London
in England

From the group behind much-loved restaurants Portland and Clipstone, this little bistro is bringing French fine dining back into the London mix. The menu includes both snails and frogs’ legs for starters, rabbit with mustard sauce for main; and for pudding, perfect crêpes Suzette and crème brûlée. The prix fixe lunchtime menu is a more affordable entry point.

Angelina is a restaurant that takes inspiration by fusing Japanese and Italian cuisine. This place carries unconventional presentations that make the experience magical and worthy. Chefs serve a Kaiseki menu, a traditional Japanese multi-course meal, featuring dishes that reflect their daily learnings and use ingredients that are at their peak freshness on that day. In Angelina, they don’t believe in rigid menus, a correct order to eat dishes, a dress code or cutlery. So, are you ready to get your hands dirty? 

Berners Tavern may be old school British, but it's everything but stodgy. Housed in a grand yet cosy room in the Edition, Berners Tavern has a wonderful menu of elevated British classics. Waiting for your table? Hang by the bar and play a round of pool.

The name may not be British, but this fabulous restaurant has been claimed by Londoners far and wide as their own. Rich and moreish, the food is an example for all trying to churn out excellent French cooking: bavette steaks and confit de canard that take diners on a trip to Lyon. Even the baguette served simply with butter and salt is next level.

Upstairs through a blink-and-miss-it doorway on Redchurch Street is one of the most exciting restaurants in London. The name comes from an old English term for turbot, so it’s fitting that the flatfish is the star of the show. Inspired by the Basque Country, everything is cooked over a charcoal grill – the smoked potatoes are particularly good, but there aren’t really any misses on the Michelin-starred menu. The London Fields outpost feels marginally cooler. Either way, order the burnt cheesecake for pudding.

Overlooking Regent’s Canal near London Fields, this is one of the coolest supper spots in the city. Chef Max Rocha (brother of designer Simone) cooks up sage and anchovy fritti followed by a decadent onglet in peppercorn sauce. The Guinness bread is as good as it’s said to be and you’re bound to see someone interesting here. Great people- watching, but an even better menu.

The first additional project from the cool Public House group behind The Pelican and The Bull in Charlbury. This little Italian restaurant sits on the former Pizza East site on Portobello road and remains an Italian restaurant thanks to the amazing wood-fired ovens left behind that the team couldn’t bear to part with. Head chef, Jessica Filbey, is a River Café alumni and her daily-changing pizza toppings (tallegio, girolles and thyme; mortadella, ricotta and lemon zest) are a good place to start. Next up, might be pumpkin ravioli with sage butter or gnocchi with sausage ragu. It’s walk-ins only so arrive at 12pm to get a table, and stay for long enough that you can head straight upstairs to The Fat Badger for supper.

Within the luxurious Brown's Hotel is Charlie's, a restaurant that would happily become our Sunday Roast staple, or are date-night treat for a sample of their crisp cornish crab salad, or stalwarts venison en croute. With a separate caviar menu, expect great things from the Michelin-starred chef, Adam Byatt who rules this very fine roost. 

Stars shine bright in Kensington. Michelin Stars we mean. A seat at Clarke's is fit for a queen (or a king or a celeb or a regular Joe!).

Clare Smyth is the chef that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle chose to cater their wedding; she also cooked for David Beckham's 50th. More importantly, she is the only female chef in the UK to hold three Michelin stars, for her restaurant Core. The sustainably minded seasonal menu might include Isle of Harris scallops, Sharpham Park spelt and Rhug Estate venison – served with a vinegar spritz or fermented crisp flourish. An all-out tasting menu experience.

From the Bistro Freddie and Bar Crispin crew, comes not one, but two Crispin. One of which is in Spitalfields, and one, which is in the remarkable non-profit gallery and collaborative exhibition space that is Studio Voltaire. Celebrating the finest produce from the British isles, the restaurant and counter bar serves food as gloriously picturesque as the artwork itself. Wine bottles line the shelves, creating a pop of colour to the otherwise white brick work, the z-shaped silver counter bar and the ever-so orderly bar stools. We’ll be going back for the sticky and sweet, utterly delectable poached loquat tart.

There are few places we'd rather tuck into a plate of seared hand-dived scallops, slurp on some fresh ricotta tortellini and indulge in Blythburgh Pork Collar topped with the sweetest of roasted figs than at Dear Jackie. Though you may be in Soho, la dolce vita has never felt so close by! 

Owned by Chris D’Sylva, of the locally lauded Supermarket of Dreams, and with Max Coen of Ikoyi in the kitchen, Dorian splashed onto the Notting Hill scene in 2022. It’s next to The Globe – a basement club that’s been part of life here since the 1960s – and describes itself as a bistro for locals. But since it was awarded a Michelin star for its menu of sharp tuna crudo and glistening côte de boeuf, it’s more of a blow-the-budget date-night spot. Head over the road for sushi at sibling Eel Sushi Bar.

We'd expect nothing less from a restaurant at the glorious 1 Hotel. Serving some nostalgia-inducing, belly-warming delights Dovetale is the spot to go to for all the revamped and reimagined European classics. Egg & soldiers are served with a crunchy lime and coconut base, mango coulis and caramelised brioche and Knickerbocker Glory arrives on tableside cart. 

DUCKSOUP is part of the family that includes Little Duck The Picklery and Camille. All three London gems in our humble opinion! Head straight to Soho for chef Tom Lake’s exquisite small plates and a whole array of natural vinos. 

Getting a reservation here is not easy. It’s also off the beaten track, on the eighth floor of the Rotunda (once the BBC Television Centre) in White City. But there are few places quite so universally well regarded. Chef Endo Kazutoshi is a third-generation sushi master and his omakase-style menu of mostly fish (all day-boat catch from named locations) is faultless. Join the waiting list to be informed of cancellations.

The elevated Chinese menu at this family-run restaurant is secret and ever-changing – diners will be asked on arrival for their spice preference but the rest is left to the chefs. Don’t expect kung pao chicken and spring rolls here. More often than not there are light tempura green beans doused in chilli and garlic (nicknamed “chips” by founder Mr Peng, they’re so addictive), or twice-cooked red pork delivered in a paper bag to be ripped open at the table. An insider tasting menu that delivers in spades.

Ikoyi is responsible for a new wave of West African dining in the city. Chef Jeremy Chan’s surprise tasting menu is made up of flavours such as jollof rice (reimagined with a lobster custard) and plantains (topped with a spiced efo emulsion). Game-changing cooking for a blow-out supper.

Kate Moss threw a couple of birthday parties here, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger used to be regulars and Tina Turner once danced on the tables. Julie’s may have dipped in and out of the limelight in the years since, but it is only now that the food, by ex-Pelican chef Owen Kenworthy, has become the headline. Visit Julie’s for sole swimming in brown butter sauce, lobster soufflé or mussels and shoestring fries – all served with a side of glamorous nostalgia.

This red-hot Thai restaurant serves a short, changing menu using impeccably sourced ingredients. Langoustine som tum is made with sour in-season gooseberries and a rich beef-cheek curry with nettles and wild garlic foraged from Mile End. Larger groups can sit downstairs but the best seats are those on the ground floor, with views of the clay cooking pots. Hop over to Bar Termini if there’s a wait.

Wild food reigns supreme at KOL. This vibrant modern Mexican restaurant and mezcaleria is an ideal spot for a night on the town.

True to form, La Famiglia is a real family-run place. The wonderful team here serves up beautiful, comforting Tuscan classics to all the locals.

This has to be London’s smartest Italian restaurant – with a Michelin star to show for it. Made up of several connected dining rooms, each space feels intimate, but we love the tables on the terrace. During summer months the roof retracts for alfresco lunches, but it also feels gloriously cosy when you’re by the fire with the rain hitting the roof for the rest of the year. The service is smart, the pasta (rigatoni with sausage ragu, Agnolotti of alpine speck) is perfect, and the lemon tart is sensational. A date-night spot for when you’re pulling out all the stops.