London Begins at 40 Food Critic, James Clark returns to Sloane Place to check out the rooms, The Roof Terrace at The Sloane Club, and brand-new British-Javanese menu.
Sloane Place is part of the 100-year-old Sloane Club. A popular private members’ club where guests tend to hangout to work, socialise, and relax after a day of shopping along Kings Road. To celebrate the arrival of summer something special is happening. The Sloane has opened The Roof Terrace to non-members for the first time.
As soon as this news reached my ears, I booked a room at Sloane Place and made arrangements to catch up with a friend for dinner and wine alfresco style.
The Roof Terrace at The Sloane
We accessed the roof terrace via Sloane Place on the first floor. We knew that we had made the right choice before even reaching the top of the winding staircase, thanks to the sounds of clinking glasses and polite laughter from other patrons. From that moment on we weren’t disappointed.
We were warmly greeted by servers and a gentleman behind the bar, in what can only be described as a lovely open space and escorted across the wooden deck to our table. It was after 7pm and the sun was no longer beaming down on us, but it was a warm evening, and the sky was bright blue over our heads. Fortunately, for us this meant that the canopy cover in reserve for English weather remained hidden away for the evening.
We were in no hurry as we hadn’t met up for a while, so we ordered a bottle of sparkling water, as well as a bottle of Picpoul de Pinet Domaine Morin, Languedoc. The perfect summer’s evening wine was light and dry with flavours of green apple, citrus, and white blossom. It was nowhere near as expensive as you would expect in Chelsea.
The menu was smaller than the Sloane Place dinner menu, but equally impressive. Just like before, I wanted to try everything on the starter menu, but instead of getting carried away we decided to share the tiger prawn tempura with sweet chilli sauce. The prawn batter was deliciously crispy, and the sweet chilli sauce delivered a light bite at the back of the throat, which was perfect with the wine.
For mains, I opted for the Surrey farmed Angus beef fillet which I can honestly say was the most tender and fine tasting steak I have had, and my guest decided to go for the yellowfin tuna steak which she said was delicious. To go with our mains, we shared English green asparagus, wilted spinach, and wok-fried chilli-garlic broccoli. It came with a little more kick than the tiger prawns, but I am a bit of chilli fiend. It was great.
Despite the fine-looking sweet section on the menu, we decided to have another bottle of Picpoul de Pinet and chat for another hour before my guest left, and I headed up to third floor to my room for the night.
The Room at Sloane Place
The room at Sloane Place was decorated tastefully, but not overtly extravagantly which I like. Jumping into the big and comfortable double bed was as enjoyable as my evening at The Rooftop Terrace, but in a different kind of way. It was the sort of bed that I would happily have spent more time in.
I awoke early the following morning, as I had a busy day planned, in the tastefully decorated room with a light and airy feel. It was quiet as I pulled back the curtains and gazed down on Lower Sloane Street below.
I was in a bit of a hurry so didn’t try out the Nespresso machine or turn on the 40-inch smart TV, but I can tell you that the Wi-Fi speed did not let me down over breakfast in the downstairs restaurant. The team serving was kind, friendly, and managed to politely give guests the space that they wanted over breakfast at 7am.
After a full English breakfast with two eggs, back bacon, Cumberland sausage, black pudding, baked beans, tomato, grilled mushroom, and sourdough bread I had a second espresso hit, thanked everyone and made a run for the door back out on to Lower Sloane Place.
Just as before, everything was amazing and appreciated. Sloane Place really is the one to watch in Chelsea.
Prices start from £200 a night at Sloane Place on a B&B basis. Don’t let this one slip through your fingers: https://www.sloaneplace.com/
