Check In, Dine Out: The Churchill, London
For the second instalment of The Knife’s hotel dining series, 'Check In, Dine Out', we head to Marylebone and Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill, where Mediterranean cooking over live fire, Riviera-inspired cocktails and private garden picnics give this grand London hotel a food identity that stretches well beyond the breakfast buffet.
A Marylebone Hotel with an Appetite
There are few London neighbourhoods that balance centrality with calm quite like Marylebone. Oxford Street is only moments away, Hyde Park sits close by and the West End is easily within reach, yet around Portman Square the pace noticeably softens.
Overlooking its leafy private garden, Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill has occupied this corner of the capital with a suitably understated confidence. The five-star hotel takes inspiration from Sir Winston Churchill throughout its design, while its 440 rooms – including 50 suites – give it the scale of a major London hotel without entirely losing the sense of place that comes from its Marylebone address.
Food plays a significant part in that identity. Rather than funnelling everything through one all-purpose hotel restaurant, The Churchill spreads its dining proposition across the open-fire cooking of The Montagu Kitchen, cocktails and lighter plates at The Churchill Bar & Terrace, and seasonal experiences that take guests beyond the building and into Portman Square itself.
It is exactly what 'Check In, Dine Out' is intended to uncover: hotels where eating and drinking can shape the stay rather than simply accompany it.
Mediterranean Cooking Over Fire
The Montagu Kitchen is the hotel’s culinary anchor, looking out towards Portman Square and positioning the flavours of coastal Europe around one particularly important piece of equipment: its Josper grill.
Billed by the hotel as London’s only Mediterranean hotel grill house dedicated to open-fire cooking, the restaurant favours food that feels generous and recognisable, but still carries enough personality to make it a destination in its own right.
Sharing plates and skewers establish the mood. Octopus tentacle comes with cucumber, red onion and lemon; Chicken Shish Tawook is paired with harissa; and prawns are kept simple with lemon and chilli. Larger dishes lean into the grill, with 21-day dry-aged T-bone and spring lamb cutlets with rosemary, garlic, yoghurt and mint among the meatier options.
Mediterranean influence extends beyond the flames. Fresh egg rigatoni brings together mushroom, black truffle and Parmesan cream, while lemon risotto offers something brighter. Meanwhile, crème brûlée and classic tiramisù keep dessert reassuringly familiar.
The appeal is in that lack of unnecessary complication. This is food designed to be shared over a bottle of wine and allowed to unfold slowly, particularly when Portman Square is sitting green and quiet just beyond the windows.
A Little Riviera in Marylebone
If The Montagu Kitchen brings Mediterranean flavours indoors, The Churchill Bar & Terrace takes the idea outside.
Its Riviera Terrace was introduced for summer 2026, inspired by Churchill’s own travels to the South of France and dressed with lavender, wisteria, mimosa and hydrangeas to bring a suggestion of the Côte d’Azur to Marylebone. Lunch service was also introduced to the terrace for the first time, turning what had traditionally been a drinks destination into somewhere capable of carrying an afternoon from first plate to final spritz.
The menu happily avoids trying too hard. Beef carpaccio with Parmesan and rocket, chicken Milanese with roasted cherry tomatoes, Caprese and salade Niçoise all fit the setting, while the drinks retain a little more of The Churchill’s character.
The Finest Hour combines kaffir lime-infused blanco tequila, Campari, agave, lime and grapefruit soda; the Bon Vivant pairs rosé Champagne with fig and plum; and the Chartwell Fizz mixes London Dry Gin, lychee and lemon with homemade lavender soda. There is also the alcohol-free Lady Clementine, made with Everleaf Mountain, Lyre’s Aperitif and hibiscus soda.
A dedicated red post box adds one of the experience’s more charming details. Guests can write postcards from the terrace and send them to friends and family around the world – an old-fashioned touch that feels even more whimsical after the second spritz.
Take Lunch into the Garden
The Churchill’s most distinctive dining room, however, might not have any walls at all. Hotel guests benefit from privileged access to the private gardens of Portman Square, a secluded pocket of greenery that feels surprisingly removed from nearby Oxford Street. Through its seasonal Meet Me In Marylebone experience, the hotel has taken advantage of that setting with picnic hampers prepared by The Montagu Kitchen.
There are three versions designed for two: the £55 Classic keeps things casual with mixed olives, bread, Caesar salad, a club sandwich, fries and soft drinks; the £85 Deluxe adds charcuterie, buffalo mozzarella, chicken Caesar salad, salmon bagels and dessert; while the £140 Luxury option includes charcuterie, cheese, poke bowl, salmon bagels, desserts and a bottle of house white or rosé.
Champagne from Billecart-Salmon or Pol Roger can be added, as can fresh flowers, should an afternoon lying on the grass require a little extra theatre.
It's a simple idea, but one that makes good use of something many central London hotels cannot offer: genuine green space on the doorstep. Lunch becomes less about sitting inside a hotel and more about temporarily borrowing a private corner of Marylebone.
Check In for London, Stay for the Table
There is plenty beyond the dining room to justify staying put. Rooms look towards Portman Square, selected suites have private balconies and the four-bedroom Churchill Residential Suite combines contemporary comforts with antiques and original copies of artwork by Churchill himself.
Families are well considered too, with younger guests receiving a personalised passport featuring resident mascot Jock the Cat, alongside child-friendly amenities, bathrobes and slippers. The location, meanwhile, puts Marylebone’s independent shops and restaurants, Hyde Park and the wider West End comfortably within exploring distance.
But The Churchill makes a convincing argument for spending at least some of that London stay closer to home. There is open-fire Mediterranean cooking for dinner, Riviera plates and cocktails for a leisurely afternoon, and a picnic waiting beyond the gates of Portman Square when the weather plays along. Different experiences, certainly, but all connected by an increasingly important idea in modern hotel dining: give guests something memorable enough that locals might want to come too.
In a neighbourhood hardly short of places to eat, that may be The Churchill’s strongest culinary credential.
