The top end of Kings Road may be a hike from Sloane Square but, being so close to Chelsea’s premiership football club, it’s hardly the end of the world and especially so now that The World’s End Market has opened here. It occupies an impressive brick-built corner building, seemingly a large pub (which it was for many years) but once you are ushered in behind the curtained entrance its transformation into a modish restaurant is a satisfying surprise – the wood flooring, high ceiling and tiled wall look like original features, smartly balanced by low-level lighting from hanging copper lamps, a bar with a steel counter and a welcoming open fire to snuggle up to on cold nights.
The World’s End Market
The kitchen can be seen at one end of the dining area, fronted by a display of the fish and steaks that go the heart of the no-nonsense menu: rock oysters hail from Colchester, sole from the Atlantic, tiger prawns from Madagascar and the steaks from Surrey. My pal chomped through a T-bone and declared it perfect while I messed around with skate wings and observed fellow diners.
It was a Wednesday evening but every table was full and there was a gentle hum of conversation and, thankfully, no noise from the kitchen. The clientele was a pleasingly cosmopolitan gathering of people who had journeyed like us to the world’s end and found it a most hospitable and nourishing terminus.
by Sean Sheehan
World’s End Market 59 King’s Road, Chelsea, London Tel 0207 3522150