Above the Clouds:Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High at 22 Bishopsgate

I have been to Lucky Cat at the summit of 22 Bishopsgate, London’s tallest building, a number of times now. It has always been bustling, busy and with a great vibe. Located Sixty floors up, with Tower Bridge and the Gherkin stretched beneath you, Gordon Ramsay has created something unlike anything else in his empire. But within this restaurant/bar, there is a hideaway Chefs Table called Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High. 

Twelve guests sit side by side at a single counter, facing the glass. Beyond lies the best view in the house, particularly at dusk when the city’s lights begin to glow. Inside, in stark contrast to the main room, it is serene and quiet. Where Lucky Cat pulses with DJs, chatter and the energy of a cocktail crowd, High is its polar opposite: calm, intimate, focused. The silence is deliberate. Here, food, drink and the view do the talking.

There is no menu to choose from; instead, a carefully composed sequence of small courses arrives, as they are prepared by the small team in the kitchen, that sits behind you. Each dish is a miniature statement of intent. At times a chef brings the plate directly, or finishes it in front of you with a final spoonful of sauce or garnish. I liked this mixture of front of house and chefs, both integrating with us. 

The early stages set the tone: a gougère scented with Roves des Garrigues and pine, a lobster “Caesar” tart, cured sea bream with caramelised pine nut cream, oyster with plum and blackcurrant leaf, a delicate onion chawanmushi. Later comes bluefin tuna belly with a Niçoise accent, native lobster paired with courgettes, almond and sauce Américaine, Cornish turbot with artichoke, sunflower and smoked bone velouté. The meal deepens with squab pigeon, wild mushrooms and juniper; a course of St. Jude cheese with golden raisins and caraway; palate cleansers of melon with jalapeño and lime; candied figs with toasted vanilla and coconut. It closes in crescendo with blood peach and lavender jelly, pistachio and coffee crunch, and a perfectly balanced saffron custard tart.

At the helm of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High is Executive Head Chef James Goodyear, whose career has seen him behind the stoves at some of the most prestigious kitchens in the world. He began at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons under Raymond Blanc, before continuing to learn his trade at Spain’s Mugaritz and Norway’s Maaemo, where he was part of the brigade that secured a third Michelin star. Stints at Per Se and WD-50 in New York, Relae in Copenhagen and Brae in Australia further broadened his repertoire.

Back in the UK, Goodyear rose quickly. He helped launch new restaurants for Welbourne, then took the helm at Evelyn’s Table in Soho, a 12-seat counter restaurant where he earned and retained a Michelin star. That experience, of performing for guests in a tight, high-pressure space, has shaped High. His philosophy is simple: source the best produce and treat it with respect. What arrives on the plate is natural, clean, and uncluttered.

A New Ritual in the Glass

What was new for me, was pairing the food with non alcoholic drinks.The pairing programme I enjoyed was built around BÆK, the Danish-born creation of sommelier Majken Bech-Bailey. Unlike the usual “alcohol-free wine” compromise, BÆK builds its complexity from scratch: aronia berries, teas, botanicals, barrel-aged vinegars, carefully layered for depth.

Two expressions in particular stood out. BÆK Intricate, served at 16°C in a red wine glass, is a brooding, tannic drink, with a base of aronia berry juice infused with black tea and lifted by raspberry balsamic. It is not an imitation of wine, I am not convinced that can be done, but designed to sit alongside dishes such as pigeon. BÆK Mellow takes inspiration from oak-aged Chardonnay and Sauternes, built on Irish apple and chardonnay juice infused with Jerusalem artichokes and beeswax. Honeyed and elegant, it paired beautifully with the Turbot

Alongside these came a sequence of house-made creations: sparkling elderflower with jasmine and lime; hawthorn and nettle with rosehip and hops; pineapple with foraged pineapple weed; hot coconut milk infused with roasted koji and fig leaf. Together they produced a kind of placebo intoxication,  by the end I felt light-headed, even slightly slurred, though no alcohol had passed my lips.

High is not the sort of place you wander into on a whim, nor is it meant to be. It is high-end in every sense of the word. At £250 a head before drinks, it demands commitment, but when you look at the lineage behind it,  and with the 2026 Michelin Guide still to be published, the price begins to make sense. What you’re eating is food of three-star calibre, served with intent, yet in a setting that feels less formal than the hushed temples of gastronomy. It makes you slow down, consider each plate, and think about how flavours, textures and balance have been pieced together. Picking a favourite is hard, but the turbot and the pigeon both stick in my mind. The Parker House roll, glossed with a honey glaze, was so good it almost begged for the phrase “finger-licking good.” in-line with his GFC dish at Lucky Cat next door, but that would undersell just how extraordinary it was.

This December Lucky Cat will host what is being billed as London’s highest New Year’s Eve celebration. Guests can choose from a range of experiences, beginning at £250 per person (in Lucky Cat) and stretching to £25,000 for the private hire of Gordon Ramsay High itself. 

Whichever option you choose, the evening is set to blend food, drink and spectacle with the city’s fireworks framed through 360-degree glass. Dishes will span favourites such as Gordon’s Fried Chicken and Japanese Wagyu Tomahawk, alongside one-night-only creations like Robata-grilled Carabinero and a Chocolate & Raspberry Firecracker dessert.

The entertainment will run late into the night, with KISS presenter Tyler West leading the celebrations from the decks, and the Lucky Cat terrace offering a front-row seat to London’s midnight display. From intimate tables for two to private parties of eighteen in the dining room, the event is being pitched as a night of glamour and theatre. 

Reservations are limited, and with demand expected to be high, this will be the rare chance to step into 2026 from sixty floors up, with fireworks below and a glass in hand. That sounds like the perfect way to welcome in 2026.