It’s where Diana dined – but does the new Le Caprice capture the old school glam of the original?

In its Eighties and Nineties heyday, Mick Jagger, Kate Moss, Elizabeth Hurley and Princess Diana all waltzed through its famous doors to dine (and gossip) in style. As Jeremy King opens Arlington on the same spot in St James’s, Josh Barrie bags a table at the hottest restaurant in town to see if it can still work its magic

The royal treatment: the princess frequented the eatery so much so there was table named after her (Shutterstock)

Restaurateur Jeremy King tells me customers have been moved to tears upon entering Arlington, his first restaurant since departing Corbin & King, very much an echo of the glamorous Le Caprice that stood in this same spot in St James’s for so many years before.

Much has changed and yet, to the untrained eye, it looks the same: glossy black and white tones, elegant strip lighting, mirrors and David Bailey photographs. From a table in the middle of the restaurant, we watch well-dressed types come and go. New, but old scalloped wine buckets are on their way. “So we can fit three bottles in one bucket,” King explains.

Is Arlington a pastiche? Or is it a time warp, through which to view a more romantic time? First, it is King returning to the industry he departed from. To where, for him and former business partner Chris Corbin, it really all began – in 1981, when King was just 27.