Aubaine Notting Hill, Private Room

This is a restaurant inside of the Hilton Hyde Park. It serves breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner. The place is decorated beautifully, and the food is tasty and good. We had a good experience here.

I’m not giving 4 stars or higher because I remember what Aubaine used to be. I used to live in Notting Hill and this was my go to place for breakfast. It’s been a few years since I visited but the food wasn’t as good, the bacon was super salty and almost inedible. The mushrooms were good as were the eggs, the hash browns tasted like they were frozen and heated up. They took out the comfy couch area by the front door where I would sit and have coffee and it just wasn’t the same vibe as it used to be.

Came in just for a simple hot chocolate to take away. What I got instead was a full TED Talk about how this is supposedly “the best hot chocolate you’ll ever have.” Spoiler alert: it absolutely wasn’t. Despite clearly asking for takeaway, the drink was casually made at the bar, with one staff member throwing it together while the other was busy socializing with customers. Priorities, I guess. After all the hype, the hot chocolate itself was impressively underwhelming — bland, watery, and completely forgettable. If this is the best, I’d hate to try the average. All style, all talk, zero substance. Travelers, do yourselves a favor and don’t fall for the sales pitch. Plenty of better cafés in London.