Straker's
Featured in the 2025 Michelin Guide, Straker's offers a seasonal menu crafted by the restaurant's chef, Thomas Straker, who became famous for his butter recipes and cooking demos on TikTok during lockdown.
Price Range: ££ - £££
Straker's is one of a flurry of small plate restaurants entering London in recent years and is one of my first posts menu ldn with a mixed review...
Would I go back for the food? YES.
Would I go back for the service? NO.
And from checking out reviews from fellow visitors online, it appears that I'm not alone in saying that.
In an intimate and cosy setting (albeit, maybe a little too cosy [cramped] for the number of tables), Straker's Michelin Guide listing, menu and overall 'vibe' points towards a really great restaurant, but unfortunately, it really lacks in some basic areas of service. We arrived on time, but we weren’t immediately seated and had to ask what was happening with our table after being sent outside to wait for 10 minutes, only to see it given to someone else. The host was very aloof about this, just told us we could sit at another table (that had been free the entire time) and generally just came off quite standoffish, which slightly dampened the experience.
That all being said, as a food blog I want to focus on the food and hope that if anyone wants to visit Straker's after reading this review, that they'll have caught wind and have made some serious and basic improvements to their service because the food was absolutely divine. With standout dishes like the duck—duck leg, breast, and a rich duck liver patty and the mussel flatbread with chilli butter (my favourite), our only let down here was being told they'd ran out of their famous potato galettes after being given a decent amount of time to make our decisions (we were very sad about these, they looked SO crispy and delicious on the table next to us 🥲).
The ravioli was also delicious, but we wished there had been a few more pieces instead of two, and other elements could have been bulked up on portion sizes for the price. Overall, great food, but the service just didn’t match the price point.
note that the menu changes daily, so items may come and go! If I could order a single item again to my door right now, it would be the mussel flatbread - Straker's butter is no joke!
Some items ordered from the January Menu:
Flatbread, mussel, chilli butter (⭐️x5)
Croquettes
Ragu ravioli
Whole duck, duck leg, breast, and a rich duck liver patty
Fresh doughnuts, crême fraîche and jam (⭐️x4)
