Restaurants in London
42 restaurants in London, United Kingdom.
40 Maltby St
Bermondsey railway arch serving exceptional natural wine and seasonal small plates; one of London's most honest rooms
Bao Soho
The original queue-worthy bao bun destination. Classic bao with braised pork, fried shallot, and peanut powder. Minimalist and precise.
Barrafina
Counter-only tapas. No reservations, queue for the bar. Tortilla, razor clams, and croquetas done with Madrid precision.
Berber & Q
Josh Katz's Haggerston grill house; flame-kissed cauliflower shawarma, lamb ribs, and harissa-spiked everything
Black Axe Mangal
Lee Tiernan's heavy-metal Turkish mangal: charcoal-grilled flatbreads, lamb offal, and intense heat. Cult-status spot in Highbury.
Bouchon Racine
Henry Harris's Islington bistro; proper French bourgeois cooking — côte de boeuf, terrines, and salade lyonnaise done right
Brat
Tomos Parry's fire-cooking restaurant. Whole turbot on the grill, Basque technique, Welsh heritage. Named after the Old English word for turbot.
Brawn
Natural wine bar and restaurant on Columbia Road. Charcuterie, small plates, incredible wine selection. Ed Wilson's relaxed neighbourhood gem.
Brigadiers
JKS Restaurants' Indian BBQ and craft beer hall in Bloomberg Arcade; exceptional seekh kebabs and butter chicken with heat
Darjeeling Express
Asma Khan's joyful Calcutta home cooking in Carnaby; all-female kitchen producing biryani and kebabs of rare authenticity
Dishoom
Bombay Irani cafe reimagined for London. Black daal cooked for 24 hours, bacon naan roll at breakfast. Long queues worth every minute.
E Pellicci
Art Deco East End cafe open since 1900. Full English, homemade Italian pasta, and generations of Bethnal Green regulars. Irreplaceable.
El Pastor
Slim Jim's family taqueria under London Bridge; al pastor tacos with proper achiote-marinated pork from a vertical spit
Fallow
Jack Croft and Will Murray's zero-waste St James's restaurant; cod's head beurre blanc and mushroom parfait are benchmark dishes
Gymkhana
Imperial India club aesthetic, Michelin-starred modern Indian cooking. Kid goat methi keema, wild muntjac biryani, exceptional cocktails.
Hawksmoor
London's benchmark steakhouse. Native-breed beef, dry-aged, charcoal-grilled. Smoked bone marrow and triple-cooked chips. Multiple sites, always worth it.
Hill & Szrok
Butcher by day, restaurant by night in Broadway Market. No menu — eat what's been butchered that day. Outstanding charcuterie and aged beef.
Honey & Co
Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer's tiny Fitzrovia jewel; Israeli home cooking — labneh, halva cheesecake, slow-cooked lamb
Hoppers
Jaffna-style hoppers and kari. Bone marrow varuval and prawn kothu roti. Central London's best Sri Lankan cooking.
Kiln
Charcoal and clay-pot Northern Thai. Open kitchen, counter seating, pork jowl with smoked fish and chilli. Intense and smoky.
Lyle's
James Lowe's Shoreditch dining room. Set lunch, evening tasting menu. Strict seasonality, long ferments, and a wine list from small growers.
Mangal 2
Second-generation Turkish ocakbasi run by the Duman family. Charcoal-grilled meats, lahmacun, and excellent meze. Artists and locals alike.
Morito
Sam and Sam Clark's Hackney tapas bar; croquetas, octopus with potatoes, and patatas bravas that set the London standard
Native
Seasonal British cooking built around foraged ingredients and game. Ivan Tisdall-Downes and Imogen Davis champion hyperlocal wild food.
Oklava
Selin Kiazim's modern Turkish-Cypriot cooking in Shoreditch; courgette fritters with feta and stunning lamb flatbreads
Padella
Borough Market pasta temple. Hand-rolled pici cacio e pepe and pappardelle with 8-hour beef shin. Perpetual queue but fast turnover.
Quality Chop House
Victorian chop house restored to former glory. Confit potatoes, heritage breed meats, great wine list. Listed interior unchanged since 1869.
Rochelle Canteen
Hidden in a former bike shed behind Shoreditch school. Melrose and Morgan sensibility: seasonal, quiet, perfectly calibrated British cooking.
Roti King
Malaysian roti canai institution. Flaky buttery roti with dal, curry, and sambal. Tiny basement, enormous flavour, loyal following.
Rovi
Yotam Ottolenghi's wine bar; fermentation and fire meet Middle Eastern imagination in a Wells Street room built for grazing
Sabor
Nieves Barragán Mohacho's Mayfair ode to Spanish regional cooking; counter seats overlooking the open kitchen are essential
Sessions Arts Club
Florence Knight's seasonal British cooking inside a dramatic Victorian Clerkenwell courtroom; the room is as good as the food
Singburi
Esarn (northeastern Thai) cooking in Leytonstone — worth every minute on the Central line for the papaya salad and laab
Smoking Goat
Shoreditch Thai BBQ. Charcoal-kissed meats, fermented chilli sauces, lao khao rice whisky. Louder and looser than Kiln, just as good.
Som Saa
Shoreditch's finest Thai; fermented fish, whole roasted seabass, and northern Thai specialties unavailable elsewhere in London
St. John
Fergus Henderson's landmark nose-to-tail restaurant. Pioneered offal revival in British cooking. Bare brick walls, no-nonsense food, outstanding bone marrow.
Temper
Neil Rankin's whole-animal barbecue restaurant. In-house butchery, charcoal pits, tacos with smoked meats. Serious smoke with Soho energy.
The Clove Club
Isaac McHale's tasting menu in a Shoreditch town hall. Buttermilk fried chicken with pine salt. Serious technique, serious sourcing.
The River Cafe
Ruth Rogers' legendary Thames-side Italian. Wood-roasted ingredients, Amalfi lemons, handmade pasta. Set the template for modern Italian cooking in Britain.
Towpath
Laura Jackson and Jason Irving's canal-side counter in De Beauvoir; seasonal British simplicity with produce that puts most restaurants to shame
Westerns Laundry
Natural wine and pristine seafood in a Victorian laundry conversion in Highbury; some of London's most quietly excellent cooking
Xu
The Bao team's grown-up Taiwanese restaurant. XO chilli noodles, soy-cured duck, and a tatami room for private dining. Formica and Art Deco.