The menu here was overseen by Rowley Leigh, but his generous touch in the kitchen is missing
The Don, 20 St Swithin’s Lane, London EC4N 8AD. Starters £14.50–£19.50, mains £22.50–£47.50, desserts £11.50–£12.50, wines from £35
The Don in London’s Square Mile is a chilly restaurant. It’s not simply that on this grey November lunchtime, the vent to our left is pumping frigid air into the room, as if they failed to notice the clocks went back weeks ago. It’s also the hard-lined space with the slab-like picture windows looking out on to St Swithin’s Lane. It’s the parquet and the bright lights, the hefty chairs upholstered in a frosty shade of cadet blue, and the desperate attempt to soften everything with a large fern imprint on a taupe wall. The tables are set just far enough apart so diners can plot against their rivals and mutter “your shout or mine” at each other without being overheard. It feels like an overworked TV production designer’s idea of a City restaurant, from which at any moment every stick of furniture could be removed, along with the bar. Then it could become another much-needed commercial property sales office, as if nature were healing.
