Carousel
Before Santiago Lastra opened KOL, he test-drove it at Carousel, the Templeton family's residency restaurant where the kitchen changes hands every week or two. More than 350 chefs from over 50 countries have cooked here since 2014.
Why go
Cousins Ollie, Ed, Will and Anna Templeton opened Carousel on Blandford Street in Marylebone in 2014 and moved it to three Georgian townhouses on Charlotte Street in November 2021 (Restaurant Online). Ollie, previously sous chef at Moro, runs the house kitchen that visiting chefs plug into (Great British Chefs), which is why a cook flying in for a week can serve a set menu at full tilt from night one. The format works as a scouting report: you eat what a chef wants to open next, before the restaurant exists. In February 2026 the family added Cometa, a permanent Mexican seafood room inside the same address (The Staff Canteen).
Order this / avoid
- Order: the residency set menu, whatever it is that week; the calendar at carousel-london.com is the real menu. July 2026 runs Cambodian live-fire cook Tom Geoffrey's Barang and a residency from Akihiro Sato. At Cometa, the prawn, tomato and horseradish ceviche; at No. 23, Chuck George's smashburgers with agave cocktails.
- Avoid: booking without checking who is cooking. The room is only as good as the week's chef, so read the calendar like a gig listing.
What locals & experts say
- Harden's (2024):
An amazing procession of incredible chefs from all over the world passes through the kitchen,
in its piece marking ten years of residencies spanning more than 50 countries.1 - Hot Dinners: notes the residency alumni effect, chefs
some of whom would go on to launch restaurants they trialled there (like Kol by Santiago Lastra).
2
Good to know
- Timing: residencies run evenings, typically Tuesday to Saturday; Cometa serves Tuesday to Saturday from midday; No. 23 pours from 5pm Tuesday to Saturday.
- Booking: book residencies ahead through the venue calendar since popular chefs sell out; No. 23 takes walk-ins.
- Rooms: one address, three modes: the residency dining room, Cometa, and the No. 23 bar, so a group can trade up or down without changing streets.
Verdict
should-visit — Worth the detour for the format: London's residency pioneer, where 350-plus chefs from more than 50 countries have cooked and where Santiago Lastra trialled what became KOL. The craft ceiling any given week depends on who is in the kitchen, so it cannot promise a career dish the way a fixed two-star can, and that variance is what holds it off the top rung.