London Restaurants

British food hasn't always had the best reputation, but nowhere in the country is that reputation being completely upturned more than in London. The city has zoomed up the global gastro charts, and can now seriously compete with the world’s top culinary heavyweights. The truth is that no other city—barring New York—has the immense range of global cuisines that London has to offer. Standards have rocketed at all price points, and every year it seems like the London restaurant scene is better than ever.

Feel like eating the most-tender Kagoshima Wagyu beef on planet Earth? It can be yours for £150 at CUT at 45 Park Lane. Want to try old English gastronomy from the time of Henry VIII with an ultramodern twist? Ashley Palmer-Watts is your man at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. Do you only eat Sri Lankan hoppers? No worries, we’ve got just the thing: Hoppers in Soho will give you a taste of the Sri Lankan pancake, for £4.50 a pop. Can’t stand any more snobby culinary nonsense? The low-key British wild game is so good at The Harwood Arms in Fulham that they’ve earned London’s first gastro-pub-based Michelin star.

To appreciate how far London has risen in the food game, just look back to the days of Somerset Maugham, who was once justified in warning, "To eat well in England you should have breakfast three times a day." Change was slow after World War II, when it was understood that the British ate to live, while the French lived to eat. When people thought of British cuisine, fish-and-chips—a greasy grab-and-gulp dish that tasted best wrapped in yesterday's newspaper—first came to mind. Then there was always shepherd's pie, ubiquitously found in smoke-filled pubs, though not made, according to Sweeney Todd, "with real shepherd in it."

These days, standards are miles higher and shepherd’s pie has been largely replaced by the city's unofficial dish, Indian curry. London’s restaurant revolution is built on its extraordinary ethnic diversity, and you’ll find the quality of other global cuisines has grown immeasurably in recent years, with London becoming known for its Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Thai, Spanish, Italian, French, Peruvian, and west African restaurants. Thankfully, pride in the best of British food—local, seasonal, wild, and foraged—is enjoying quite the renaissance, too.

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  • 1. 10 Greek Street

    $$$ | Soho

    There may only be 28 table seats and nine counter stools at this stripped-back Modern European Soho eatery, but the consistently great and unpretentious food, cheap wine, affable prices, and tremendous service more than make up for it. Once seated, expect deceptively simple starters and punchy Modern European mains like butternut ravioli with sage, slow-braised beef ribs, or slip sole with lemon butter. Flavors are big, bold, and brassy and sway gently with the seasons, while thoughtful desserts are only £9 a pop.

    10 Greek St., London, Greater London, W1D 4DH, England
    020-7734–4677

    Known For

    • Buzzed-up foodie atmosphere in a pared-back dining space
    • Speciality slow roasts and gutsy seasonal Modern European mains
    • Generous platters of house-cured charcuterie and gravlax

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Reservations essential, Closed Sun. and Mon.
  • 2. Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester

    $$$$ | Mayfair

    One of only three three-Michelin-starred restaurants in the city, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester achieves the pinnacle of classical French haute cuisine in a surprisingly fun, lively, and unstuffy salon. Diners feast on a blizzard of beautifully choreographed dishes, including classic rum baba with Chantilly cream, sliced open and served in a silver domed tureen. Slick service is off-the-scale outstanding, while the sommelier is a brilliantly charming expert on all things vino.

    53 Park La., London, Greater London, W1K 1QA, England
    020-7629--8866-for reservations only

    Known For

    • Impeccable five-star service
    • Surprisingly unstarchy vibe
    • Signature sautéed lobster with chicken quenelles

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon. No lunch
  • 3. Andrew Edmunds

    $$ | Soho

    Candlelit at night, with a haunting Dickensian vibe, Andrew Edmunds is a permanently packed, old-school Soho dining institution. Tucked away behind Carnaby Street in a charming 18th-century town house, it's a cozy favorite whose unpretentious and keenly priced dishes draw on the tastes of Ireland, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Desserts like warm treacle tart or bread-and-butter pudding offer few surprises, but the wine's superb and famously reasonable. It could be larger, less creaky underfoot, and its wooden church pew seats more forgiving, but it's a deeply romantic way to get a taste of what Soho was like in days gone by. 

    46 Lexington St., London, Greater London, W1F 0LP, England
    020-7437–5708

    Known For

    • Deeply romantic, Georgian-era town house setting
    • Unpretentious, daily-changing, handwritten menus
    • Bargains galore on the acclaimed wine list

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Reservations essential
  • 4. Balthazar

    $$$ | Covent Garden

    British restaurateur Keith McNally re-creates his famed New York–Parisian–style brasserie at this bustling corner spot off Covent Garden Piazza. The soaring grand café setting creates an enchanting white-tablecloth backdrop to enjoy the classic French brasserie menu, including dishes like duck and beef pie, moules marinière (mussels with cream and white wine), and ox cheek bourguignon (stew). Treat yourself to rock oysters and champagne while perusing the nearly all-French wine list, which carries everything from Chablis to Charmes-Chambertin, before polishing off a pile of profiteroles and chocolate sauce for dessert.

    4–7 Russell St., London, Greater London, WC2B 5HZ, England
    020-3301–1155

    Known For

    • Parisian-style grand café setting
    • Handy prix fixe, weekend brunch, children's, and afternoon tea menus
    • Vegan and vegetarian options

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Reservations essential
  • 5. Bancone

    $ | Soho

    Fabulous handmade pasta at affordable prices characterizes this groovy Italian eatery off Soho's Golden Square. Sit at the bustling chef's counter to sample options like bucatini cacio e pepe or pork, fennel, and 'nduja ragù with twirly ribbons of mafalde pasta. Enjoy fine creamy burrata, Sicilian red prawns and samphire, and ample Soho people-watching from the row of raised curbside counter window seats.

    8-10 Lower James St., London, Greater London, W1F 9EL, England
    020-3034--0820

    Known For

    • Instagram-famous "silk handkerchiefs" sheets of pasta with confit egg yolk
    • Top-value pasta dishes from 20 Italian regions
    • Upbeat atmosphere

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Reservations essential
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  • 6. Barrafina

    $$ | Covent Garden

    One of London's favorite Spanish tapas bars, modeled after the famed Cal Pep tapas spot in Barcelona, has only a few raised bar stools within the open-counter kitchen just off Trafalgar Square. Lunchtime lines form from noon daily for a top-quality succession of impeccably sourced small plates, ranging from giant Spanish carabineros red prawns and Iberian pork cheeks to black squid ink risotto with cuttlefish. There's a neat selection of Spanish reds, whites, sherries, and sparkling white Cava, and be sure to leave room for noted desserts like the almond-based Santiago tart.

    10 Adelaide St., London, Greater London, WC2N 4HZ, England
    No phone

    Known For

    • Long lines starting at noon
    • Notable offal dishes like milk-fed lamb kidneys
    • Great Cava and Spanish sherry selection

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Reservations essential, Closed Sun.
  • 7. Beigel Bake

    $ | Shoreditch

    Locals are keen to proclaim the virtues of their favorite Brick Lane bagel emporium, but to be perfectly honest, there's not much true competition aside from this spot and its two-doors-down neighbor, the Beigel Shop. Both serve delicious fresh beigels (the traditional European spelling) 24 hours a day, seven days a week (at just 40 pence each); both date back to when Brick Lane was home to a largely Jewish immigrant community, and both are family-owned (two branches of the same family, in fact). When it comes to picking between each establishment's excellent value (£6.50) hot salt beef sandwich (with sweet gherkin and tangy English mustard optional extras), however, always go for Beigel Bake.  

    155 Brick La., London, Greater London, E1 6SB, England
    020-7729–0616

    Known For

    • Brusque service
    • Classic hot salt beef beigel sandwich
    • Lively, often drunk, clientele
  • 8. Berenjak

    $$ | Soho

    At this cult favorite Persian kebab hole-in-the-wall, it's best to sit at the raised counter overlooking the tandoor grill and clay oven and indulge in the expansive meze spreads, hot sesame breads, and richly flavored coal-cooked marinated lamb, chicken, and poussin kebabs. With exposed brick walls and a delightfully edgy atmosphere, you can sip non-alcoholic cocktails and sharbat cordials in cozy side booths or hide out in the green foliage backroom snug.

    27 Romilly St., London, Greater London, W1D 5AL, England

    Known For

    • Copious celebrity sightings
    • Popular £28 kebab meal deals for Friday lunch
    • Sociable outdoor dining in spring and summer

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun., Reservations essential
  • 9. Bocca di Lupo

    $$ | Soho

    This upscale Italian institution is always crowded and the tables are jammed too close together, but everyone still loves the glorious spread of regional Italian small plates here. Located off Theaterland's Shaftesbury Avenue, the famous trattoria offers magnificent peasant-based pasta, stews, fritti, salumi, and raw crudi, spanning regions from Lombardy to the Veneto. Try the deceptively fine Romani fried sage leaves with anchovy, the salt-baked fossil fish from Lazio, or roast suckling pig from northern Italy's Emilia-Romagna. Start with a refreshing Aperol spritz before enjoying the majestic all-Italian wine list, which weaves from Super Tuscans to ballsy Barolos.

    12 Archer St., London, Greater London, W1D 7BB, England
    020-7734–2223

    Known For

    • Open chef's counter serving a medley of rustic Italian small plates
    • Majestic all-Italian wine list
    • Crowd-pleasing Sicilian lobster and pappardelle pasta with rich venison ragù

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Reservations essential
  • 10. Brasserie Zédel

    $$ | Piccadilly Circus

    Enjoy the great value, prix-fixe menus of classic French dishes at Piccadilly's ever-bustling subterranean Parisian-style brasserie. Dripping with Beaux-Arts gilt mirrors and monumental marble pillars, you can enjoy satisfying French standards like steak haché, choucroute, Niçoise salad, and crème brûleé. Old-school waiters in dapper black uniforms glide across the vast parquet dining room floor, while the attached art deco-style Bar Américain cocktail lounge and late-night live cabaret provide wonderfully suave post-dinner shows.

    20 Sherwood St., London, Greater London, W1F 7ED, England
    020-7734–4888

    Known For

    • London's most spectacular Beaux-Arts brasserie
    • Fantastically cheap set-meal deals
    • Nightly live music, cabaret, comedy, and burlesque

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Reservations essential
  • 11. Casse-Croûte

    $$$ | Bermondsey

    This bistro on Bermondsey Street near the Fashion and Textile Museum is as French as a pack of Gauloises, from the yellow walls and red-and-white checked tablecloths to the perfectly executed classics like lapin à la moutarde (rabbit in a creamy mustard sauce), suprême de volaille aux mousserons (chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms), escargots, and île flottant (meringue on a vanilla custard base). The daily changing menu offers three reasonably priced options per course, and the wine list (French, of course) goes off the beaten path with discoveries from small local producers. The limited amount of space means that diners are in close proximity, but everyone is usually too busy scarfing down the excellent food to notice.

    109 Bermondsey St., London, Greater London, SE1 3XB, England
    020-7407–2140

    Known For

    • Beautifully prepared bistro classics
    • Authentic French atmosphere in tight quarters
    • Reservations necessary for dinner

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: No dinner Sun., Reservations essential
  • 12. Clipstone

    $$$ | Fitzrovia

    Flavorful, inventive dishes elevate this hipster casual joint to the top rank of London's midrange gastro titans. With a focus on in-house curing, pickling, smoked meats, and heritage vegetables, expect a cavalcade of unlikely combinations and classic gastronomy specialties. The food is modern European, but with influences drawn from around the world—their beautifully delicate Cornish plaice with bok choy, trout roe, and Tosazu butter are a prime example.

    5 Clipstone St., London, Greater London, W1W 6BB, England
    020-7637–0871

    Known For

    • Fine dining without the fuss
    • Lots of homemade, pickled, fermented, or cured extras
    • Good-value set lunches

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Mon.
  • 13. Clos Maggiore

    $$$$ | Covent Garden

    Ask for a table in the dreamy, white blossom–filled conservatory at this warm, cozy, and seriously romantic Provençal country-style inn off Covent Garden. Once inside, you'll be won over by the old-fashioned but refined French cuisine. Options include Loire Valley rabbit ballotine, poached wild turbot, and Charolais beef cheeks with fine French beans. Lunch specials and pre-and post-theater prix fixe menus are an affordable way to experience the cuisine and celebratory atmosphere. With its warren of candlelit, oak-paneled rooms and open fires, Clos Maggiore never fails to enchant.

    33 King St., London, Greater London, WC2E 8JD, England
    020-4580–1174

    Known For

    • Regularly voted one of London's most romantic restaurants
    • Warren of blossom-filled conservatories and candle-lit hideaways
    • Lunch and pre- and post-theater meal deals

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Reservations essential
  • 14. Cora Pearl

    $$$ | Covent Garden

    British comfort food like ham-and-cheese toasties, bubble 'n' squeak, and even the mighty potato chip are elevated into gastro showstoppers at this classy Covent Garden town house, just off the Piazza. Triple-cooked chips are squeezed, sliced, buttered, and deep-fried to perfection, while the famous crustless toasties are all succulent ham hock, Montgomery cheddar, and tangy house pickle. Understated jazz and blues music plays amid the elegant decor, from the antique table glasses and French-linen napkins to the tarnished mirrors and green-velvet banquettes.

    30 Henrietta St., London, Greater London, WC2E 8NA, England
    020-7324–7722

    Known For

    • Elegant decor and upmarket atmosphere
    • Upgraded British comfort food classics
    • Classy pre- and post-theater option

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Mon. No dinner Sun., Reservations essential
  • 15. Core by Clare Smyth

    $$$$ | Notting Hill

    Currently the only British female chef with three Michelin stars, Clare Smyth fuses her classical French culinary training with a devotion to quality British produce. Must-try plates include her to-die-for signature dish of a baked potato delicately filled with dulse beurre blanc, herring, and trout roe. Watch the kitchen at work through a floor-to-ceiling glass partition as they conjure up their magic.

    92 Kensington Park Rd., London, Greater London, W11 2PN, England
    020-3937–5086

    Known For

    • Brilliant vegetable and fish dishes elevated to the highest levels
    • Relaxed, smart, casual dining experience
    • Three-course à la carte or seven-course tasting menus

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon.
  • 16. Duck & Waffle

    $$$ | City of London

    Zoom up to the 40th floor of 110 Bishopsgate and head straight for the cult signature dish of confit duck leg, Belgium waffle, fried duck egg, and mustard maple syrup for a taste of foodie bliss. Open 24/7, with spectacular panoramas of The City, you might satisfy the munchies with a foie gras breakfast, served all day, alongside streaky bacon and homemade Nutella or an Elvis PB&J waffle with banana brûlée. Look, too, for the bag of spiced pigs ears and the big-as-tennis-balls spicy ox cheek doughnuts dusted with smoked paprika sugar. There's always a party vibe and you'll often find live music in the dining room.

    110 Bishopsgate, London, Greater London, EC2N 4AY, England
    020-3640--7310

    Known For

    • Rare-to-London 24-hour service
    • Awe-inspiring panoramas of London's skyline
    • Eponymous duck-and-waffle dish

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Reservations essential
  • 17. E. Pellicci

    $ | Bethnal Green

    It's all Cockney banter and full English breakfasts at this tiny family-run café and onetime gangsters' lair near Brick Lane and Columbia Road markets. The atmosphere may be rowdy, but it's all good-natured, with greasy fry-ups (think eggs, bacon, sausages, baked beans, toast, tomatoes, fried mushrooms, black pudding, and cabbage and mash) served alongside homemade Italian dishes like lasagna and cannelloni and British classics like pies and roast dinners, all courtesy of matriarch Mama Maria. With the ornate food-paneling (installed in 1946 by local carpenter and regular customer Achille Capocci) as a backdrop, a visit to E. Pellicci feels a little like a wonderful performance of East End life being staged for your benefit. 

    332 Bethnal Green Rd., London, Greater London, E2 0AG, England
    020-7739–4873

    Known For

    • Full cast of East End Cockney characters
    • Copious full English breakfasts and builder's brew tea
    • Cash-only cheap dishes

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Aug. No dinner, Reservations not accepted
  • 18. e5 Bakehouse

    $ | Dalston

    This bakery, which supplies bread to many of East London's top eateries, has a friendly café and deli on-site, where you can sample some of the tastiest toasted sandwiches in the city. The shop also stocks a concise range of elegant household items.

    Mentmore Terr., London, Greater London, E8 3PH, England
    020-8525–2890

    Known For

    • House-milled flour
    • Secret courtyard garden in back
    • Fantastic daylong sourdough-making classes that sell out months in advance

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: No dinner
  • 19. Evelyn's Table

    $$$ | Soho

    Hidden beneath The Blue Posts pub in Chinatown, you'll find an intimate speakeasy vibe at Evelyn's Table, specializing in set tasting menus based on top British produce, Japanese technique, Scandinavian flair, and classical French training. A secret door with a peephole reveals a small but passionate chef's kitchen counter where chefs serve dishes like barbecued monkfish dashi or hand-dived Devon scallop sashimi. Enjoy friendly chats with the chefs, quality tunes, great wines, and a prime spread of south London Peckham-produced craft sake.  

    28 Rupert St., London, Greater London, W1D 6DJ, England
    No phone

    Known For

    • Secret and cozy beer cellar venue
    • Wonderfully fresh Cornish day-boat fish and bivalves
    • Superb soundtracks curated by ex-DJ and current co-owner Layo Paskin

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon., Reservations essential
  • 20. Gunpowder

    $$ | Spitalfields

    Eschew the myriad copy-and-paste curry houses of Brick Lane and opt instead for this broom cupboard–size Spitalfields restaurant serving flawless small-plate Indian cuisine. The charming waitstaff is happy to offer guidance when it comes to the menu, with its highly original takes on authentic flavor combinations from the subcontinent.

    11 White's Row, London, Greater London, E1 7NF, England
    No phone

    Known For

    • Ingredients not normally found on Indian menus, such as duck or sea bass
    • Good value multi-dish "feast" menus
    • Rasam ke bomb, a puff of spiced potato served atop a flavorful Bloody Mary--style shot

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun.

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