Humo

Mayfair's Fire Discipline

In the strip of Mayfair restaurants clustered around St George Street and Conduit Street, the dominant grammar is French-inflected fine dining: tasting menus, silver service, wine lists priced for expense accounts. Humo, at number 12, operates in a different register. The building's exterior offers no theatre — a muted frontage that reads more like a discreet members' entrance than a Michelin-starred dining room. That restraint is the point. The Creative Restaurant Group, whose portfolio includes CORE by Clare Smyth, built an interior that compensates generously: a room with real impact, centred on a four-metre-long wood grill that throws heat across the counter seats. The former Wild Honey space never registered this kind of presence.

Fire cooking in London has tended to position itself as rustic counterweight to the tasting-menu circuit. Humo occupies a different position: a Michelin one-star operation where the fire is not a shorthand for informality but a precision instrument. No gas, no electricity — every source of heat is selected for its specific effect on a specific ingredient. The decision between flame, smoke, and embers is made per dish, and the choice of wood shifts according to what's being cooked. That level of discipline places Humo in a narrower peer set than most fire-forward London restaurants.

The Lunch Case

London's power lunch tradition runs deep in Mayfair and St James's. The neighbourhood's private equity firms, auction houses, and media offices generate a consistent midday demand for rooms that allow substantive conversation alongside substantive food , venues where the meal doesn't overwhelm the meeting. Humo's set lunch format addresses that demand in a way that distinguishes it from the longer-format rooms nearby. Where Sketch's Lecture Room and Library or Restaurant Gordon Ramsay commit guests to extended tasting sequences, Humo's lunch lands within the midday window , service runs from noon to 2:30 PM , with optional wine pairings that are genuinely optional rather than structurally expected.

The set lunch also functions as the most efficient introduction to the kitchen's argument. The cooking's Japanese-British axis , prime British produce, Japanese technique, occasional East Asian seasoning , reads clearly in abbreviated form. A Hampshire trout smoked over applewood, finished with yuzu-marinated roe, compressed apple, and a sauce built from English horseradish, pineapple, mango, and lime, delivers the kitchen's position in a single dish: clear flavours, structural freshness, no obscuring richness. The logic of the fire is audible rather than decorative.

For guests whose schedules allow the longer format, dinner runs to 10 PM Monday through Saturday, and the full menu extends the same technique across more courses and more registers of the grill. The wine list, described by reviewers as taking itself seriously with pricing that reflects the postcode, suits the evening setting. The Star Wine List White Star awarded in April 2024 is a Tier A credential in wine programming , a signal that the beverage side is matched to the kitchen's ambition rather than assembled as an afterthought.

The Grill as Instrument

Live-fire cooking carries assumptions that Humo systematically contradicts. The genre's British iteration has often leaned into a certain theatrical primitivism: exposed brick, whole animals, flames as spectacle. The kitchen at St George Street treats the grill as a precision tool rather than a set piece. Wood selection is ingredient-specific , aged whisky barrel wood for a single scallop, chosen for the sweet, subtle smokiness it imparts, underscored by a whisky, brown butter, and verjus sabayon. A 32-day aged Cornish lamb receives a Castelfranco radicchio treatment with sweet onion jam built from aged balsamic, celeriac, and apple. The technique is present without announcing itself.

The Japanese influence operates at the level of philosophy rather than surface. It is not a matter of miso glazes or soy-adjacent seasoning appearing on British proteins. The approach to heat, the emphasis on primary flavours, and the precision of seasoning all reflect a Japanese culinary logic refracted through the specific range of British produce. Orkney scallops, Cornish lamb, Hampshire trout , the sourcing is specifically British, and the treatment is specifically considered. The combination produces dishes that sit outside the Franco-British template that still dominates Mayfair's top tier, distinguishing Humo from comparators like The Ledbury or Dinner by Heston Blumenthal even within the same price bracket.

Desserts follow the fire's logic. 'Cinders' appears on the menu as 'something sweet when the flames are off'. Pandan and lime cream with 72% Araguani chocolate and blood orange represents the same compositional approach applied to the close of the meal: specific flavour identities, nothing softened into generic richness.

Abajo: The Downstairs Commitment

Below the main dining room, Abajo operates as a chef's counter with a tasting menu built around Colombian cuisine. The format is distinct enough from the main room's Japanese-British fire cooking to function as a separate proposition. Chef's counter formats in London have proliferated across the past decade, from the Japanese omakase model to the European modernist sequence. Abajo positions itself differently again , a geographically specific tasting menu at counter depth, available as a deliberate opt-in for guests prepared to commit to the longer and more immersive format.

The existence of Abajo reflects a Creative Restaurant Group pattern visible in their wider portfolio: the main room handles volume and the core proposition; a secondary format serves a more specific appetite. It is worth noting that the two rooms require separate booking logic and represent materially different evenings.

Context: Where Humo Sits

London's fire-cooking tier has expanded considerably since the mid-2010s, when the category was defined by a handful of venues. The current field ranges from casual neighbourhood grill rooms to Michelin-recognised operations. Humo, with a one-star awarded in 2024 and a wine programme with independent recognition, occupies the upper end of that range without positioning itself against the extended French tasting-menu rooms that still anchor Mayfair's highest price point.

Within the broader EP Club guide to London dining, the relevant comparisons are to rooms that combine technical ambition with a specific culinary identity rooted in something other than French classicism. CORE by Clare Smyth does this through a Modern British lens; Humo does it through fire and a Japanese-British synthesis. Internationally, the fire-grill format finds its most direct peers in places like A de Totó in Trasmonte and Al Pilèr in Nicosia , rooms where live fire is the structural premise rather than an accent.

For guests building a broader UK itinerary, the fine dining circuit extends well outside London. The Fat Duck in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, Moor Hall in Aughton, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Great Milton all operate at the level where advance planning is necessary. Humo's London context sits within the full EP Club London restaurants guide, alongside coverage of London hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences.

Planning Your Visit

Humo is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday, closed on Sundays. Lunch service runs noon to 2:30 PM; dinner runs 6 PM to 10 PM. The address is 12 St George Street, London W1S 2FB, a short walk from Bond Street and Oxford Circus stations. Price range is ££££, consistent with Mayfair's upper-mid tier. The set lunch with optional wine pairing is the most accessible entry point. Abajo, the downstairs chef's counter, requires separate booking. The Google rating stands at 4.7 from 540 reviews, as of available data.

Quick reference: 12 St George St, W1S 2FB. Lunch Mon–Sat 12–2:30 PM, dinner 6–10 PM. Closed Sunday. ££££. Michelin one star (2024). Star Wine List White Star (April 2024).

What Should I Order at Humo?

The set lunch is the most direct way to read the kitchen's argument. Among dishes documented in critical coverage, the Hampshire trout smoked over applewood with yuzu-marinated roe illustrates the Japanese-British axis clearly. The single scallop roasted over aged whisky barrel wood demonstrates the precision of wood selection as a flavour decision rather than a fuel decision. The 32-day aged Cornish lamb with Castelfranco radicchio and sweet onion jam shows the kitchen's capacity for layered flavour without obscuring the primary ingredient. Desserts, including the pandan and lime cream with 72% Araguani chocolate and blood orange, follow the same compositional logic. The wine list has received independent recognition through a Star Wine List White Star; the optional pairing at lunch is the lower-commitment way to engage with it. Abajo downstairs offers a Colombian tasting menu at the chef's counter for guests prepared to commit to that specific format , it is a different proposition from the main room and should be booked with that in mind. Michelin awarded a one star in 2024, anchoring Humo's position in London's recognised fire-cooking tier.