Restaurant Story

About Restaurant Story

Restaurant Story has run the same conceit since 2013 — a tasting menu structured as a life story, bookended by a burning candle that arrives as bread and dripping wax and closes as an edible replica of itself — and the trick is that it hasn't calcified into shtick. Tom Sellers cooks from a strip of British produce with a chef's-table directness: Jerusalem artichoke baked in embers and finished tableside, Cornish turbot with brown butter and shellfish reduction, a venison course built around beetroot and blackberry that tastes more autumnal than anything else on a London tasting menu this time of year. The dining room, a converted glass-fronted box near Shad Thames, keeps the volume low enough that you can hear the pass. What separates this from the rest of the two-star field is pacing — sixteen courses that never drag, service that explains without lecturing, and a kitchen still visibly run by the person whose name is on the door.

Menu highlights

• Bread and Dripping Candle Included The opening bit — a wax candle of beef fat that melts onto warm bread as it burns at the table
• Cornish Turbot, Brown Butter, Shellfish Reduction £58 À la carte lunch option; roasted on the bone, sauce built from the day's shellfish trim
• Storytelling Tasting Menu £225 Sixteen courses, roughly three hours, wine pairing an additional £145

Editorial rating breakdown

Distribution reflects FlightLogic editorial modelling for guide comparison. See published excerpts below.

Published reviews

Sorted by date (newest first). We do not reorder by rating or “helpfulness”. Review integrity policy

1. ★★★★★ 5.0

   Editorial sample

   The candle course sounds gimmicky until it's in front of you — the bread was still warm from the wax by the time we tore into it. The turbot course that followed was the best fish I've had in London this year.

   Response from Restaurant Story

   Thank you, Priya — that turbot is one of the few dishes that's barely changed since we opened, and it's good to hear it still lands.

2. ★★★★☆ 4.0

   Editorial sample

   Genuinely inventive and the pacing was better than most two-stars I've done, though the dining room noise level crept up once it filled after 8pm. Venison and blackberry course alone is worth the trip.

Submit a verified dining review

Consumer reviews require on-site geolocation verification or transaction proof before publication. See our review integrity policy.

Your name Rating Select… 5 / 54 / 53 / 52 / 51 / 5

Venue context (e.g. Terminal 2 landside, Friday lunch) Your review

Incentivised review disclosure (DMCC Act 2024)

I received a free meal, discount, or other incentive for this review

We use your browser location (with permission) to verify you visited Restaurant Story. Coordinates are processed in memory only and never stored.

Submit for moderation