Review: Il Giardino, The Berkeley Hotel

Well, look at this, a restaurant review on HGAT after a long, long time but I couldn’t resist, I just had to share this restaurant with you. Mainly because of how great the steak was over here but also because it’s a rare gem to come across!

Il Giardino is an al fresco Italian fine dining restaurant which can be found at The Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge. However, that hasn’t always been the case. In 2020, the al fresco dining option was introduced at the hotel and they created The Garden. In 2021, they brought the seaside to Wilton Place and erected colourful beach huts! Finally, in 2022, they brought out the olive trees and are taking a slice out of the Mediterranean with their Italian summer pop up!

Do keep in mind, Il Giardino is not a halal restaurant, rather a restaurant that offers many, many halal options. These include the fantastic T-bone steak, an incredibly light and refreshing sea bream carpaccio a lemon-chilli baby chicken and lots more.

Right, lets get to the food!

The Halal Food at Il Giardino, The Berkeley Hotel

I know, I know, I have mentioned the T-bone steak at least 100 times at the beginning of this post but I cannot stress just how good this steak was and how eager I was to share it with you all. This behemoth of a steak, consisting of a fillet and sirloin steak, arrived on a wooden board with two small bowls filled with green, punchy salsa verde and rock salt.

The steak is simply seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked over an extremely high heat to achieve that buttery, caramelised crust. Most of the time, Fiorentina steak is served rare however BW needed it cooked a little more for his liking so they were able to cook one side rare for me and the other towards a more medium/medium-well.

And I’ll say it again but this steak is easily one of the best halal steaks in London right now and shouldn’t be missed out on!

Lightly seared fillet steak that has been sliced and topped with a creamy truffle artichoke sauce, a heap of rocket and more shavings of black truffle.

If you’ve brought the kids with you, worry not, the children’s menu has plenty of dishes to choose from so even the fussiest one will be happy. We opted for the mini beef sliders; mini juicy beef patties sandwiched between soft brioche buns.

A side dish almost as good as the main, these potatoes arrived super crunchy with a soft, cloud-like interior.

Here are the other items we ordered:

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay for dessert this time but the tiramisu and the Amalfi lemon meringue tart had certainly caught our eyes. Alas, next time!

Overall, the food was very, very good with the exception of the red mullet dish – the fish was a little too tough for our liking. The service was also great and attentive, and they were well informed about halal. The bill amounted to £400+ for 5 adults and 1 child, including drinks and service, so approximately £80 per person. Phew, certainly a pricey meal and one to perhaps save for a special occasion like a birthday.

Sure, it may not be a halal restaurant but they have a large range of halal options on the menu and are extremely accommodating whether you have a child or have a gluten intolerance. One thing for sure is that I’ll be back for that fantastic steak!

Halal Status: All meats served are halal. Pork and alcohol present.
Website: the-berkeley.co.uk/
Address: The Berkeley, Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, SW1X 7RL

Disclaimer: Please do double check the halal status of the restaurant when you visit as the suppliers may have changed since this review was written.