Bright, light and welcoming with opening times stretched to as much as 16 hours a day, La Maison Ani offers London diners a modern cafe culture with a distinct Parisian twist. The restaurant is attached to the Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel in upmarket Knightsbridge and is on hand for every meal from breakfast to the dark hours.
Where to sit and what to expect
There’s a nod to the Art Deco period of the 1920s with splendid chandeliers and mirrored wall panels that bring the soft wood decor and pink furnishings to life. It feels comfortable and homely, yet stylish and, indeed, that enables it to smoothly transition from breakfast venue to trendy cafe to elegant restaurant throughout the course of the day.
As such, at one end of the day, the open kitchen is whipping up mouth-watering truffled scrambled eggs, while 15 hours later it’s preparing French classics such as onion soup, escargot and warm chocolate mousse with malt ice cream that is so rich it will satiate the most ardent chocoholic.
The London branch of La Maison Ani is the second restaurant to bear chef Izu Ani’s name, the first being in Dubai, which he launched last year with leading Russian hospitality entrepreneur Evgeny Kuzin. Ani has a string of restaurants in his larder, including Gaia, Carine (named after his wife), Shanghai Me, Scalini and Piatti by the Beach.
The menu
Ani has brought his concept from Dubai through the Mediterranean with a heavy dose of French cuisine to one of London’s poshest areas. A native Londoner, the chef’s experience and travels through France and Spain are evident in the dishes on offer. The spices and exotic edge to the offerings are more than likely the result of his Nigerian mother's influence. “Each dish is inspired by the flavours that have woven the tapestry of my experiences,” he says.
Categorising La Maison Ani in London as one particular cuisine or culinary experience would be a pointless exercise in pigeonholing. This is a restaurant for all. Like Ani, the food is multinational, almost nomadic, and while being heavily French-based, takes influences from North Africa, Spain and elsewhere, with the dishes cunningly blending the chef's influences and skill.
The grilled prawns in a harissa sauce have hints of rosemary balanced with the North African chilli paste. The snails in the escargot de Bourgogne are drenched in garlic butter, but not overwhelmingly so. Perhaps the most interesting starter is the aubergine grillee aux crevettes et fromage feta, a sublime combination of shrimp, feta cheese and pesto sauce on top of a thick slice of grilled aubergine.
Dubai diners at La Maison Ani will be familiar with the excellent range of salads, which are also on offer in London, including the indulgent lobster salad with shallot confit and ginger cocktail dressing. Meanwhile, the bases on the pizzas are so thin as to be almost translucent, affording the toppings the ability to shine without being swamped in any sense by doughiness. As such, the four cheese pizza, which combines walnuts with gorgonzola, emmental, brie and comte has a lightness and subtly that defies its name.
Chef Ani's signature burger dish also makes the journey from Dubai to London and loses nothing along the way. It combines Wagyu with emmental, tartare and barbecue sauce and is served in a brioche baguette. Likewise, the croque monsieur takes parmesan, gruyere, turkey ham and bechamel sauce and combines them into a classic toasted sandwich that would take pride of place in any trendy Parisian cafe.
For those in the mood for some Italian, the seafood risotto or spaghetti with Wagyu meatballs create the perfect balance between sauce, meat and carbohydrates, while the rigatoni in parmesan cream sauce with black truffles merely leaves one hungry for more.
Spanish influence can be found in the rib-eye with padron peppers and the marinated lamb cutlets with pita bread and spiced aubergine that also evokes memories of North Africa.
La Maison Ani prides itself on its desserts. The panna cotta mangue-banane is a tropical take on the traditional Italian dessert of sweetened cream, blending mango and banana into the recipe in a way that is fruity, refreshing and utterly moreish.
If time and appetite permit, go for the "mousse au chocolat chaud et glace a l'orge". Designed for two, this generously portioned warm chocolate mousse with malt ice cream is a truly satisfying culinary adventure for chocolate lovers.
A chat with the chef
Ambience aside, there are essentially two elements that make any restaurant worth visiting and recommending to others: food and service.
Of the first, Ani says: “I think cooking is such a beautiful way of telling our stories, of showing the impact of each ingredient, every lesson and trait that makes up who we are. Whether a single ingredient or an entire dish, the taste or smell evokes a moment of nostalgia or creates a new and beautiful memory. The idea of bringing a sense of meaning and happiness onto a plate gives me great pleasure.”
La Maison Ani also shines on the second score, though, which is no small feat given the shrinking pool of skilled and talented staff, both front-of-house and kitchen, that has plagued London’s premier restaurants for some years now. But if retention and recruitment in post-Covid London have left many of the top-end eateries squeezed on staff, there’s no evidence of that at La Maison Ani. The clearly highly trained kitchen crew and chefs pass the dishes they create to polite and attentive waiting staff whose charm and warmth are a credit to both chef Ani and manager Ludo.
Ani talks of “exciting plans” and an expansion of his brands across Europe, the Middle East and the US over the next year. But he’s also fully aware that those brands need to be protected and maintained in their established markets as well. “It takes a lot of care to ensure excellence and consistency in every country,” he says.
Price point and contact information
The breakfast menu ranges from £7 to £24; mains are from £24 to £83; and desserts cost between £12 and £31.
La Maison Ani is open from 7am to 10.30pm and reservations can be made by contacting +44 20 7858 7250 and reservations@lamaisonanilondon.com.
This review was conducted at the invitation of the restaurant
