Chef
David Lagonell
- Discipline
- Chef
i. Biography
The brief at the core of David Lagonell’s work is built around heat and range: open-fire cooking, steaks, tacos, bottomless brunch, Sunday roasts, and tequila cocktails. It asks for a kitchen that can manage smoke, char, pace, and service without losing control. Lagonell’s career also includes kitchens around the world, and that wider working ground shows in a style that stays anchored to fire-led cooking while carrying the discipline and rhythm of a larger professional circuit.
The Essentials London is the setting, and that matters to the way David Lagonell’s work reads. The city gives room for a style that is direct, generous, and built for appetite, and his remit sits squarely in that register. Open-fire cooking brings smoke and immediacy; steaks demand timing and precision; tacos bring a looser cadence; bottomless brunch and Sunday roasts extend the brief across the week; and tequila cocktails finish the frame with a bright counterpoint. The mix points to a kitchen designed for sociability as much as technique. Kitchens around the world form the other line in the background. That experience does not pull the focus away from the fire-led centre of the menu; it adds breadth to it. The value of that stretch lies in exposure to different service pressures, kitchen cultures, and working standards, all of which feed a restaurant built around shared energy and constant motion.
Signature
David Lagonell’s signature dishes include Dry Aged Aussie Wagyu Beef Sirloin. Within a brief shaped by flame and high-volume hospitality, Dry Aged Aussie Wagyu Beef Sirloin sits as the clearest expression of the kitchen’s centre of gravity. The cut carries the weight of the menu’s steak-led side: aged beef, handled with discipline, and presented as a plate that depends on timing, heat, and control.
FAQ What is David Lagonell's current role? As of 2026, David Lagonell is Chef Director. What is David Lagonell known for? Open-fire cooking, steaks, tacos, bottomless brunch, Sunday roasts, and tequila cocktails.
