Three Darlings

Three Darlings opened in October 2024, a casual all-day bistro from Jason Atherton. The restaurant name refers to his three daughters. In the same group are, amongst other places, Chez Rose and the two-Michelin-star Row on 5. The food here began as mainly British in style under chef Jake Oswin but in July 2026 acquired a more Mediterranean influence under the new head chef Sam Mills. Sam has worked for Jason Atherton for eight years at various of his restaurants.

As well as the dining room, Three Darlings has terrace seating for thirty people, available in good weather. The restaurant is tucked away off a pedestrianised street near Sloane Square, and is down a flight of steps (there is also a lift). The steps lead to a garden terrace, and the main dining room is on two levels, with an open kitchen and seating for 56 indoors. 

The wine list had 199 labels and ranged in price from £38 to £1,200, with a median price of £80 and an average markup to retail price of 3.2 times, which is fairly normal these days. Sample references were San Marzano Talo 2023at £42 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £18, Nestore Bosco, Montepulciano D’Abruzzo 2021 at £47 compared to its retail price of £13, and Gaia Wines Nemea 2024 at £67 for a wine that will set you back £18 in the high street. For those with the means there was Coal River Valley Tolpuddle Vineyard Tasmanian Pinot Noir 2022 at £160 compared to its retail price of £71, and Prunotto Busia Barolo 2021 at £210 for a wine whose current market value is £71.

To begin with we had gougeres made with Lincolnshire Poacher cheese as well as 21-month-aged Parmesan, topped with a little pickled walnut puree. The choux pastry had good texture, the cheese flavours came through well and the sharpness from the pickled walnut was a clever idea, providing some balance to the richness. My only issue is that the gougeres were served cold, and I think that they always taste better warm (14/20, but more than this if they had been hot). Focaccia was made in house, which is a particularly good idea with this particular bread: it dries out quickly and so many Italian restaurants end up serving hard, stale focaccia. This one entirely avoided that problem.

The other snack was a simple-sounding tomato compote on toast with Maltese anchovies. However, this dish was elevated by the extremely high-quality Amalfi Coast Vesuvius tomatoes. The Amalfi Coast produces some of the best tomatoes in the world and these were fabulous, having lovely sweetness and deep flavour, with the anchovies bringing their briny flavour as a contrast (16/20).

Whole langoustines from Scotland were cooked and served in their shells. These were nice, though I don’t think they compared well to some of the really large, top-notch specimens that can be found at a couple of top London restaurants. Anyhow, the cooking of the langoustines was good and these were certainly pleasant (13/20). A salad of blood plums and peaches from Provence, Muscat grape dressing and feta cheese was an unusual idea. The star element for me was the unusual feta, a blend of sheep’s and goat’s milk, so less crumbly than usual. Mixing fruit with savoury is always a tricky thing at a stage of a meal that is traditionally savoury, but I think that this worked all right (14/20).

Scallops were served in their shell with Café de Paris butter, a kind of spiced Mediterranean butter, with melted butter blended with mustard, herbs and spices. The scallops were nicely sweet and correctly cooked, working well with the gentle spice (14/20). Crab rice was rich and deeply flavoured, the brown crab meat having been nicely absorbed into the rice (15/20). I also liked a side dish of Scottish girolle mushrooms. These were simply cooked but had excellent flavour (14/20). 

A whole John Dory was nicely cooked and had good flavour, served on the bone. John Dory is a particularly fiddly fish to fillet, but as my wife once trained as an eye surgeon, she can fillet anything. The fish came with a rich bouillabaisse sauce, and this was excellent, being deeply flavoured. I have eaten worse bouillabaisse in Marseilles, which is the spiritual home of the dish (15/20). On the side was a simple dressed green salad and good, crisp Pierre Koffmann French fries.

Taleggio cheesecake had good texture and was quite cheesy in flavour, served with an excellent Provencal blood plum sorbet whose acidity cut nicely through the richness of the cheesecake (14/20). Amalfi lemon sorbet was served in a hollowed-out lemon shell and had very good flavour. I am a big fan of lemon, but I would have scored it a bit higher if it was a touch less sharp. A touch more sugar would have provided better balance, at least to my taste (14/20). Coffee was from Hundred House Roasters in Ludlow, and was fine.

Service was excellent, with a particularly friendly Ukrainian waiter called Igor looking after us very well. I was unable to get a bill, but if you ordered three courses and coffee and shared a modest bottle of wine then a typical cost per person might come to around £105 or so. Overall, I enjoyed Three Darlings, which has a very attractive setting, an appealing menu and capable cooking.