Little Quiet – a new restaurant on Newbury Street (a short and very lightly trafficed street running parallel to Long lane and about 50 metres to its south between Cloth Street and Kinghorn Street) – probably takes the prize as being the area’s smallest. It seats only 16 guests (it’s licensed for 18 so might be able to squeeze a couple more in) and will only survive if it can pretty much fill it every day it is open – currently Wednesday to Saturday evenings between 6pm and 10.45 pm (local residents are probably even more noise conscious than those of the Barbican). Currently it is close to achieving this aim, largely through word of mouth bookings and from the Disappearing Dining Club mailing list. At the moment it is only open lunchtimes for minimum sized private group bookings of from 8 to 16 people, but, according to co-owner Stuart Langley may open to the general public at lunchtimes from sometime in October.
The restaurant specialises in cooking classic European dishes with a Scandinavian touch (the other co-owner, and chef, Frederik Bolin is Swedish) served with tasty, well-priced wines. It’s intimate, private and open for bookings and walk-ins, four nights a week. The menu is two, three or six courses, and includes a welcome drink, for £32, £37 or £47 per person. Food, wine and drinks menus change and evolve each week. Virtually every review the editor has read has been full of praise for the food, the intimate ambience and the superb attention to each customer by the staff.
The co-owners can only run such a small restaurant alongside their main business, Disappearing Dining Club, which has been throwing dinner parties in lighthouses, launderettes, abandoned music venues, antiques shops, department stores, churches, salvage yards, railway arches, photographic studios, film sets, galleries, fashion stores, recording studios, private homes, stately homes, car parks, beaches, rooftops, street food markets, gardens, and countless warehouses of all shapes and sizes since 2010. They will also cater for private parties in your home as well as for events of up to around 600 people where they will provide the food and source the venue!
Little Quiet is at 24-26 Newbury Street, EC1A 7HU. Bookings can be made via the website: http://www.disappearingdiningclub.co.uk/little-quiet#.
