Labombe by Trivet

A Second Act in Mayfair

Mayfair's dining room has long been divided between two modes: the formal, white-tablecloth temple where ceremony is the point, and the more recent wave of European-inflected wine bars where the bottle drives the decision as much as the plate. Labombe by Trivet, which opened as the second venue from the team behind Trivet in Borough, lands squarely in the second category — though it resists being pinned down even there. Positioned within the COMO Metropolitan hotel on Old Park Lane but operating through its own entrance on the street, it carries none of the hotel-restaurant heaviness that often weighs on embedded dining rooms. The separation matters both physically and atmospherically.

The name itself comes with a story that doubles as a signal of intent. Chef Jonny Lake conceived the name from a school project — an imaginary restaurant he designed aged 13 , and his teacher's response was pointed: "Où sont les boissons?" Where are the drinks? It is a detail from the public record, but it reads as editorial shorthand for what Labombe has become: a place where wine is not an afterthought but a co-equal strand of the experience. That question, asked decades ago in a classroom, apparently stuck.

The Room and Its Energy

Open-kitchen restaurants have become standard-issue across London, but the quality of what those kitchens project into the room varies considerably. At Labombe, the open kitchen is a genuine contributor to the atmosphere rather than a design feature that fades into background noise. The chatter of a busy service, the sound and smell of cooking over fire, the movement of a kitchen operating without theatre but with evident intention , these elements combine to produce the kind of dining-room hum that is difficult to manufacture and impossible to fake. It is the sound of a room that is full because people want to be there, not because a PR push moved tables for a season.

Mayfair's corner sites tend toward either grand formality or anonymous hotel convenience. This one avoids both. The buzz described by those familiar with the space is specific: it is not the performative energy of a room trying to signal cool, but something closer to the comfortable noise of a good European wine bar that has found its footing. For a neighbourhood that includes some of London's most serious formal dining , Sketch, The Lecture Room and Library sits nearby, as does the architecture of old-school Mayfair fine dining , Labombe offers a deliberate tonal contrast.

What the Kitchen Is Doing

London's current restaurant moment is marked by a productive tension between technical ambition and approachability. Venues like CORE by Clare Smyth and The Ledbury represent the formal, high-investment end of that spectrum, while a growing tier operates at the intersection of craft cooking and relaxed format. Labombe sits in the latter group, though it brings significant pedigree to the position. Trivet, the team's first venue, earned considerable recognition in Borough's competitive dining corridor.

The menu at Labombe is deliberately eclectic, and the range is wide enough to make categorisation genuinely difficult. Snacks like hot tongue bun share a menu with pâté en croûte , a preparation that requires real technical discipline to execute well , alongside dishes cooked over fire. That combination is not accidental. It reflects a kitchen confident enough to move between registers without needing a single defining concept to justify itself. The cooking is described as devoid of fuss and built around flavour, which in practice means restraint in presentation and directness on the palate rather than the layered abstraction that characterises the tasting-menu tier. Compare this to the more formally structured progression at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay or Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, and the positioning becomes clear: Labombe is not chasing the same set of signals.

Fire cooking, in particular, has become one of the more reliable indicators of a kitchen's priorities. It requires direct material knowledge , of heat, timing, fat, and char , rather than the precision equipment that dominates modernist kitchens. The presence of fire-cooked dishes alongside classical French preparations like pâté en croûte suggests a kitchen that draws from multiple traditions without being constrained by any single one. For broader context on how this compares to the UK's destination dining circuit, venues like The Fat Duck in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, and Moor Hall in Aughton occupy the far end of the formal-destination spectrum. Labombe is operating in a different register entirely.

The Wine Program

Wine bars in London have proliferated rapidly over the past five years, ranging from low-fi natural wine shops with a few bar stools to more considered programs with depth and range. The distinction that separates a serious wine-forward restaurant from the crowded middle is usually the combination of list breadth, staff knowledge, and the degree to which the wine shapes the order of the meal rather than following it. At Labombe, the global wine selection is bolstered , in the direct sense of being made more substantial and useful , by service that is described as interactive and knowledgeable. In a Mayfair context, where sommelier culture tends toward formal ceremony, that interactivity is a notable departure. The list's global scope also positions it differently from the Euro-centric programs that dominate the neighbourhood's more traditional rooms.

Mayfair in Context

Old Park Lane is not a street associated with casual eating. The COMO Metropolitan occupies a site that faces Hyde Park, and the surrounding neighbourhood carries the price signals and formal expectations of W1. What Labombe does within that postcode is more interesting because of the contrast: it imports the energy and format of a good European wine bar into a location where that approach is genuinely scarce. The separate street entrance reinforces the independence. This is not a hotel restaurant with a clever brief; it functions as a standalone destination that happens to share a building with a hotel.

For visitors already oriented toward London's broader dining scene, Labombe fits into a specific gap. The city's formal Mayfair rooms , and some of the country's most considered destination restaurants, from Gidleigh Park in Chagford to Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons and Hand and Flowers in Marlow within reach of London , serve a particular kind of occasion. Labombe serves a different one: a meal shaped more by the wine list and kitchen energy than by ceremony or occasion-dining ritual. Internationally, the format has parallels with the more relaxed end of New York's serious dining circuit; the approach at Atomix or the long-form commitment of Le Bernardin both represent poles that Labombe explicitly does not occupy.

For a full picture of where Labombe sits within London's current options, see our guides to London restaurants, London bars, London hotels, London wineries, and London experiences.

Planning Your Visit

Labombe by Trivet is located at 19 Old Park Lane, London W1K 1LB, with its own entrance separate from the COMO Metropolitan hotel lobby. The venue operates as both a wine bar and a full restaurant, making it suitable for everything from a focused drinks-and-snacks visit to a longer meal built around the full menu. Given the Trivet team's profile and the concentration of demand in this part of Mayfair, booking ahead is the practical approach rather than walking in and expecting a table on a busy evening.

Quick Reference

• Address: 19 Old Park Lane, London W1K 1LB
• Setting: Corner of the COMO Metropolitan hotel, own street entrance
• Format: Wine bar and restaurant; suitable for snacks through full meals
• Wine program: Global selection with interactive, knowledgeable service
• Booking: Advance reservation recommended