On the scent
Clio, Legare, Les Senteurs, Hampstead properties, Drake's, Timberyard Edinburgh, Time Out Market intel, MORE
ASK FOUND
Today, three PROMPTS for which we seek your response:
What’s your favourite specialist bookstore in London?
I need a caterer for a casual summer party. Any ideas?
What London shop or services do you always recommend?
If we publish your answer, we’ll comp you a 90-day paid subscription to FOUND LDN. Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@foundldn.com.
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three for-sale flats in Hampstead that recently came to market:
→ Summit Lodge (Hampstead) • 3BR/3BA/1R, 234 m2 flat • Asking price: £2.5mn • amenities include pool, gym, communal gardens, parking • Ownership type: share of freehold • Agent: Aston Chase.
→ South End Rd (Hampstead Heath) • 5BR/3BA/2R, 290 m2 end terrace house • Asking price: £6.75mn • Grade II listed, original house plus modern addition w/ double-volume reception, kitchen onto lawn • Ownership type: freehold • Agent: Strutt & Parker.
→ Frognal (Hampstead Village, above) • 5BR/4BA/3R, 400 m2 terraced house • Asking price: £10.95mn • behind walled front garden, one of oldest houses in Hampstead, former home of Sting • Ownership type: freehold • Agent: Aston Chase.
WORK • Wednesday Routine
Sweet spot
JAY PATEL • founder & owner • Legare, Luna & Five Feet
Neighbourhood you work in: Bermondsey
Neighbourhood you live in: Walton-on-Thames
It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Wednesdays are when the week really starts to gather pace at both Legare and Luna. I arrive around 930a and catch up with Matt, our executive chef, to talk through the menus and how the week has started. Most of the heavy prep has been done on Monday and Tuesday, so there’s a calmer atmosphere before service. It’s a chance to check in properly with the team, discuss specials, make any tweaks to the menus or wine lists, and prepare for the busier days ahead.
What’s on the agenda for today?
At the moment, Matt and I are working on a few exciting projects, so a lot of our conversations are centred around new concepts, menu development, and wine lists. Hopefully we’ll have something to announce very soon.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight or this weekend?
I’ve become a big fan of an early dinner. My wife and I have two young children, so a 530p reservation is the sweet spot. It’s also a great excuse to catch up with friends before heading home. Personal favourites include Sabor and Din Tai Fung. Chinese – and Taiwanese food, in particular – is comforting in a way very few cuisines can match.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I’ve lived in South London for most of my life, but we recently moved to Walton-on-Thames, a leafy part of Surrey with beautiful riverside walks and Bushy Park nearby. Whenever we get the chance, we’ll head out for a long walk among the fallow deer.
Any weekend getaways?
Paris is hard to beat for a food-focused weekend. It’s effortlessly brilliant, with an endless list of incredible places to eat and drink. On a recent trip, Adraba and Zoutra were standout Middle Eastern restaurants. Barcelona is another favourite. It has an amazing food scene, and our last meal at Gresca is still one of the best restaurant experiences I’ve ever had.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
Two single-zone Swisscave wine fridges for our home kitchen. I don’t drink much these days, but I’ve collected wine throughout my career. My wife and I love hosting, so it’s always nice to have a few special bottles ready to open when friends come over.
What store or service do you always recommend?
Drake’s on Savile Row. Everything they make feels timeless, and the quality is exceptional.
WORK & PLAY LINKS: Office tower above Charing Cross Station, 1 Embankment Place, sets plans for major revamp • NYC jazz club Blue Note sets 23/09 opening for Covent Garden outpost • Why are Wimbledon’s streets so dirty? • On the trail of a London gift-shop owner • The rise of air-conditioned clothing • Do Italians do beauty better?
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shop
Scents and sensibility
Your nose might notice it before you get there, and if it does, follow that scent all the way down Elizabeth Street in Belgravia. Les Senteurs is an independent specialist perfumery offering a vast collection of niche and artisan scents. With a quietly helpful and intuitive staff, personalised consultations and sample service, this institution insists on the Goldilocks standard of getting it just right.
Inside, brands ranging from refined classics to boundary-pushing new names are displayed with that same design-like care you might find in a gallery: clear shelving, distinct groupings by scent families, and short descriptions of aromas that read like wine pairings.
I was fully mesmerised after 20 minutes of browsing fresh, fascinating scents, with a pause to sniff a cup of coffee beans in between to cleanse your nasal palate. I raised an eyebrow when I heard a shop assistant ask a customer: ‘What facet of your personality would you like to be enhanced by the fragrance?’ It seemed silly, but it speaks to Les Senteurs’ genuine sense of precision and intent. To be fair, isn’t that what a perfect perfume should do?
If perfume is the invisible accessory, it does seek to enhance from within, affecting the way you carry yourself, the way you feel in an outfit. It’s enjoyed by others, but first and foremost you, an affirming or comforting cloak that can dictate: to seduce, to intrigue, to comfort, to steady you, to sharpen the edges, to make sense of the day.
Leaving, I realised the assistant’s question wasn’t so silly after all. Choosing a perfume is an act of editing, a subtle calibration of self. The right fragrance doesn’t transform you, but it can bring you into focus. –Amy-Rose Holland
→ Les Senteurs (Belgravia) • 71 Elizabeth St • Mon-Fri 10h-18h, Sat 10h-19h, Sun 11h-17h.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Ladies & Gentlemen…
The Weeknd • w/ Playboi Carti • Wembley Stadium (Wembley) • Fri @ 5p • gold circle south, £208 per
Davido & Friends • Crystal Palace Bowl (Bromley) • Fri @ 3p • GA, £117 per
Swedish Chamber Orchestra • Beethoven and Baroque, BBC Proms • Royal Albert Hall (South Kensington) • Sun @ 11a • grand tier boxes, £59 per
GETAWAYS • Scotland
Foraged and found
Timberyard is so cool you might assume it’s a new addition to Edinburgh’s dining scene. But the restaurant, run by the city’s Radford family, has inhabited a former 19th-century warehouse since 2012. It’s evolved over the years under different chefs, but its current mastermind, Bart Stratfold, has further channelled Timberyard’s vision for local, hyper-seasonal ingredients and Nordic-inspired techniques.
The restaurant is best experienced with the full tasting menu, which spans everything from raw Scottish seafood and forest-driven pickles to culled roe deer and locally farmed mushrooms. It offers a taste of the country’s best flavours and products, all of which are carefully curated by Stratfold and his team.
Shorter menus are available for lunch and dinner, but the scope of Timberyard’s tasting menu reveals the reach of Scotland itself. Stratfold keeps the focus on what can be found nearby, including foraged plants and herbs, and each dish is refined without feeling pretentious. Barra scallop served with pepper dulse and red fir potatoes is a particular highlight, as is the blood orange dessert, a perfect balance of citrus, sweet and bitter. Because Timberyard has a dedicated forager, the soft pairing is exceptionally creative, mirroring the textures and tasting notes of the wine list. Servers make you feel special, but not observed – a rare feat in fine dining.
Near Timberyard, not far from Edinburgh Castle, are the Radford family’s other two restaurants, Montrose and newly opened Haze. Stratfold also oversees those menus – though they offer slightly different experiences to Timberyard, where a visit to the toilets feels like entering a sound installation at a modern art museum. –Emily Zemler
→ Timberyard (Edinburgh) • 10 Lady Lawson St • Wed 17h-20h30, Thu-Sun 12h-13h30 & 17h-20h30 • Book.
GETAWAYS LINKS: In South Downs, The Woodcote welcomes new chef director Nathan Cornwell • North Cotswolds restaurant Ember at The Chandlers Arms opening in Epwell • In the Cotswolds, sneak peeking CABÜ, forthcoming luxury cabin resort • LGW expansion greenlit • Eurostar competitor FS Group orders high-speed trains for London-Paris route.
RESTAURANTS • First Word
People-watching
The Skinny: A modern Greek restaurant from executive chef Glen Ballis and head chef Louis Korovilas, Clio took over the former Wulf & Lamb space on Chiltern Street in April.