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Review: Dining at Wild Honey St James is deliciously sweet
By Shivani Dubey | 4 April 2025 | Food & Drink
Tempus visits Wild Honey St James at Sofitel London for an exquisite food tour of France — and a showstopping dessert that leaves you wanting more
Wild Honey St James resides in quite an enviable location. However, for a Michelin-star brasserie that is housed inside the Grade II listed former banking hall at the Sofitel hotel in London, the restaurant in itself is very unassuming. But don’t let the decor fool you, because as soon as you sit down for your meal, you will be taken on a culinary tour of France over three courses of delicious food.
We start our dinner off with some cocktails — I order a classic gin and tonic, while my cousin opts for a dirty martini. As we wait for our first course to arrive, we nibble on some delicious sourdough bread doused in creamy butter.
For our first course, I sampled some crisp Sutton hoo chicken with black winter melanosporum truffles, hand cut macaroni and truffle sauce. Initially, I wasn’t sure these flavours would work together, but as soon as I took a bite of the creamy and truffle-y macaroni, all my doubts melted away. We also tried the Isle of Orkney hand-dived scallop with white Vermouth & XO sauce and sea herbs, which was perfectly delicate and melted right in your mouth.
We followed this up with halibut doused in red shrimp with kaffir lime, Tokyo turnips, agretti and a classic shrimp sauce served tableside. The halibut was so soft it fell apart perfectly, and the shrimp sauce added the right amount of seafood flavouring and acidity to tie the whole dish together.
My cousin, meanwhile, opted to try the grilled belted Galloway beef. Accompanied by wild mushrooms, heritage beetroot and black Voatsiperifery pepper sauce, this was, according to him, the best beef dish he’d had in a very long time.
My favourite dish of the night, however, was dessert. For someone who doesn’t really like sweet treats all that much, the desserts at Wild Honey were a revelation. The Wild Honey ice cream comes with warm madeleines and raw Bermondsey honey. And when they say raw honey, they mean that literally — because the honey is carved out straight from the beehive slab right at the table.
And if you thought the theatrics were incredible, taking a bite of this ice cream is like nothing else I’ve tasted before. It was sweet, but not in a way that is overpowering. And as someone who isn’t very fond of desserts, it hit the perfect spot. In fact, if I could have an entire tub of this ice cream, I absolutely would.
We paired this with chef Anthony Demetre’s Great British Menu classic cheesecake. It was not as flashy as the ice cream, but it tasted just as delicious. It was simple, just as a delightful cheesecake should be, making it a truly incredible end to a wonderful meal.
Wild Honey St James is not like other fine dining restaurants in the area. Of course, it still carries the elegance and decadence associated with such establishments — the Michelin star to its name speaks for itself — but one thing comes through above everything else: this is a restaurant for food lovers in its true sense.
If you’re looking for a place pandering to the whims of the Instagram crowd, you won’t find it here. This understated yet sophisticated restaurant is, by all accounts, for anyone who enjoys a good, well made meal. And it more than delivers on that premise.