Birthdays in our house, you’ll not be surprised to learn, are opportunities for eating out. Last weekend was my husband’s 40-something birthday and we celebrated by having lunch at the Dean Street Townhouse. As Nick Jones’ (he of Soho House and Babington House fame) latest offering, The Dean Street Townhouse has been getting quite a bit of attention so it was our way of pretending we are entering that fourth decade still as hip and on trend as ever.
It also, we discovered, allowed us to indulge our love of all things New York: as soon as you step inside you could as easily be in SoHo as Soho. We had booked the table for three but not indicated that our third was in fact a three year old. The host took this in her stride and a great fuss was made of taking Jack’s coat and seating him in the best spot with a view across the room.
Jack asked for bread and some water before we’d even had a chance to open the menus and was genially indulged. Whilst no children’s menu was offered, when I ordered the fish and chips for Jack the waiter immediately suggested a children’s version of the adult dish.
The restaurant was almost full but there was no sense that they were over stretched. Dan’s chicken pie, my salt beef and Jack’s fish and chips arrived just as we’d managed to clock a couple of broadcast journalists and a former Downing Street staffer. The blackbird steam vent in the chicken pie brought on a rendition by Jack of Four and Twenty Blackbirds which was the cause of some amusement (and thankfully not a hint of annoyance) from the staff and diners around us.
Since it was a birthday celebration we all had dessert. Ice creams for the boys and sherry triffle for me. The food is simple but perfectly prepared and presented.
There isn’t a baby changing table but the disabled loo is enormous and absolutely spotless, so as long as you have a good changing mat I wouldn’t let this put you off because this is a great place for a relaxed and thoroughly enjoyable lunch. We left vowing to come back for a more romantic ‘diner a deux’ as soon as we can get a baby sitter…
Rating:
Stylishness: 5/5
Friendliness: 4/5
Feeding Facilities: 4/5
Changing Facilities: 3/5
Food: 4/5
Overall rating: 20/25 ££-£££
Baby Dines Out 
Hey – great blog, congrats! We did a post on child-friendly restaurants recently, will have to update it to include a link to your blog as it’s far more comprehensive. Happy peaceful eating!
http://www.onedayyoullthankme.com/2009/11/15/kid-friendly-restaurants-in-london/
Thanks so much – glad you like it! Yours is pretty good too!