There are certain expectations that come with dining at a Michelin-starred restaurant, particularly when it comes to the service and atmosphere. LITA in Marylebone manages to do things a little differently. The food is excellent, the wine list is impressive and the restaurant itself is gorgeous, but what makes it particularly enjoyable is just how relaxed the whole experience feels.
Located on Paddington Street, LITA is a Mediterranean-inspired bistro with a focus on seasonal produce and open-fire cooking. Leading the kitchen is Culinary Director Kostas Papathanasiou, whose impressive career includes The Fat Duck, The Ledbury and three-Michelin-starred Frantzén in Stockholm, where he previously held the position of Executive Chef. Having joined LITA in late 2025, Papathanasiou has continued to build on the restaurant’s Mediterranean approach, with LITA successfully retaining its Michelin star in the 2026 guide.
The menu is made up of dishes designed for sharing, with plenty of seafood, grilled meats and vegetable-led plates. It’s the kind of restaurant where you can easily spend a few hours over lunch, working your way through the menu with a few well-chosen glasses of wine.
The Restaurant
LITA is a beautiful restaurant, but not in the overly polished, minimalist way that has become quite common across London’s dining scene. The interiors feel warm and welcoming, with a mixture of vintage furniture, natural materials and contemporary touches that give the space plenty of character.
The restaurant takes inspiration from traditional Mediterranean homes, and there is a lot of thought behind the design. The terracotta floor tiles were sourced from private residences in Andalusia, while the wooden ceiling beams are around 200 years old, reclaimed from an old Victorian school. Even the chairs have a story, with the founders sourcing original mid-century pieces and having them reupholstered in fabrics from the same period.
There are some lovely details throughout the dining room, from the Italian red marble bar to the vintage bronze mussel-shaped wall lights by Maison Jansen. The mix of reclaimed materials, carefully sourced furniture and contemporary touches gives the restaurant a distinctive personality without making it feel overly designed.
What is particularly nice is that the restaurant doesn’t feel newly designed or overly styled. The different pieces sit together naturally, giving LITA the sort of character that usually takes years to develop. It feels intimate and comfortable, without losing the sense that you’re somewhere special.
The Food
LITA’s menu lends itself well to sharing, and with so many appealing dishes, ordering a selection of smaller plates alongside a couple of larger ones feels like the best way to experience it.
The meal started with Kaluga caviar, avocado and focaccia toast, followed by a seafood-topped potato rösti. The latter was particularly good, with crisp layers of potato providing a lovely contrast to the softer seafood.
The heritage beetroot salad with stracciatella, pistachio and grapefruit marmalade was another enjoyable dish. Thin slices of beetroot were paired with creamy stracciatella, while the grapefruit brought a little sharpness to the plate.
The Cornish crab salad with basil and tomato dressing was one of the highlights of the earlier courses. Fresh crab was served with tomatoes and a wonderfully flavourful tomato dressing. It was a fairly simple dish, but one that worked incredibly well.
Next came the grilled Orkney scallop with pumpkin and lobster sauce. The scallop was beautifully cooked, but it was the sauce that really stood out. Rich and full of flavour, almost like a lobster bisque, it was easily one of the best things on the table.
For the larger plates, the grilled monkfish with clam beurre blanc and fennel salad was a favourite. The fish had a lovely firm texture, while the buttery sauce added richness without overpowering it. Crispy potatoes on the side were a welcome addition.
There is a lot to enjoy about the cooking at LITA. The dishes are well presented and there are some interesting combinations, but nothing feels unnecessarily complicated. The ingredients remain the focus, and the food is all the better for it.
The Wine
The wine pairings were another highlight of the meal, with recommendations that complemented the food particularly well.
A glass of Chablis was a lovely starting point, crisp and refreshing alongside the opening seafood dishes.
The standout, however, was a glass of naturally fermented Santorini wine from Gavalas Winery in Greece, recommended by the sommelier to accompany the monkfish.
It was an excellent pairing. The wine had a wonderful freshness and minerality that cut through the richness of the beurre blanc beautifully, complementing the fish without overwhelming it.
Both recommendations were spot on, and it was particularly enjoyable to try something a little different with the monkfish.
Dessert
By the time dessert arrived, there had already been quite a few dishes, but there was still room for something sweet.
First was a scoop of ice cream finished with olive oil. It was a simple combination, but a surprisingly good one, with the olive oil adding a slightly savoury richness to the ice cream.
The chocolate tart, served with a dark fruit sorbet, was a more indulgent finish. The tart was rich and chocolatey, while the sorbet added a refreshing sharpness that stopped it from feeling too heavy.
The Service
One of the things that really stood out about LITA was the service. For a Michelin-starred restaurant, the atmosphere was incredibly relaxed, and the staff played a big part in that.
Everyone was friendly, attentive and genuinely welcoming, without any of the stiffness that can sometimes come with fine dining. There was no sense of being watched over or hurried through the meal, and conversations with the team felt natural rather than scripted.
The service was professional without being overly formal, and made the whole afternoon feel that much more enjoyable. It is something that can easily be overlooked when talking about a restaurant, but it makes a real difference.
The Verdict
LITA is a lovely example of how Michelin-starred dining doesn’t have to feel formal or intimidating. The food is excellent, particularly the seafood, and the wine pairings were very well judged.
The interiors are also a real highlight. There is so much character in the space, and the mix of vintage furniture, reclaimed materials and contemporary touches makes it somewhere you genuinely want to spend time.
Above all, though, it was the atmosphere that made the experience. The service was warm, the pace was relaxed and nothing felt unnecessarily fussy.
For a long lunch in Marylebone, particularly one that involves good seafood and a few glasses of wine, LITA is well worth a visit.
Location: 7–9 Paddington Street, Marylebone, London W1U 5QH
Book here.
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