The Ivy Chelsea Garden opens

While London’s West and East End have been sprouting new restaurants like spring crocuses, Chelsea has felt a little overlooked. This is all set to change with The Ivy Chelsea Garden, due to open on the King’s Road on Monday March 30 and for which bookings start this week. “I’ve been talking to lots of people recently about our opening and I’m getting the same response every time, that an addition to the Chelsea dining scene is needed,” says Yishay Malkov, director of The Ivy Chelsea Garden. “The fact that we’ll be open all day, every day from breakfast until late supper, feeding and watering the neighbourhood, is being received with great enthusiasm.”

As befits the Royal Borough, this most recent of The Ivy restaurants is housed in an iconic Grade II-listed building that dates back to the 18th century, when it was the Six Bells pub and famous for its bowling green. This history is honoured with an extensive orangery, terrace and garden for drinking and dining at the back of the building – away from the hullabaloo of the King’s Road and steeped in British tradition, with classic wisteria, roses and fountains created by Ginkgo Gardens.

The interior bar, café and restaurant have been designed by Martin Brudnizki, the Swedish designer behind Scott’s, Jackson + Rye and Villa Kennedy hotel in Frankfurt, and evokes a vintage luxury vibe that aims to be both alluring and down to earth. The menu, created by executive chef Sean Burbidge, includes raw yellowfin-tuna carpaccio with spiced avocado, lime zest, crème fraîche and coriander shoots; chopped lobster rigatoni bake with Amalfi lemon and zucchini; and a Chelsea garden salad of thinly shaved raw vegetables and avocado hummus topped with Manuka-honey dressing. Traditional afternoon tea includes homemade crumpets, sandwiches and cakes; at weekends, brunch offers hangover-cure foods for the party folk, but also light and healthy options – although the melting chocolate bombe, featuring milk foam, vanilla ice cream and a honeycomb centre, with hot salted caramel sauce, may put paid to any good intentions, as will as the assortment of cocktail and food pairings.

With all-day opening hours and half the tables left unreserved for walk-ins, The Ivy Chelsea Garden will bring alfresco drinks and dinner buzz to the area just as the city warms up for summer.