Spill The Tea! Your Guide to London Frieze Week
As the leaves are turning copper, cabs are back in full honk, and Frieze Week has officially landed in London. Whether you’re a Contemporary Collector or an Old Masters buff, 84 Rooms has the lowdown on where to rest your head, fill your stomach, and get a proper drink while navigating the art circus.
Where to Stay
For the Contemporary: Chiltern Firehouse
What do you get when a swanky hotelier breathes new life into a Victorian fire station? Chiltern Firehouse, a 26-room playground for the creatives’ elite. Perched in Marleybone, find seafood towers by day and a queue for the invite-only back door by night. Securing a room - or even a table - is as much of an art as the pieces you’ll be eyeing up this week.
For the Old Master: Henry’s Townhouse
Fancy a turn back in time at Jane Austen’s brother’s renovated home? At Henry’s Townhouse, the history is as rich as the décor. With just six bedrooms, Georgian charm, and fireside chats carry on into the intimate pantry and private dining room by night.
Where To Eat
For the Contemporary:
Who says you can’t have art and eat it too? At Mount St, Hauser and Wirth, sprinkle a generous £50 million worth of art to go with your lobster pie. With Lucian Freud and Hockney’s above your plate, the call is for more caviar and champagne at this iconic rendez-vous where British fare meets a cultural concentration.
Restless foodies rejoice - Carousel offers a revolving door of guest chefs, each with their culinary flair each week. From Tokyo to Mexico City, 300 collaborators from 30 countries and counting have mastered a single dinner service that keeps the menu - and guests - on their toes.
Ever feel like sushi’s gone too pretension for your palette? Enter NIJŪ (trans: informal yet decadent), where Michelin-starred Endo Kazutoshi tosses out the rulebook with ‘Katei-ryori’,’ or family-style comfort food. Warmth, decadence, and a signature ‘yuzu butter’ await.
For the Old Master:
When you feel like you’ve had enough of the fair, take refuge at Fischer’s, where schnitzel is the answer to all life’s problems. This Viennese institution offers up spätzle and strudel at the pace of the bidding hammer - perfect for lingering over a long lunch pretending you made it to the latest auction.
Settle in for a French fantasy at Clarette, where the Chateau Margaux family brings top-notch pedigree to a wonderfully unpretentious Tudor townhouse. It’s the place to sip, nibble, and debate like existentialists until the last bottle is drained.
If Fergus Henderson’s St. JOHN Marylebone feels like a bit of a religion, it’s because it is. Since 1993, it’s been preaching the gospel of ‘Nose to Tail’ dining, where even pigs’ tongues hit the menu spotlight of Michelin reviews. Expect a hearty mix of old-school British fare with a sweet finish of their signature French madeleines.
Where to Drink
For the Contemporary: Red Room at The Connaught
Art with a splash of vodka or champagne with a splash of art? Behind velvet curtains, The Connaught’s hidden rendez-vous is there for those in the know. A pink onyx bar reflects Louise Bourgeois’s ‘I am Rouge’ among Bryan O’Sullivan’s masterful curation of contemporary female artists. Out on ladies' night, make sure to tuck into their no-guilt truffle pizza.
For the Old Master: Dukes Martinis
James Bond may have made the Duke Martini famous, but it’s the ritual that keeps it iconic. Every drink is an event - the trolley rolls up, the bartender shares the tale, and the cocktail shaker is most definitely shaken, not stirred. It’s as quintessentially British as a visit to the Colnaghi - with a touch more gin.
Where to Shop
For the Old Master:
Thinking of expanding your artistic pursuits into the world of interiors? At Alfie’s Antiques, step into four floors of Art Deco wonder. Score a curvaceous Pierluigi armchair, ideal for contemplating your latest acquisitions, or head upstairs to unearth antique jewels and vintage Louis Vuitton trunks and secure a sleek leather cigarette case from a bygone era.
For the Contemporary:
Is there such a thing as an ‘everyday diamond’ or the equivalent of an ‘everyday Hockney’ for serious collectors? At Jessica McCormack’s Mayfair townhouse, the New Zealand-born jeweler’s collectible gypset rings and blackened diamond pendants are art forms in their own right.
84 Rooms recommends: The London Hotels To Book This Fall, and Anna Barnett’s Insider Guide To London.