Front row at the pass: counter seats and kitchen tables north of Oxford Street

The best seat faces the kitchen

A conventional table puts two people face to face with nothing to look at but each other. A counter seat puts them shoulder to shoulder, facing the most interesting room in the building. The knives, the flames, the quiet calls from the pass and the plates set down with a sentence of explanation give the evening a rhythm of its own, and conversation flows around it without any effort.

That is why counter dining suits a first evening together so well. Attention always has somewhere to go, silences are never awkward because something is always happening, and every course arrives with a small story attached. It costs more than an ordinary table, sometimes considerably more. On the right night, it is the best money spent in W1.

Kitchen Table, the benchmark on Charlotte Street

In Fitzrovia, Kitchen Table on Charlotte Street sets the standard. Guests sit on stools around a counter that wraps the working kitchen, and the chefs cook, plate, serve and describe each course themselves, often with a word about the farm or the boat it came from. The menu is a long procession of small courses built on British produce, and it has made the room one of the most decorated counters in London.

It is not a quick dinner and not a cheap one, and reservations open in advance and go fast. For an occasion, though, few seats in the city compare. Tell the restaurant about any allergy when you book, because a fixed menu is planned days ahead.

Charcoal and rice: the robata and sushi counters

Further down the same street, Roka is organised around its robata, an open charcoal grill set at the centre, and the best seats in the house are the stools facing it. Skewers and small plates arrive at a steady pace, the room is lively, and the whole thing works as well for a two-hour dinner as for a long one.

Sushi counters take the idea to its purest form. Sushi Atelier on Great Portland Street has a long bar where you can watch every cut, and at any good sushi counter the right move is to ask what came in that morning and let the chef decide. Sit close, watch the hands, and do not hurry. The Charlotte Street dinner note covers the rest of the street by mood.

Guest chefs and short residencies

Carousel, which built its reputation on Blandford Street in Marylebone, works differently: it invites chefs from other cities and other countries for short residencies, so the kitchen, and the menu, change every few weeks. Each residency brings its own ideas, and every booking is a small premiere.

The appeal is novelty. The risk is that you cannot always know in advance what you will eat. For a companion who enjoys food as a subject, that is part of the fun, and it gives a second evening something new to talk about. Check its current address and who is in residence before you book, and choose a week whose menu genuinely appeals.

When the premium earns its keep

Not every night deserves a counter. It earns its price when both of you are curious about food, when the evening is an occasion rather than a refuel, and when you have the full three hours without one eye on the clock. It earns less at the end of a punishing day, when a quiet table and a short menu would restore you faster, or when one of you is a cautious eater facing a fixed run of surprises.

A simple test helps: would you both happily spend a quarter of the evening talking about what is on the plate? If so, book the counter. If not, a village table will serve you better, and the money saved buys another hour of company instead. Clementine will say plainly which companions light up at a tasting menu and which would rather have a steak and a good bottle.

What a counter asks of your evening

Counter dining has its own practicalities, and a few minutes of planning keeps the evening smooth.

Matching the booking to the menu

Because a long counter menu rarely takes less than three hours, the shortest sensible booking is three hours for £700, arriving together and leaving straight after the last course. Better still, book the dinner date, which gives four hours at £900: a drink beforehand, the menu at its own pace, and a short walk or a nightcap afterwards. For Roka or a sushi counter, two hours for £500 is enough. Every rung is on the rates page, and Clementine plans the arrival around the time on your reservation.

The Selection, seated at the pass

Thea greets a sushi chef like an old friend, asks what arrived that morning and orders accordingly; Sushi Atelier on Great Portland Street is her favourite counter in W1. Nancy eats sushi every week and likes to follow the knife work closely. Luna wants the wine list in her hands first and marks each glass out of ten, and Bianka has firm views on how every course should be cooked.

Thea and Nancy are both among our blondes, and Luna belongs to the auburn and red group. Ask Clementine which of them is free on the night of your reservation.