Review, Hans' Bar & Grill, Pavilion Road ★★★★★

Think of Sloane Square and (depending on age) visions of the Swinging youth culture or pearl touting, head-band wearing Sloanes spring to mind. Once home to fashionable foodie go-tos including La Famiglia and Bluebird, it's fair to say that Sloane Square lost its gastronomical way in recent years. But now Chelsea is back on the gastronomical map, with plenty of new one-off restaurants, from Putney's relocated Enoteca Turi to one of the prettiest foodie enclaves in the capital, Pavilion Road. Eating in Chelsea has never been better.

To help you navigate its revamped restaurant scene, Culture Whisper brings you a guide to the very best Chelsea restaurants (plus some of our old favourites).

Hans' Bar & Grill is the latest addition to the crop of fresh new life in the area. Although affiliated with newly refurbished boutique hotel No 11 Cadogan gardens, this stand alone brasserie is a destination restaurant in its own right. Masterminded by the team behind luxury hotels Clivedon and Chewton Glen, its elegant interiors, top-notch seasonal British food and superb wine list of over 180 wines make for a charming retreat in the heart of Sloane Square. This is not a staid and stuffy hotel restaurant. We promise.

Nestled among the artisanal shops and food suppliers of Chelsea's Pavilion Road, Hans' Bar & Grill operates all day, and offers three distinct seating areas. There's the cafe-bar with oak tables, exposed brick walls and floor-to-ceiling glass doors opening out to Pavilion Road, serving almond croissants and soya milk lattes by day and a selection of cocktails and light snacks by night; the spacious Courtyard Restaurant, bathed in streams of natural light; and the more formal dining room at the back of the restaurant.

Here, the walls are bottle-green, the chairs upholstered in millennial pink velvet and the large veneered tables big enough to accommodate dining paraphernalia without feeling crammed. It’s quite a relaxed setting with lots of lush foliage and botanical prints adorning the interior spaces; gentle chatter from a younger clientele than expected fills the air.

Hans' Bar & Grill Dove Sole

Food is seasonal modern British, and inspired by Head Chef Adam England's previous experience in kitchens across the country. To start, we opted for a number of sharing plates: the Buratta salad with Bayonne Ham and white peach, and the smoked chicken, blue cheese and avocado salad come highly recommended. Free from gloopy dressings and too much salt, they served as light but bold appetisers. We added a side of freshly basked rosemary bread, which came with the most unctuous whipped butter we've ever tasted.

Mains are traditional, but cooked to perfection. The à la carte menu is extensive, catering to all palettes and dietary requirements, but helpful staff were on hand with pairing suggestions and recommendations. Highlights included the Pan Fried Halibut with Wye Valley asparagus, morels and a light sauce vierge, and the Wagu beef burger, served with fries and chunky tomato chutney. Portions are on the light side, so don't be afraid of ordering an extra serving of veg. The sommelier was wonderful too, recommending a bold 2015 French Shiraz which turned out to be a lovely accompaniment to the beef.

Those with a sweet tooth are in for a real treat. Chocolate is central to the dessert menu, inspired by the restaurant's namesake Hans Sloane, who first brought chocolate to London. The salted caramel chocolate pot is a decadent layered creation served with vanilla ice cream that falls just shy of sensational. The Buttermilk panna cotta, garnished with rhubarb dew drops of ginger jelly, is surprisingly good, too.

Though food is expensive and service was a little over attentive at times, it's just what the area needed. We'll be returning for sure.