The Refinery (Bar, Restaurant)

Top 10 things you need to know about The Refinery:

1) You’re going to feel comfortable here.

2) Now, I know that statement doesn’t purr Michelin star. Nor does it thump to some throbbing uber-now beat. This is no speakeasy or pop-up with a shabby chic toilet. But Londoners, raise your heads unashamedly and ask yourselves loud and proud – IS THIS REALLY WHAT I WANT?

3) Sometimes. Sometimes, yes, we relish that must-go-see-it see-saw: precariously-piled Jenga portions and sneeze-and-you-miss-it foam on one side; shadowy chips in a tray not on a plate; and no booking policy queues. But sometimes, we just want to book, be fed, laugh heartily, and not tick an unusual restaurant off our London bucket list.

4) The Refinery gives you that. It looks angular and glassy up top, but down below it’s wooden and tartan and a tad Scandinavian log cabin, with rugs and faux animal furs strewn on chair backs.

5) In the large seating area outside there are even hot water bottles to cheer startled bare legs in the evening.

6) Set near Warren Street, nestled between office blocks, such cuddliness wasn’t to be assumed. We were in the midst of a staycation, still bristling on tenterhooks in that early part of the week when our minds were still partly resting on the desk chair. We arrived twitching – we sunk gratefully into the ease and lack of pretension.

7) The menu won’t win awards, but it’s homely fayre you don’t need to fear. Sharing boards, salad and flatbreads make no-nonsense lunches or starters; steaks, fish and chips, pies, burgers, and more extravagant lobster for mains. Pipe and slipper food at its best.

8) The beef is from Allens of Mayfair, London’s oldest butcher.

9) That’s not to say there weren’t curveballs to startle us out of our reverie; there’s a little room for refinement at The Refinery. The chips tasted like they’d been hanging around, and the chicken pie, my companion remarked, was “drier than Egypt”. And when you are all about the comfort, pie and chips need to hit the spot. Gravy: essential. But the steak was tender, the chicken satay perfect, the flaming baked Alaska and quirky ‘Wagon Wheel’ puds cheery.

10) We were very happy to sit until late and chat with a rug on our knees. Refine a few dishes, Refinery, and I’ll be back with my Slanket....read more