The Wig & Gown Restaurant

You're walking into the Bishops Gate Hotel's restaurant, all period features and that particular kind of elegant you get in converted Georgian buildings. The Wig & Gown takes itself seriously without being insufferable—white tablecloths and attentive staff, but genuinely warm rather than stuffy. This is where you book when you want to mark something, whether that's an anniversary or just deciding the kebab van can wait. The kitchen does classic European cooking properly: seasonal ingredients, technique that's been thought through, the sort of meal that actually tastes like someone cared.