Private dining rooms in London: The best spaces for your event

The eponymous flagship restaurant of Irish chef Richard Corrigan (who also owns Bentley’s in the same neighbourhood), Corrigan’s has four excellent private dining spaces to choose from. For intimate affairs, the Kitchen Library is a great way to see the inner workings of the kitchen up close. It seats just six guests and sees you placed in the kitchen, served tasting menus by the chefs themselves. Planning something a little bigger? Opt for the Chef’s Table, which boasts clubby interiors and features a glass window into the kitchen.

Unlike some sky-high restaurants, City Social sits among the area’s skyscrapers at 24 floors high, rather than looming high above them. We’d argue that this is part of its charm, as you can actually make out the buildings and people on the streets below. On the menu, you can expect quality best-of-British dishes, such as ribeye steak with duck fat chips, béarnaise and peppercorn sauce. The space also boasts its own lobby, which is ideal for pre-dinner drinks before you sit down to feast.

Nobu may be famous in the US for Kardashian sightings and being namechecked in Drake songs, but at the Shoreditch outpost, it’s the private dining options that we find most exciting. Here, you can book two different semi-private spaces and in the warmer months, the outdoor terrace is also available to hire. While you’re dining here, you can expect to chow down on the likes of pimped-up tacos with fillings such as avocado and caviar or lobster wasabi sour cream, as well as miso black cod and a variety of sushi rolls.

A more casual spin-off of chef Vivek Singh’s high-end flagship the Cinnamon Club, popular Cinnamon Kitchen benefits from an al fresco terrace, as well as industrial-chic interiors. The 16-seat private dining room features striking patterned wallpaper and a large glass panel which acts as a window into the goings on of the kitchen. If you’re looking to book out the room for a corporate function, the team can include a plasma screen television and other audio-visual elements to help bring your event to life.

If you’re on the hunt for an intimate space that’s equal parts sexy and show-stopping, look no further than the dramatic private dining room at YOPO, The Mandrake hotel’s flagship restaurant. The room can accommodate up to 20 guests for a sit-down meal and is decked out with an abundance of red lacquer which is the product of 28 different paint processes. It’s an arresting space and the perfect setting in which to enjoy YOPO’s modern European menu that benefits from flashes of South American influence.  

This trio of restaurants from Aqua London is also home to three private dining rooms. The group’s Japanese offering Kyoto boasts a 10-seater private dining room which is well suited to intimate gatherings, while the Spanish-leaning Aqua Nueva features two 15-seater private rooms, which can be combined to make one large room. The jewel in Aqua’s crown though, is its stunning roof terrace, which can be hired along with the private rooms, and includes enviable views of the London skyline.

Housed inside a grade-II listed former chapel, Galvin La Chapelle from the Galvin Brothers offers a chicer alternative to some of the area’s more rough and ready restaurants. Private dining here means a semi-private space on the mezzanine, which overlooks the main restaurant – that means you can still enjoy the buzz from the dining room, while feeling a touch of exclusivity. On the menu, expect to discover dishes such as roast loin of Icelandic cod with a hazelnut crust, served alongside white asparagus and crushed Jersey Royals.

For sheer romance, it doesn’t get much better than Table Lumiere at Alain Ducasse’s three Michelin-starred restaurant, housed inside the grand dame of London hotels. The space is partially cut off from the buzz of the main restaurant via a luminescent oval curtain, which is decorated with 4,500 shimmering fibre optics which drop dramatically from the ceiling. If you’re after something less intimate, choose the Salon instead, which benefits from high ceilings and plenty of natural light.

The sequel to the City original may not have those sky-high views, but SUSHISAMBA Covent Garden’s private dining room more than makes up for it with its seductive interiors – think blue velvet chairs and Japanese wooden screens painted with floral details. The menu is just as thrilling, encompassing all of SUSHISAMBA’s greatest hits, while a private balcony overlooking Covent Garden’s piazza and a plasma television screen for presentations and meetings are further draws.

Few London venues can claim to be home to views as stunning as those witnessed from SUSHISAMBA’s 39th floor restaurant. The views from the private dining room are just as spectacular, blended with a long, dark wood table and splashes of SUSHISAMBA’s signature burnt orange hues. For evening events set against London’s twinkling skyline, the menu features an exciting blend of Brazilian, Peruvian and Japanese dishes. It’s suited to daytime business meetings too though, thanks to a projector and AV equipment.

Striking the balance between the traditional and the contemporary, the private room at Wild Honey St James features a long oval table, flanked by green velvet tub chairs and chic light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. Seating 16, it’s well suited to intimate special occasion dinners or low-key corporate meetings, while the menu combines French technique with seasonal British ingredients – think the likes of roasted halibut with crushed potatoes and seaweed butter, or Devonshire crab salad with brown crabmeat fritters.

Taking the title of the highest private dining room in the country (just one floor above SUSHISAMBA’s), Duck & Waffle serves a slice of awe-inspiring views alongside sharing menus which champion some of the restaurant’s most loved dishes like its eponymous signature and the ox cheek doughnut. Daytime meetings are easily accommodated for thanks to an in-house audio-visual system, while evening soirées could mean a standing cocktail reception or a sit-down meal, all while drinking in those unforgettable views.