One door, three kitchens
The restaurant floors of the Shard have their own entrance on St Thomas Street, separate from both the hotel and the viewing gallery. There is a security check at street level, then a fast lift that carries you thirty floors up and opens onto the restaurant you have booked. Level 31 is Aqua Shard, level 32 is Oblix and level 33 is Hutong. The Shangri-La's own restaurant and bar sit higher still, on 35 and 52, and are reached through the hotel.
Because each floor has a different operator, think of them as three restaurants that happen to share a lift. Menus, reservation systems and dress expectations are separate, and so is the temperament of each room. Choose the one that suits the evening, not the one with the highest number.
Level 31: Aqua Shard
Aqua Shard is the most conventionally glamorous of the three: contemporary British cooking, a bar rising through a three-storey atrium, and windows looking north over the river to the City and east towards Tower Bridge. It is the one people mean when they say they had a drink at the top of the Shard, although it sits less than halfway up the building.
It works well for a first meeting because the bar is a destination in itself. Michelle likes to start here, choosing the one drink on the list she has never heard of and quizzing whoever made it. A drink at Aqua with dinner elsewhere is a perfectly sound plan, and usually a lighter one on the bill than dinner on any of the three floors.
Level 32: Oblix, west and east
Oblix divides its floor by compass point. Oblix West is the restaurant proper, with grill cooking and a view over the river towards St Paul's and Westminster. Oblix East, on the far side of the building's core, is the looser bar and lounge, with live music on some evenings and a view down the river to Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf.
The split is useful. You can dine in the West and move east for a nightcap without leaving the floor, which gives an evening two views and a natural moment to decide whether it carries on. For guests who prefer steak and a plain menu to a tasting format, it is the safest of the three.
Level 33: Hutong
Hutong serves northern Chinese and Sichuan cooking in a room of dark wood, lattice screens and red lanterns, and after dark it is the most atmospheric floor of the three. Dishes are made for sharing and some arrive with a real kick of chilli, so it suits a couple who enjoy talking about the food almost as much as eating it.
It is also where the view feels most dramatic, partly because the room is dim and the city outside is not. On a clear night the table against the glass is one of the finest seats in SE1, and it is booked accordingly.
The window table problem
The Shard narrows as it climbs, so every floor has glass on all sides, yet not every table touches it. Seats against the windows are limited and in steady demand, above all at sunset. You improve the odds by booking early, asking specifically for a window when you reserve, choosing a weekday, and dining either early or late rather than at eight on a Saturday.
Think about the light too. In winter the sun is down before most people leave work, so almost any dinner sees the city lit. In June it sets after nine, and an eight o'clock table catches the long golden hour and the switch to night somewhere between courses. That is the evening worth planning around.
If the window table goes to someone else, do not cancel. Ask to have your drink at the bar first, where the glass is usually easier to reach, and take the view there before sitting down. Half the pleasure of these floors is the moment of stepping out of the lift and seeing the city at your feet, and that happens whichever table you are given.
Length, cost and the lift down
All three sit near the top of the London price range, and their own menus describe that better than we could. What we can put a figure on is the company. £500 buys two hours: a drink at the bar and a single course. Four hours, booked as the £900 dinner date, give the whole meal and the walk afterwards their proper time, and most guests choose that length for a Shard dinner. The rates page lists the whole ladder, and the dinner dates by the river page explains how a dinner booking runs.
When dinner ends, the evening can turn in several directions within a minute of the door: across the road to the London Bridge Hotel, up into the Shangri-La through its own entrance, or over the river into the City. The London Bridge Station page shows each exit of the station and the hotels closest to it.
Who to take thirty floors up
Milena is the ideal guest at Oblix West: she reads a menu fast, orders decisively and enjoys a room with some noise in it. Jasmin, who treats cocktails as a craft, will get more from the Aqua bar than anyone, and she prefers later starts, from nine. For Hutong, choose someone who likes sharing plates and discussing them; Bianka, who reads a wine list twice before choosing anything, is exactly that kind of company.
Milena is among the raven haired companions, and Jasmin appears on the petite page. If the plan is a room upstairs rather than a table, our Shangri-La guide covers the hotel floors above.