Big Apple flavours consume London

IT’S high tourist season in New York right now, but things are quieter than usual.

The city is set to see visitors drop 17% from 2024, a loss of 2.5 million people, which many attribute to the Trump administration’s tariff war and aggressive immigration policies. Local tour operators report 75% fewer bookings this year. 

But if the Big Apple is dimming as a destination, it’s brand is more powerful than ever in London, where the New York influence is pervading the food and drink scene on multiple fronts.

There’s the deluge of scone-size, dough-forward chocolate chip cookies, based on NYC’s famed Levain, at stores like Sable and Crumbs & Doilies. The city’s iconic plump and chewy bagels are well represented at the multiple It’s Bagels locations.

And New York-style thin-crusted pizza can be found across London, at Alley Cats and Dough Hands to name a few spots. (As a native New Yorker, I can attest to the relative authenticity of all of the above.)

New York vibes are also strongly in evidence in the summer’s most high-profile pop up: Dante at Claridge’s Hotel marks the residency of one of Manhattan’s (and the world’s) top bars.

Although Dante’s aperitivo menu is firmly Italian, the red olives that float in the signature Dante martini are flown in from New York to keep the drinks legit.

But nowhere is the Empire State’s influence more palpable than in London dining rooms.

Menus are stocked with seafood platters, steaks and even cheeseburgers.

The atmosphere is clubby and buzzy; the food is very good and sometimes even great, but mainly, it’s accessible, comfort food cooking. It’s served by waiters and bartenders who are good at making conversation.

There are so many martinis you’d think they were being piped in from a vermouth-laced underground reservoir. It’s a formula that’s been perfected by the hottest New York dining rooms of the moment. You’re not going for a culinary experience alone –you’re going a good time.

“It’s a style of dining that goes back to having a fun night out,” says Benjy Leibowitz, co-owner of the new One Club Row, the buzzy Shoreditch dining room that personifies the New York experience. (The London-born Leibowitz is an alum of New York’s famed, now-shuttered, Nomad.) “It’s about being in a fun room and eating delicious approachable food.

His three-month-old restaurant is one of the hottest tables in town (the average wait list is 200 people per night for the 45 seat space). The New York signals start outside, at the unmarked graffitied entrance: There’s a “Walk In Seats Available” sign that’s lit up when there’s actually space.

“Encouraging walk-ins and spontaneous diners is very New York style,” says Leibowitz. “Brits historically aren’t spontaneous when they dine.”

In the softly lit space, there’s a hum of excitement among the tables as diners dig into classic steak tartares and Caesar salads.

There’s also pasta and steak. Most conspicuous of all is the presence on the menu of a cheeseburger, stacked with lettuce, tomato and pickles on a sesame seed bun – not a dish you’d normally find at a premium London dining room.

The burger is a standard order at the 10-seat bar, accompanied by one of the place’s signature martinis. The bar is perhaps the most Gothamesque feature of all: “Bar dining is definitely a New York thing,” observes Leibowitz.

Most London restaurants are relatively small, he adds; there’s no room for a bar where diners can hang out at, let alone eat and socialise. 

There’s also a bar designed for mingling at the new Twenty8 Nomad restaurant in Covent Garden, which labels itself as New York-inspired as well.

It’s headed by bartender Leo Robitschek, another veteran of Manhattan’s Nomad. (In fact, the place’s name pays homage to the latter’s erstwhile address on 28th Street.) 

Plenty of martinis are on offer as well as a New York classics section, with drinks such as the Oaxacan Old Fashioned and yes, the Cosmopolitan.   

Likewise, chef Bryce Shuman stocks the Twenty8 menu with dishes inspired by years cooking in New York.

There’s the seafood tower that’s a staple of many East Coast dining rooms; a chewy burrata flatbread that evokes a pizza (sort of); the bone marrow, which is served in long, halved lengths, is an ode to the famous dish at Blue Ribbon, an iconic late-night Manhattan dining room. (Knowledgeable diners in London have remarked on its resemblance.) 

Twenty8 also offers slabs of steakhouse-style beef, with mac & cheese, of course.

The New York echoes go beyond the food and drink. Kristen Millar, global brand director for Sydell Group, which operates Twenty8 Nomad, says it’s also about the design of the space.

“It’s a vibe. We pulled the tables closer together and made them face different ways to add  energy to the room; its a New York City energy.” 

At the Dover in Mayfair, you’ll feel the pull of an old-school New York Italian spot as soon as you walk in. The first thing you’ll see is the art deco-style bar where diners routinely stop and have a pre-meal Gibson.

The low-lit rooms in the back also manifest the power dining rooms that are popular in New York. The menu only reinforces that-there’s spaghetti and meatballs and lobster roll; the ribeye is USDA prime.

Owner Martin Kuczmarski is the former chief operating officer of Soho House; he used to live in New York and frequently travelled there to visit company properties. “I always liked the experience of eating in New York,” he says about the Dover’s inspiration.

“I wanted to create something that was sophisticated but also accessible like that, which I didn’t see in London, in Mayfair.”

He is adamant that the food not be intimidating – there’s a Caesar salad and a burger-but that it felt also feel special, served on bone china on cloth-covered tables with candles, not battery powered lights.

When he opened the Dover in late December 2023, he says it immediately felt different: “We woke the city up,” he laughs.

Will the New York wave abate any time soon? Probably not.

In September, one of the restaurants most identified with the city – Carbone – will open its doors at the Chancery Rosewood hotel in Mayfair. — Bloomberg