Review: Nela London gets us all fired up with exceptional live-fire cooking
By Michelle Johnson | 3 August 2026 | Food & Drink
Nela London’s sensational summer menu brings its live-fire concept to life, and counts F1 star Lando Norris as one of its biggest fans
Launched at The Whiteley in September 2025, Nela London – the live-fire concept by chefs Hari Shetty and Ori Geller that debuted in Amsterdam in 2021 – has quickly established itself as one of the capital’s most exciting fine dining restaurants. Nela, meaning ‘pure’, offers a gastronomic experience that focuses on honest, seasonal ingredients and simple contemporary cooking.
The exceptional experience begins with the restaurant’s décor. Warm neutrals, natural materials and plush seating dot the winding, spacious layout, centred around the chefs’ station and its wood-fired grill. The indoor-outdoor space leads to an elegant summer terrace perfect for dining or pre-dinner aperitifs, whether a glass of wine from the restaurant’s excellent selection or a decadent cocktail.
All aptly-named for the live-fire experience – the First Spark combines Aperol, prosecco, homemade pineapple soda, lime and mint sorbet; the Burning Confession mixes Tanqueray 10, raspberry shrub, lemon, chamomile and honey foam – these refreshing long and short cocktails are creatively and expertly mixed.
Despite the convivial atmosphere and beautiful décor, it is very much the menu that takes centre stage to this dining experience.
Head chef Sachin Mistry leads Nela London’s brigade. His impressive credentials include stints at The Grill by Tom Booton at The Dorchester London and Michelin-star The Cross at Kenilworth, leading him to gain an expertise and passion for modern cuisine that is at the heart of what makes this outstanding kitchen tick.
Dining with friends, and torn between just about everything on the menu, our server advises us to approach the delectable range of dishes on offer as sharing plates, in order to sample each of its sections – bread and pizza, raw and cured, vegetables and salad, fish and seafood, and poultry and meat. So emboldened, we start with a frena sesame – a crisp Moroccan flatbread with a jammy tomato matbucha relish and rich labneh dip – and Nela’s signature lamb fat butter frena, a fluffy tearable flatbread cooked over embers and served with a moreish earthy melted butter.
Spoilt for choice, our vegetable selection includes irresistible charred Padron peppers served with a basil and lime aioli, and two refreshing salads – an Isle of Wight tomato salad with stracciatella and pistachio, and the charred baby gem with mustard and roasted almonds.
Perhaps my favourite from the vegetable menu, Nela’s crispy courgette tempura with charred cucumber tzatziki is the perfect embodiment of the restaurant’s concept: a dish that seems simple on the surface, elevated through live-fire cooking to bring out the depth of flavour of the high-quality, locally sourced ingredients.
Our glasses of crisp white wine (chosen by the sommelier) topped up, we are ready for our next round of recommendations. A perfectly flaky Chilean sea bass with a subtle tang enhanced by a citrusy kick from its yuzu and extra virgin olive oil accompaniment; a grilled and pressed spring chicken with black lime that is given another layer of smoky flavour from the wood-fire grill. Another sublime signature dish, Cornish slow-cooked lamb shank, melts as effortlessly in the mouth as it does from the bone, accompanied by a perfectly cooked fire-pit roasted sweet potato with an Ezme relish (a spicy Turkish salsa-style dip).
If, somehow, you have managed to keep room for dessert, Nela’s menu continues its simple yet sensational approach, with highlights including the Nela tiramisu with coffee caviar, Nela Basque cheesecake with roasted blueberry compote, and the dreamy matcha madeleines, created using ceremonial grade matcha and served with strawberry jam and Chantilly cream.
We finish our meal slightly spellbound by the consistent quality and creativity of every bite, in a joyful atmosphere designed for conversation and laughter over a shared meal, and can see why this restaurant – said to be F1 star Lando Norris’s favourite – has become such a landmark in such a short amount of time.
