The beautiful landscape of Hyde Park has been welcoming the general public for almost 400 years since King Charles the 1st officially opened it to all. Until that point, this was 350 acres of a Royal hunting ground in the heart of London, full of ancient woodland, lakes and wild terrain that only a very select and privileged few were able to enjoy.
In the generations that have passed since, there has been a wealth of food and drink vendors that appeared in the park and its surrounding neighbourhoods to cater for the tastes of the day. Enterprising young women would often sell oranges and gingerbread to the strolling aristocracy here, with a Keeper’s Lodge also providing some more formal refreshment. Of course, the Great Exhibition of 1851 saw a huge influx of businesses descend on the park, bringing lemonade, ginger beer and seltzer water with them. By that time, Hyde Park had also accrued a fantastic wealth of satellite restaurants and cafes to attend to the crowds too.
In the 21st century, the café culture around here firmly remains, with some excellent options to choose from. This is a guide to the best among them.
H.R Higgins (Coffee-man) - Mayfair
This is a superb specialist coffee and tea merchant with an on-site café that has been family-owned and run since 1942. If one was looking for a recommendation for their products and services, then the Royal Warrant granted to this fine establishment by Queen Elizabeth II in 1979 is difficult to beat.
The café can be found just east of Hyde Park on Duke Street, with a gentle 5-minute walk from the Park Lane side. There is a fascinating heritage involved in H.R Higgins that charts the original owner being one of the first London merchants to trade with the coffee growers directly. His journeys to Tanzania in the early 1960s made him a pioneer of what we now understand as sustainable and responsible sourcing for his industry.
Inside the café, a traditional London merchant atmosphere remains with wood-panelled counters and the antique mechanical scale still proudly applied daily. Alongside the espresso options, there are signature offerings such as the Creole Blend and a rotation of single-origin choices from Ethiopia, Honduras and Brazil to explore. This is a café that acts as a bridge between the fast-paced and ubiquitous coffee industry of the present day and the more measured and slower hospitality experience of a time gone by.
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Café Kitsuné - Belgravia
This is a great example of how a lifestyle brand understands its clients in an intimate and complete way. Maison Kitsuné was created by Gildas Loaëc and Masaya Kuroki in 2002, with influences from France and Japan coalescing for a unique fashion and music experience. The global Café Kitsuné collection added hospitality to its suite of services in 2013, and this Belgravia outpost seems the perfect flagship for it.
Just a 10-minute walk southeast from the park at Halkin Arcade, this is a minimalist paradise with clean lines and natural materials forming a wonderfully modern space. Terrace seating is available outside for the warmer months, with huge windows ensuring a swathe of natural light in any weather. The menu dishes deliver a unique blend of French patisserie informed by Japanese cuisine, with highlights such as the caramel-miso rice pudding brioche. A contemporary focus on matcha lattes and teas is also evident amongst the standards of espresso and cappuccino here that emphasise the next generation of café trends in the capital. Everything at Café Kitsuné feels charged with intentional refinement and innovative style.
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Ladurée - Mayfair
The Ladurée brand was founded in Paris in 1862 by Louis Ernest Ladurée and will be forever synonymous with their exquisite double-shell ganache-filled macaron. These elegant and delicate pastry marvels were developed by Ladurée almost 100 years ago and have been the subject of a recent renaissance that has only added to the prestige and popularity of this Mayfair café. Here on South Audley Street, only a ten-minute walk from the Marble Arch exit of Hyde Park, one could easily be forgiven for thinking that they had wandered straight into Paris in the previous century. The chic décor and pastel tones are more akin to a salon from the past, with beautiful mouldings on the ceilings and fine China on the tables. This air of sophistication continues across the food and drink on show through pastries and mille-feuilles that sit beside heartier options such as the savoury croissants and club sandwiches. The Ladurée Macaron Latte here is available in a collection of flavours that include the Marie-Antoinette with notes of tea and rose honey, topped, of course, with a world-famous macaron. This place is a delicate delight in every way.
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Comptoir Café & Wine - Mayfair
Comptoir Café & Wine on Weighhouse Street in Mayfair is a hybrid daytime café and evening wine bar that manages to do both to an excellent standard with absolutely no compromise on quality. It was created by the wine connoisseur Xavier Rousset with an understanding that the lifestyles and leisure times often overlap in the modern world and should always be accommodated appropriately. The space itself uses subtle lighting and a laid-back charm that makes the daily transitions feel gradual and comfortable to encourage guests to stay a while longer.
Comptoir is a pleasant 5-10 minute journey from the eastern edge of the park on foot, with the nearby Bond Street always on-hand from boutique shopping before you visit. For brunch, there is always the specialty coffees and pastries on offer, but the charcuterie menu that begins at 12pm may prove too difficult to ignore. This is a fantastic selection of French and Italian meats served with bread and cornichons, with the Lombardy Bresaola Sottofesa being a particular highlight. With over 500 curated wines available by the glass, an afternoon can easily melt into the evening here.
Hyde Park has been an essential part of London’s social gatherings for centuries. It is incredibly reassuring to see such a sophisticated, unique and varied collection of cafes from the neighbouring streets so effectively supporting this London landmark in the modern day. With these and others providing excellent food and drink options for all visitors throughout the year, Hyde Park looks set to be a fixture for the capital’s high society for a long time to come.
