what a dinner!

This is a good restaurant for evening chatting, business or romantic. Its location is discreet enought to deter the uninitiated, yet local enough to the City and West End to be convenient. The ambience is nice, contemporary and smart. Service is pleasant enough, though they do have a complement of staff with a slight problem with their English (which is easily forgiven as they are really quite pleasant).
The food is also quite good, though a little flawed. The foie gras starter was nice but had irritating nuts scattered around. The sea bass was grilled well but came with a tough chewy rosti. We had cheese for afters which was nice but not presented in order of strength. The Carmenere was very good and inexpensive. Overall, I confess that I like the place despite its (minor) flaws and would definitely come again.

This restaurant is fantastic. The restaurant’s own website had a three course dinner menu offer on their full a la carte menu for only £24.50. This was excellent value for money. The food was fresh, with generous sized portions and really delicious. For starter I had barbequed quail, mains was a crispy sea bass fillet on crab risotto with baby leeks and dessert was a peach and almond tart.
The only fault foodwise was the main dishes were slightly salty, but with the pleasant atmosphere and efficient service makes this one of my favourite restaurants in London.