Gold

Drumroll, please. Gold is the best-looking and scene-iest place in west London. And, unlike others that have gone before it (Beach Blanket Babylon, hiiiii), the food and service are surprisingly good, too.

You can’t miss it: a honking great three-floor former pub right on the Portobello Road, its entire façade painted with a gold-and-white mural: the close-up of a soulful face, with with enormous, searching eyes and deep metallic wrinkles.

Inside, the first section is still very pubby: dark and poky, with beer on tap. But push on to the back. Here, under a rectractable glass roof, is a glorious conservatory, with brick herringbone floors, terracotta-washed walls and a jungle of foliage. If you’re the sort of person who never wants summer to end, you’ll want to take up a permanent spot. Which is probably why, at 6pm on dreary midweek evening, it was packed, with walk-ins turned away.

But anyway, the food. It’s not really why you go – this is a lifestyle-y hangout, where beautiful girls push things around their plates – but the cooking is better than you would expect. A generous dish of charred white peaches with bitter chicory and creamy burrata was one highlight. As was grilled squid with nutty, garlicky skordalia and zippy salsa verde, and butch chunks of grilled cabbage under an anchovy-thick sauce. In fact, my main concern was that they seemed to put anchovy in about half the dishes. Order with care.

And there’s a lot of expensive hair in this place. In short, Gold is not for everyone. But if you’re a fashionable local, then you’ll absolutely love it. In fact, you’re probably there right now.