A softly glowing glass façade with the back-lit sign "Labombe by Trivet" assures us we are in the right place when a friend and I stop by for dinner at Jonny Lake and Isa Bal's newly unveiled, 'wine-forward' Mayfair restaurant on a mid-week September evening.
Behind it, guests, strategically seated across the eatery's sophisticated dining room — a dotted-with-artworks, buttery environment that Derin Yeşil architects' Umay Çeviker tells me strives to "merge Nordic clarity with Mediterranean warmth" — enjoy their meals at a nonchalant pace.
Tucked on the ground floor level of the COMO Metropolitan London hotel, Labombe by Trivet is only five minutes on foot from the ever-buzzy Green Park. Yet, particularly if you reach its entrance via the animated Brick Street, it feels more like your coolest friend's sublimely decorated living room than another of the British capital's most anticipated restaurants. And that, I am told, is precisely the point.
Labombe by Trivet — Connecting People Via Food, Drinks, and Design
"The original brief was to craft a space that feels refined yet inviting — somewhere where food, wine, and conversation flow naturally," Turkish-born Çeviker, who had already worked on the woody, mid-century modern interiors of Lake and Bal's first opening, the two Michelin-starred Bermondsey eatery Trivet, in 2019, says. This time, "the aim is to encourage people to linger, connect, and enjoy the experience fully," he adds.
It is a goal we feel instantly when we arrive, slightly delayed, and are left to choose the table ourselves. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we go for a cocooning nook on the left-hand side of its glass wall, opposite beautiful, smooth wooden shelving stacked with potted plants, wine glasses, and books, and facing a quirky painting of a young couple holding a crocodile. A place that allows us to keep an eye on the rest of the restaurant while chatting undisturbed.
First introduced as a pop-up concept taking over the original Trivet eatery every Monday evening from May 2024, Labombe by Trivet distinguishes itself for its inventive approach to wine — zooming in on burgeoning winemaking countries like Georgia, Armenia, and Lebanon, besides the classic nations, rather than on specific regions — and a designed to share menu of European-infused plates with a cheeky, moreish quality.
Set inside what was once London's talked-about celebrity hangout, the Met Bar, Labombe by Trivet oozes with a quiet, yet lingering, charm.
Just like its overall atmosphere, which winks at the 1990s glamour of the legendary destination that previously occupied the site, celebrity hangout the Met Bar, the cocktail list looks back by bringing you the most iconic drinks of the past decades, along with signature staples and an expansive selection of spirits.
The menu in itself, color-blocked in tones varying from night blue to an electric rouge-red and printed in A3 format, if not larger, and conceived like the rest of the restaurant's brand identity by Dots of Joy, is a work of art.
We open it and order what turn out to be some truly surprising grilled duck heart and cherry skewers — smoky, melt-in-your-mouth, and served with paper-thin lard slices on top — and king oyster gildas to start.
Recommended by in-house sommelier Philipp Reinstaller, the snacks are the first taste of a night that unfolds as both an engaging visual as well as spoken dialogue with Labombe by Trivet's staff; the perk of an open kitchen plan.
Crafting Intimacy Through Texture and Light
The home-like nook I enjoyed dinner from during my visit to Labombe by Trivet.
"At the heart of Jonny and Isa's philosophy is the idea that lasting success comes from connecting staff and guests in a shared, high-quality environment," interior designer Çeviker explains. The founders want the predominant feeling of the eatery to be one of "ease," they tell me. The idea is for everyone to "feel both cared for and entirely themselves, dissolving boundaries between guest and host, and equally, avoiding ever feeling distant or cold".
It is a deliberate choice that, as a slightly socially awkward diner, particularly when checking out some of the Big Smoke's most exclusive restaurant designs in real life, resonates with me from the get-go, facilitated by both the Scandinavian home-like design and the spiritedly playful personality of Labombe by Trivet's waiters.
From the smoothness of the essentially beautiful wooden tables and chairs to the animated, colorful selection of paintings hanging throughout, and the industrial touch brought in by the iron, marble, and steel kitchen, everything in the eatery feeds into a gentle play of contrasts.
"Instead of starting from scratch, we enhanced what was already there: maximizing natural light, introducing layers of tactile materials, and emphasizing textures that make the space feel effortless and alive," Çeviker explains.
The sensual air of the Met Bar, which the designer recalls as "intimate, moody, and brimming with life", is ingeniously hinted at. If not in the far more pared-back palette, in the sculptural use of lighting which, "layered and atmospheric, focuses on how reflections move across metal and glass".
Infusing the dining room with character, "the artworks and textured plaster walls add tactility and human presence, while contemporary elements — Rimadesio glass doors, Lee Broom pendants, Kreon lighting — bring clarity and precision," Çeviker explains.
Together, "these elements form a dialogue between past and present, nostalgia and renewal, bridging interior design and the restaurant's broader story," he adds.
Where the Kitchen's Rhythm Takes Center Stage
"The area behind the pass is lit like a stage, which helps draw the eye and bring focus to the rhythm of the kitchen." — Umay Çeviker, interior designer at Derin Yeşil architects
When our other courses — including an artfully presented, hyper-fresh seabass crudo starter swimming in a sweet and sour lake of orange ponzu, anchovy garum, and olive oil, and topped with a garlicky crumble, a nutty farinata paired with thickly sliced, delicious mortadella, a grilled-to-perfection Iberico pork chop, and an earthily reinvigorating grilled monkfish with coco beans — arrive, whether in the kitchen or outside, it's showtime.
Tangibly high quality, every dish has a simple, almost nostalgic nature to it, at times echoing the feeling of the most special of family gatherings, like dinners held to mark specific festivities. As Labombe by Trivet's co-founders explain, "relaxed luxury dining is the restaurant's contribution to London's culinary scene," which is why the attention is on genuine, flavorful taste over unnecessary intricacy.
From start(er) to finish (dessert), food is paired with equally sublime wine: we kick off with a glass of crisp NV Pierre Moncuit champagne, before moving on to an aromatic Pecorino and, later, as our soft-hearted warm hazelnut and manjari cake and fig and almond fragipane tart get served, a fortified, heartwarming Borges from Madeira.
Labombe by Trivet's Costoletta alla Milanese, or the "relaxed luxury" we are all craving after a long day.
Throughout the night, guests come and go while my friend and I, instead, protect our spot. Maybe it's the open kitchen's fault, as between a glass and the next one, it is almost impossible not to look at what the chef's brigade is cooking up, only steps away from where we are. The hypnosis, it turns out, is fully intentional.
"The area behind the pass is lit like a stage, and the dramatic Calacatta Viola marble — referenced subtly elsewhere in the eatery — helps draw the eye and bring focus to the rhythm of the kitchen," Çeviker says.
Serving as wayfinders across the restaurant, from the second you walk in to the moment you leave, are the abstract, as well as figurative contemporary artworks that, created by a new generation of British artists, will alternate in the space in a rotating programme of exhibitions developed in collaboration with gallery Incubator and agency A Space for Art. "The idea is that the eatery never feels static," the designer adds.
All in all, I have got to agree with co-founders Jonny Lake and Isa Bal: Labombe by Trivet stands for good food, great wine, and, frankly, even better times.
