Everybody loves hotels, especially the boutique variety where small is good and you can feel like a real person and not just a room number. The Leonard Hotel is a small London hotel with its own restaurant that’s a little like home from home.

The Venue
The Leonard Hotel is centrally situated a mere stone’s throw from Marble Arch and Oxford Street. It has just 48 rooms plus five apartments opposite. It looks traditional although it has all the usual modern conveniences you would now expect of any hotel. It resembles more a large, period townhouse that has not been spoilt by updating the decor. Instead it looks as if it has stepped straight out of Edwardian London. The restaurant and bar lead off the small lobby reception area. Everything is on a small scale, so that the bar and restaurant are in a relatively tiny room but then they are also cosy and comfortable.

The traditional decor in the restaurant might lead you to think that it’s a gentleman’s club. The walls are covered in a mixture of pictures including formal portraits. There are big, comfortable, easy chairs around the bar and traditional dining tables and chairs in the dining area. It’s a very small space and therefore residents are encouraged to have breakfast in their own rooms to avoid overcrowded mornings in the restaurant, but of course you don’t have to be resident to dine at Seymours.

The Atmosphere
If you happen to be at the Marble Arch end of Oxford Street, Seymours is actually something of a blessing for, apart from the many fast food places, there are no proper restaurants on Oxford Street itself. A traditional appearance doesn’t, however, mean a formal atmosphere because the ambience at Seymours is one of relaxation, with visitors having a drink or a quiet meal away from the busy West End outside.

The Food
Traditional British with variations could describe the menu at Seymours. Here you can find good old British fish and chips, crisply battered cod fillet deep-fried and served with chunky chips and a side order of mushy peas; or bangers and mash, Lincolnshire sausages with onion gravy and creamed mashed potatoes; or steak Diane and pan-fried fillet of Scottish beef. Perhaps not so traditionally British is the Leonard’s homemade cheeseburger. Main courses are priced from £12.95 to £16.95 and all are served with vegetables included. In addition to the a la carte menu there is also a set menu at £15.95 for three courses plus a 24-hour menu of sandwiches and pizzas and they also serve afternoon tea.

Good fresh rolls come with the first course. It’s always a good start to a meal if the bread is worth eating – it usually bodes well for everything else. The starters (£4.50-£7.95) offer a choice of soups including pumpkin and ginger, rocket salad with Parmesan and cherry tomatoes, baked Portobello mushroom with mozzarella, and king prawns with garlic and white wine sauce. The wild mushroom risotto with saffron (which can also be served as a main course) is everything a good risotto should be, rich and creamy with a nice smooth texture and a good flavour from the mushrooms. A faultless risotto is a rare find and this is a particularly fine example. The salad of deep-fried squid with sweet chilli sauce (again available also as a main course) is similarly superb. Beautifully hot and fresh rings of the squid are fried in a crispy, crunchy coating of batter and served on a bed of salad leaves and are just right. Not chewy, not soggy, but perfect, with the sweet chilli sauce to give them a bit of edge.

Apart from the main courses already mentioned here, there is also chicken supreme wrapped in pancetta, penne pasta with spicy tomato sauce, hot chillies and garlic, and a vegetable bake of oven-baked root vegetables with mixed herbs. The Atlantic caught sea bass is a good choice as the white flesh of the fish is thick, meaty and very fresh tasting with that great flavour of the sea. It is well presented on a bed of spinach mash. Steak Diane is a no-nonsense, traditional dish. Here it is a huge steak with a buttery sauce and mushrooms that enhance the meat immensely. The steak is tender and very flavoursome and the accompanying French fries are piping hot. A portion of green beans completes a perfect dish.

In the desserts (£4.50-£6.50) a traditional apple tart is offered, or there’s chocolate fudge cake, vanilla cheese cake, a seasonal fruit plate or mixed ice cream. The vanilla ice is rich and creamy and with a strong taste of vanilla which is good, as so often ice cream can taste of not very much at all. For a change the cheese plate is a good idea with a selection of hard, soft and blue cheese with plenty of crackers and a little bunch of grapes, making a good savoury end to the meal.

The Drink
Many of the wines at Seymours are available by both the glass and the bottle, such as the Australian Semillon Chardonnay 2006 (£4.95/£17.95), a Sauvignon 2006 (£5.95/£18.50), and a Pinot Grigio 2007 (£5.95/£19.95) in the whites, while the reds include a Brouilly 2006 (£4.95/ £19.95) as well as a New Zealand Pinot Noir at £22.95 a bottle, a South African Cabernet Sauvignon at £28.95 and a Rioja 2000 at £31.50. The house Chilean Merlot is a very good drink at £4.95 a glass and £17.50 for the bottle. Full-bodied, rich and fruity, it goes well with both fish and steak. There’s also a cocktail list of the usual favourites plus some surprises.

The Last Word
The Leonard Hotel is very pleasant, with friendly service at its restaurant, a nicely secluded place to eat in comfort and quiet. For a calm oasis in the centre of town, Seymours is the place to be.

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