King’s Cross

We arrived outside The Standard hotel at King’s Cross about five to seven.  While waiting for Phil and Wei outside Decimo we overheard a music agent talking to a prospective client - not sure if it was producer or performer - but I am sure the recipient was grateful for the advice and, hopefully, the promised email addresses were shared.  It’s very strange to me that these kind of calls are taken in public but, I guess, we have all done it. I suppose that’s what the mobile phone is for,

Decimo is on one of the higher floors of the restaurant: unsurprisingly the 10th floor. We got to take the ‘famous’ red lift to the restaurant. It’s red on the outside of the building and inside has glass windows overlooking St Pancras.   I was last at the hotel for my birthday back in 2021 when PY and I were able to sit on the roof terrace overlooking the hotel and station. This time it was much colder and I felt black & white captured the atmosphere.

The restaurant is Spanish-Mexican with a Michelin-starred chef (Peter Sanchez-Iglesias). At night it’s quite dark with red and brown tones.  We sat at a table near an open fire - obviously gas and not the fake wood flame that’s implied.  What struck us most about the place was the volume of the background music.  It wasn’t just the regular restaurant-style jukebox, there was a DJ behind a desk. Perhaps we missed that bit in the reviews. While it might sound like an old man grumbling, we observed other tables (of much younger people) learning across the food shouting in each other’s ears. So, I don’t think it was just us. 

I had the lamb rump which was delicious.  Phil went for the tacos which came in on the small side. We’d read about the marinated red peppers as a starter and they were wonderfully smoky.  Grace Dent, in The Guardian, described the place as “gorgeous, sexy and glamorous as hell”. I just thought it would loud.