The best restaurants in London you should be booking

What’s the deal? Back Max Rocha’s admission abandoned adventure opened in 2021, its smash-hit cachet has been absurd to deny. Allotment neighbourhood alehouse and allotment chic accolade to the chef’s Dublin roots, Café Cecilia showcases Rocha’s training at arch bounded London lights St John and The River Café in the simple but beauteous cooking. If you’re not agitated about the onglet, you’ll be active about the Guinness cake, or singing the praises of abstract sage-and-anchovy fritti.  

Why go? Because the Cambridge Heath gas building accept never looked as absorbing as back you’re gazing at them through massive windows in this airy, L-shaped warehouse-style amplitude while ramming chips in your mouth. 

Order this Annihilation with Guinness in it. The cake. The bread. The ice cream. And the fritti, advantage me, the fritti.

What’s the deal? The afresh revamped archetypal dining allowance of the ‘great amazon of Administrator Street’ boasts one of the world’s best absorbing chefs at the fore. Jeremy Lee has fabricated a card to treasure: seasonal, amazing and never one to scrimp on pudding, which consistently comes slathered in custard. 

Why go? For an acclaimed Soho experience. Aberrant British food, a high-end bohemian vibe and absolute people-watching are what bistro out in London is all about. 

Order this Pies are Lee’s passion. Adjustment whatever bushing is activity and a smoked eel sarnie on the side.

What’s the deal? A west African tasting card of dreams in Fitzrovia, with 10-odd courses address of exec chef Ayo Adeyemi, who took over the kitchen in September 2022 and has bound fabricated it his own.  

Why go? This animated and aerial allowance is adorned after the faff – there’s no fiddly, careful aliment here, but rather huge, avant-garde flavours that draw on old ancestors recipes and flavours from across Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal.

Order this You’ll accept to beefy for the tasting menu, as there’s no a la carte option, but you will accept aught regrets; apprehend hunks of lobster tail, scotch beanie soup and extremely moreish jollof rice. 

What’s the deal? The card is absolutely plant-based: it’s mock-meat, tofu and beancurd galore. But the actuality it’s all vegan (and by extension, apparently beneath damaging to the environment) isn’t the best part. The best allotment is that it’s absolutely adorable Chinese cuisine.

Why go? The vegans are demography over. Appear and adoration at their church. 

Order this The disconnected tofu and baptize chestnut wontons in abode appropriate sauce. Deep, garlicky, ablaze and fizzy, it’s an adipose brew of pure, merciful pleasure.

What’s the deal? LA chef Kris Yenbamroong has spent the accomplished decade wowing his hometown with adventurous Thai flavours – and an acutely well-curated accustomed wine account – at his clamp of cult-y Night Bazaar restaurants. Now it’s London’s turn. Chet’s is Yenbamroong’s aboriginal full-time European venture, and you’ll acquisition it captivation cloister at the aback of the Hoxton auberge in Shepherd’s Bush. Massive portions with a ancillary adjustment of massive fun. What’s not to like?

Why go? It’s cheaper than booking a flight to Thailand by way of California, and because it’s in a hotel, it’s accessible all day for indulgent brekkies and lunches, too. 

Order this The advantageously gloopy blue-cheese-slathered block salad, complete with candied pork jowl and garlic nam jim dipping sauce. Add on a absurd craven khao soi: absolute katsu-style craven plonked on a bed of buttery Chiang Mai curried noodles with bean sprouts and broiled chilli oil.

What’s the deal? The latest apotheosis of this iconic London restaurant is conceivably its finest alms to date. A shorter, ever-changing blackboard card removes the alarming affectation the abiding Smithfield beginning ability hold, but is arranged with treasures, from anchovy-based baby plates, to whopping abundant angle dishes and abstract stews. Actual heaven. 

Why go? To sample some of the finest British affable you’ll anytime eat. Tumble into The Aureate Hawkeye pub adverse afterwards for a pint.

Order this Abysmal absurd hunks of cheesy, brittle rarebit, a queen of a bowl that you’ll alone get at this actual St John.

What’s the deal? A easygoing attractive collective on Finsbury Park’s Blackstock Alley that serves huge, absurd helpings of Uyghur cuisine, a alloy of arctic Chinese dishes like noodles and dumplings, kebabs and meat-soaked bread. Try it once, be bedeviled for life. 

Why go? It’s one of the few places in London area you can acquisition overlooked, but absolutely not under-flavoured Uyghur aliment (Etles in Walthamstow is another). Appear for a able Szechuan bite and some of the finest noodles in London.

Order this Large-plate chicken, with its hand-pulled noodles and dry arctic spice. Tugure dumplings, samsa pastries and burst cucumber on the ancillary is a pro move.

What’s the deal? Sat in the garden of a above academy off Arnold Bazaar in Shoreditch, Melanie Arnold and Margot Henderson’s arcadian bolthole is a eyes of artlessness and acceptable sourcing. Anticipate St John (Fergus Henderson is Mr Margot) after the wine-sloshing agitation – and with beneath offal.

Why go? Because lunches are rarely added idyllic, abnormally in the spring. 

Order this Uncomplicated constructions sum up this place’s ethos, so aces one a simple amateur such as clams, chilli and garlic. Don't avoid the old academy puddings, abnormally the ones drowning in custard.

What’s the deal? Eat in an art gallery. No, really. This Mayfair newbie opened at the end of 2022 and, acknowledgment to owners Hauser & Wirth, contains £50m-worth of masterpieces by anybody from Lucian Freud to Pablo Picasso. The aliment – trad British which borders on the Victorian but comes with a adroit aberration – is appealing appropriate too. 

Why go? Back was the aftermost you had banquet with a 18-carat Matisse looming over you? The art is on your table too, with alkali and pepper cruets are aggressive by American artisan Paul McCarthy’s animated ‘Tree’ sculpture. 

Order this The showstopping lobster-head pie has got anybody talking, and at £96 you’d achievement it would. But it’s accessible to beefy for article a little added pocket-friendly, including a alternative of archetypal savouries, such as London rarebit, Gentleman’s Appetite and cucumber on toast, or devilled-kidney omelette at £12 each.

What’s the deal? A cosy and chichi side-street atom in Bloomsbury with some austere cheffy pedigree; the accomplished Anna Tobias – who aesthetic her barter at London battleground Rochelle Canteen – active up the kitchen, and the folk from 40 Maltby Artery are additionally involved.

Why go? Because it’s basically the coolest Civic Assurance café you’ve anytime been to, with elevated, ingredient-led Euro band classics. Think: nice things on toast, affable but beautiful soups, and rustic yet adroit salads.

Order this The super-seasonal card is consistently changing, but Tobias’s simple signature dish, a baby egg-mayonnaise starter, is consistently account an order.

What’s the deal? A abandoned adventure from Barrafina’s ancient arch adult Nieves Barragán Mohacho, Sabor is a restaurant of two behindhand – there’s the added accidental Adverse and bar on the arena attic and the added aesthetic El Asador on the aboriginal floor. It offers Spanish aliment with acute flair, whatever attic you’re on, but if we accept to accept – and we absolutely do – we’ll beefy for the Counter, for its amazing tapas and super-convivial, adjoining on the rowdy, service. 

Why go? Because the card changes so generally that there’s acumen to appear aback afresh and again. And again. 

Order this Alone a fool would about-face their adenoids up at the absolute pan con tomate. Whatever croquettas are on the card are additionally activity on your order, as is the tortilla.

What's the deal? A Bloomsbury gem which started out as the bar-based activity of a wine annual and became one of London's best admired restaurants. This is a abode area you’ll feel appropriately acceptable bustling in for a abandoned bottle of wine at the bar or communicable up with old accompany over a sprawling cafeteria – speaking of which, the set cafeteria card is one of the best deals in town.

Why go? Because everything tastes of something. This shouldn’t be a arresting affection in a restaurant, but how generally accept you paid through the adenoids for some beautifully presented but basically ambient bowl that passes you by in a affectionate of flavourless haze? Every chaw at Blue-blooded Rot is followed by a bash of gusto. 

Order this The comté beignets. Dusted in parmesan and served with pickled walnut ketchup, which is basically a added accomplished and carnal Daddies Sauce.

What’s the deal? Chef Henry Harris’s much-loved Racine – a French alehouse in Knightsbridge which bankrupt in 2015 – alternate at the end of 2022 at the top of a 300-year-old boozer in Farringdon. The crowd, it’s fair to say, went wild. 

Why go? To adore a card that is unashamedly French, with apprehensive roots and an accent on affable food. Admirers of adulate and cream, your time is now. 

Order this The tête de veau (‘calf’s head’): the dogie is poached and soft, melting and rich, and eaten with dollops of mayo-like ravigote. Oof.

What’s the deal? The hyper-seasonal book afloat out of the tiny kitchen of this bar-with-food, amid in the barn of wine importer Gergovie, is startling: from takeaway sarnies (toasted cheese, animated schnitzels) to beyond (but still small) plates of painterly execution.

Why go? There are no anxiety at 40 Maltby Street, authoritative it the absolute abode for accepted by unannounced and accidentally accepting one of the best commons of the year. 

Order this It ability be adventurous to say ‘you can’t adjustment badly’ here, but my gosh, you can’t adjustment abominably here. Jump at annihilation with smoked mackerel and ambush on annihilation which suggests it ability be a fritter.

What’s the deal? A amazement avant-garde Indian in chichi Mayfair which wrangles British aftermath into high-concept takes on subcontinental classics. Chef Chet Sharma is both a abandoned baker and a accomplished physicist: disciplines he combines in niftily presented dishes like the abandoned abode riff on a yoghurty Lahore chicken. 

Why go? Because you can aces your own with an à la carte lunch, or put your fate in Sharma’s accurate easily for the black set menu. Either way, you’re on to a winner.

Order this The Wookey Aperture cheese papad, and not aloof because of its accomplished name.

What’s the deal? Over the accomplished decade, arch chef Shuko Oda’s Koya has become every bit as abundant of a Soho archetypal as the brand of L’Escargot, Quo Vadis and Andrew Edmunds. With its blond-wood counter, Koya evokes the acceptable feel of a Japanese udon-ya, and is as abundant Tokyo as it is London. Avant-garde bowls of udon and rice borsch are the above draw. 

Why go? Because breakfast is the best important meal of the day, and Koya’s adaptation is out of this world.  

Order this Koya’s booty on the abounding english: a bleared basin of thick, handmade udon noodles topped with a absurd egg, begrimed bacon and shiitake mushrooms.

What’s the deal? Despite its acceptability as Hackney’s baron of kofte, Mangal II faced post-Covid threats of annoying debts and closure. Sertaç Dirik took over the barbecue from dad Ali and with no abundant fuss angry Mangal II into a somewhat added bougie proposition, authoritative the aliment – which was consistently abundant – added aesthetic but still indulgent.

Why go? Can you absolutely accede yourself a Londoner if you haven’t been to Mangal II at atomic once? 

Order this The choose yaw kofte takes antiquated old sheep meat – admitting from a hip Cornish acreage – and applies it to the archetypal kebab lexicon, with honking success. Don’t absence the affected augment manti and ballsy tahini-and-apple tart, either.

What’s the deal? This adorned ex-courthouse angry cod-Palladian alcazar is one of London’s best admirable restaurants. Honestly, if you’re talking date spots, again Sessions is a affirmed smooch-maker. The aliment is aloof as attractive, with arch chef Florence Knight’s simple, ingredient-led card a affair of poetry: a distinct amber shrimp croquette, say, or a bowl of lamb, champagne, celeriac and lovage. Accede us smitten.

Why go? Because not all restaurants attending like this, hardly any, in fact. Careful, you ability absorb added time gazing at the artfully afflicted walls than you do your companion. 

Order this The eel-and-potato bowl is a card staple: a affectionate of pressed, bonbon dent layered with smoked eel, and dotted with chaplet of roe and comestible flowers. Again account a sorbet to finish: at aftermost look, claret orange was the offering, but we’ve had acceptable times with the auto one too.

What’s the deal? A wine-centric members’ club in a brace of Hackney railway arches, with a accessible restaurant – headed up by P Franco alum Seb Myers, no beneath – casting berserk adorable French-leaning $.25 like calf’s accuracy on acknowledgment and tranches of monkfish with camomile and leeks. Ace plonk too, obviously. 

Why go? Planque agency ‘hideaway’ in French, and that’s absolutely the affection here. Appear for a easygoing but high-end acquaintance in a atom that feels like a super-cool contemporary gallery.

Order this Annihilation off the ample wine list: you’ll acquisition affluence of low-intervention producers from France and Italy spanning lambics, bruts and rieslings. It’s a wine drinker’s clubhouse, afterwards all.

What’s the deal? Majestic Malaysian cuisine on the Holloway Road. Sambal Shiok is chef buyer Mandy Yin’s constant neighbourhood joint, area blurred bowls of laksa noodles administration supreme, and brittle abandon of absurd craven and absurd gado gado bloom are absurd to ignore. 

Why go? To acquaintance the accurate acceptation of abundance food. 

Order this The laksa, of course. Accept it with tofu puffs, chicken, prawn, or alike accomplish it vegan. Ask for a confined of attic milk on the ancillary if you can’t booty the heat. Cipher will adjudicator you. Well, not too much. 

What’s the deal? You can’t adjustment abominably at Singburi, the excellent, much-loved neighbourhood Thai abode in Leytonstone. Over the years, chef Sirichai Kularbwong has, rightfully, developed a loyal following. The accepted card of noodles and curries is hot, but the blackboard specials are area the absolute treasures lie. 

Why go? Aloof rights – it’s awfully adamantine to get a table here, but aback you do, you’ll appetite to acquaint anybody that you did. Do analysis its aperture times however, aftermost we arrested the abode was demography a breach and was shut for the foreseeable, but fingers beyond they'll be aback in business afresh soon. 

Order this The moo krob special: twice-fried brittle pork abdomen with garlic, basil and chilli.

What’s the deal? The elevator angle is thus: Manteca is a alloy of Trullo/Padella’s eye for ‘proper’, hand-rolled beginning pasta and St John’s cleaver-happy charge to nose-to-tail basal waste. The accomplished card skews both aesthetic and rugged: what fool wouldn’t appetite to chase amber backtalk cacio e pepe with a blimp pig’s snout?

Why go? Because you’re a bloodthirsty beastly who additionally brand to accomplish abiding your beef is served in a acceptable fashion. You’re boxy and you’re mean, but you care, man.

Order this The pig-skin ragù – devised to abate decay in the kitchen, active beneath a blast of parmesan and crowned with cloud-light pork crackling. 

What’s the deal? A flame-licked British restaurant, aggressive by the affable of the Basque region, from accomplished Abandon chef Tomos Parry. The card is about satirically simple – spider backtalk toast, buzz avoid rice, beef tartare et al – but there’s not a distinct dud. 

Why go? Because it keeps accepting better. Back aperture in 2018, Brat has gone from backbone to strength, abstraction out a abode for itself as one of London’s best admired kitchens. You’ll see added chefs here, chowing bottomward on aberrant fish. Post-lockdown it gave bearing to an indoor/outdoor alms at Climpson’s Accomplished in London Fields.

Order this Broiled aliment with anchovy is a desert-island bowl of such acclaim that Paul Mescal gave it a shout-out on his adventure of ‘Off Menu’. A befuddled little legend.

What’s the deal? This two-floored abreast trattoria is a Highbury institution, active anytime back it opened in 2010. It’s congenital a austere acceptability for its beginning pasta, charcoal assay and abandoned bake-apple tarts. Pici cacio e pepe has been a basic back Trullo’s aboriginal canicule and charcoal a abundant delight. 

Why go? If anybody had a neighbourhood pasta abode as acceptable as Trullo, the apple would assuredly be a bigger place. Thankfully, you don’t accept to be a bounded to allow yourself here.  

Order this The cottony bland slow-cooked beef shin ragù with melt-in-the-mouth pappardelle is the being of legend.

What’s the deal? These are hobs with history. Admitting Neil Borthwick ability be in allegation of kitchen affairs now, in the 1990s the high alcove of The French were home to both Fergus and Margot Henderson, afore they bald off to do St John and Rochelle Canteen respectively. The attitude of a bolthole for a boozy Soho cafeteria has remained, however, in Borthwick’s bold cooking. 

Why go? A bigger atom in London for animadversion aback red wine and redder meats has not yet been found. Find the circadian card on Instagram, abounding of affable things with the aside hum of an abattoir: avoid rillettes, brittle pig’s head, brawn, chicken-liver parfait and steak, august steak. 

Order this Bonbon garlic and goat’s acerbate on toast: auspiciously smooshy.

What’s the deal? We’ve all got our actual own Chinatown favourites, but it’s Four Seasons that acme claimed lists added generally than most. This acceptable Cantonese collective offers boss meat dishes as able-bodied as admirable candied and sour, lemon, and atramentous bean sauces. The portions are generous, too. 

Why go? One of London’s best consistently active neighbourhoods, a day out up West isn’t attempt after a cruise into Chinatown and the consistent feast. The options are about endless, but Four Seasons never fails to impress. 

Order this Get ashore into the three pillars of Cantonese cuisine: buzz duck, burn siu pork and brittle pork.

What’s the deal? A bustling, begrimed Isaan (north-eastern Thai) abode that’ll calmly draft your arch off and leave you allurement for more. The raw beef laap with castelfranco and the acerb mollusk back-scratch cut a exciting band through the region’s cuisine. 

Why go? The acute vibe of the adverse by the accessible kitchen is altogether akin by the austere chops of the cooking. Attractive for some austere heat? Anhydrate is calling. 

Order this Clay-pot-baked bottle noodles with Tamworth pork abdomen and amber backtalk meat – one head-razing flavour afterwards another.

What’s the deal? Chef Fadi Kattan’s Palestinian restaurant on a residential Notting Acropolis backstreet is a beaut inside: abounding of olive branches, you’ll feel like you’ve been accustomed the key to a abstruse garden. A assured newcomer that’s chargeless and artistic in its announcement and storytelling, it lets you sample absolute cool pastry and musakhan: the chicken, sumac and sweet-onion jewel of Palestinian cuisine. 

Why go? While Akub isn’t the aboriginal proudly Palestinian restaurant in London, it is still a attenuate thing. Adore it. 

Order this Shish barak – accoutrements of cautiously spiced pumpkin, which abatement like accomplished persimmon beef from the aberrant folds back apathetic into.

What’s the deal? Sure, the Affection Chop Abode is great, but it’s usurped by the cipher affinity abutting door. Chef Nick Bramham knocks out a abridged account of Italo-Spanish gems from a brace of hot plates. Charge in a pork-fat cannolo to finish.

Why go? To add some candle-lit ball to a accidental accommodated up with pals. 

Order this Kick off with the Gildas: diminutive skewers of anchovy, olive and pickled chilli, abolished in appropriate oil. God’s own pintxos.

What’s the deal? This modern-Malaysian joint’s tiled bounds in new area Bazaar Peckham aren’t the vibiest. But chef-owner Abby Lee added than makes up for that with her acutely flavoured dishes, served up in welcoming, accidental style.

Why go? To prove that you don’t charge to go to a chic restaurant to adore some actively aggressive affable and pay your respects to the admirable bodies who accomplish it.

Order this The atramentous sarawak pepper craven is a showstopping joy, demography hints from Abby’s grandmother’s own recipe.

What’s the deal? Run out of a baby ex-pub, The Tamil Prince is a beautiful south Indian collective run by two guys who formed calm at band Malay-Singaporean canai-and-curry basement collective Roti King. Arch chef Prince Durairaj has taken afflatus from what makes Roti Baron so accepted – bombastic, flavoursome cooking, centring spiritually on billowing, bendable roti – and ratcheted up the dining dimension. 

Why go? To see such delights as the channa bhatura, a chickpea back-scratch accompanied by an aggrandized pufferfish-sized aliment balloon. Honestly, you could bash a lightbulb in there and advertise them in the Conran Shop. 

Order this Broiled tiger prawns in garlic masala. They are beauty, they are grace.

What’s the deal? Sustainability is a accepted foodie boiler and it’s accessible to see why. Local sourcing, decay abridgement and added acceptable practices are sexy! Headed up by Banquet by Heston Blumenthal alumni Will Murray and Jack Croft, Dormant grows its own aftermath and does its own whole-animal annihilation afore alms it all up as nose-to-tail, root-to-stem affable that champions bashful British ingredients.  

Why go? It may complete simple, alike frugal, but the aliment is annihilation but. Humble, generally disregarded capacity can accomplish absolutely rich, corrupt chow and Dormant is actuality to accomplish a fuss about them. 

Order this Corn ribs brindled with kombu, a signature bowl from Fallow’s pop-up days.

What’s the deal? A Camberwell Chinese restaurant acclaimed not aloof for its acutely reasonable prices, but for its absurd foodie explorations into the north-west borderland arena of Xinjiang. What attracts best bodies to Cottony Alley is the affable canteen atmosphere and the boss brainstorm and bouillon menu, featuring big bowl chicken, a affably affluent brilliant anise-and-chilli-flavoured borsch bobbing with pieces of bird on the bone, additional potatoes and belt noodles. 

Why go? If it’s bargains you’re after, Cottony Alley can’t be beaten. Ascertain some of the best flavours in London for the best price. It is, heroically, BYOB too. 

Order this Xinjiang lamb shish broiled over charcoal is a abduct at £1 per skewer. The best amount affirmation of meat in town. 

What’s the deal? Chef Niklas Ekstedt is a big name in Sweden for his signature ‘old Nordic’ alternation techniques at his Michelin-starred restaurant in Stockholm. This long-awaited UK beginning does the aforementioned and relies absolutely on wood-fired cooking: no electricity or gas. Monkfish is smoked in hay, mackerel is broiled in charcoal and oysters are flambadou-ed in a metal cone. This is cavemen being done with bulk of class.  

Why go? Not alone is the aliment abstract – rustic but affected – but the area is one a kind, the old above badge HQ, Abundant Scotland Yard. The actual analogue of a fair cop. 

Order this The ‘Journey to Scandinavia’ nine-course tasting card is a aerial £145 – with a wine bond an added £80 – but you’ll get to sample the all-inclusive ambit of Ekstedt’s aptitude for the price. And you'll leave smelling like a bonfire.

What’s the deal? This backward and analytic priced little restaurant at the bottom of the Emirates Amphitheater is best accepted for Xi’an (home of the Terracotta Army) street-food dishes and hand-pulled noodles. Sample dank ru jian mo (pork burgers) and the crimson-red ablaze big-plate chicken.

Why go It’s culter-than-cult and better-than-good. Don’t say you’re a London foodie if you haven’t munched actuality at atomic once. 

Order this Abolished in hot oil, chopped garlic, bounce onions and arena chilli, the signature glace and animated Xi’an biang biang noodles are authentic bliss.

What’s the deal? It’s one of Chinatown’s best contempo inhabitants, but Speedboat Bar has already fabricated a audible name for itself. Bright and boozy, it offers fun Thai aliment aggressive by the canteens in Bangkok’s own Chinatown. Sweetcorn fritters are brittle pop-in-the-mouth fun and craven banknote with zaep condiment the actual analogue of zingy. 

Why go? Did we acknowledgment there’s a basin table upstairs? This is a drinker’s restaurant, with affair like the Abracadabra Inhaler, a shot-glass adaptation of St John’s belled Dr Henderson – a almighty Fernet-Branca/Crème de Menthe mash-up that shouldn’t assignment but actual abundant does.

Order this Tom yam astronomic noodles with squid, pork and prawns, which appear pond in a buttery broth. This bowl has austere big-bowl energy.

What’s the deal? A abiding alarm of colourful Keralan cuisine on Stoke Newington’s capital drag. This blush alcazar has been confined up amazing veggie curries and absorbing dosas back the mid-1990s and it charcoal a bargain: not one bowl is over a tenner.

Why go? Because these guys basically invented millennial blush continued afore millennial blush was a thing. Rasa doesn’t aloof accept the finest south Indian aliment in town, but the sweetest decor.

Order this At £22.50, the vegetarian barbecue added than lives up to its name. You’ll get about aggregate on the menu, with snacks, starters, curries, ancillary dishes, rice, aliment and sweets. A customisable banquet, they’ll let you accommodate claimed favourites, too.

What’s the deal? This family-run atom in Camberwell serves up some of the best Kurdish aliment in the city. Run by chef Pary Baban and her sons Rang and Raman, it’s a alimentative circle of smoke, sumac and sweet, candied baklava. 

Why go? Because if you like what you're eating, Pary runs bounded affable classes area you can apprentice to accomplish her aperitive dishes. 

Order this The abode fries: picture-perfect chips brindle with tamarind-and-pink-yoghurt sauce, spices, sesame and herbs.

What’s the deal? An acutely adorable Indian-Irish admixture joint. The name may accord ‘Irish pub in baby European capital’, but get accomplished that and, address of accomplished chef Sacha Henry and smiley, front-of-house mixologist Eoghan, you’re in for amusement afterwards amusement afterwards treat.

Why go? The balmy atmosphere is as abundant of a draw as the food. Eoghan is the array of guy who pulls up a armchair to explain the menu. Sacha comes out of the kitchen – a above bookies’ appointment – to acquaint you what anniversary bowl is. 

Order this Cauli cheese: it’s a paratha, blimp with cheese and drizzled with cauliflower curry. Simple and served like a quesadilla, it’s not one to share, admitting the actuality that it’s meant to be a administration plate.

What’s the deal? Hankering for a augment in what ability be Soho’s prettiest (and, likely, smallest) basement? You’re in luck: This Michelin-starred alembic ticks all those boxes. Back the alpha of 2023 James Goodyear – who acclimated to be arch chef at Adumbrate Above, addition Michelin-starred restaurant – has been in charge.

Why go? To feel special. We all like to feel special, don’t we? And there’s nowt added appropriate than actuality taken affliction of at a 12-seat counter. 

Order this There’s a set tasting card so you get what you’re given. 

What’s the deal? This tucked-away family-run restaurant in Korean comestible destination New Malden is able-bodied account the cruise to Area 4. In chaste and awkward surroundings, it serves up analytic priced and stone-cold-killer Korean abundance aliment classics.

Why go? For accurate kimchi-jjigae stew, beef bulgogi and stir-fried udon noodles.

Order this The signature saengseon jjim braised whiting in an addictive candied and ambrosial booze with vegetables. A allocation of white rice to absorb up all the juices is a must.

What’s the deal? London’s aboriginal – and alone – Nigerian tapas restaurant, no less. Run by brother-and-sister duo Emeka and Ifeyinwa, its London-via-Lagos twists on archetypal dishes, from jollof quinoa to plantain waffles, are acutely vegan-friendly (but there’s meat and angle on action too). 

Why go? From its 2016 pop-ups to aperture this Tottenham bricks-and-mortar in 2020, Chuku’s acceleration – and the way the bounded association rallied about it at the end of aftermost year back the blackmail of cease was on the border – has been inspirational. 

Order this Airhead – absurd plantain in biscuit amoroso and coconut. Adjustment two portions.

What’s the deal? A vibey live-fire alliance in a arenaceous car esplanade abutting to 40FT Brewery and Arenaceous Address bakery. This is barbecue, but not as you apperceive it, with veggies the brilliant of the show. Apprehend adult administration plates of broiled leeks with pistachio, and abnormally adorable broiled cauliflower graced with guindilla chillies. There’s not abundant meat on the melancholia alteration card at all, but what is there is responsibly sourced. 

Why go? If you appetite to accompany a band but can’t be accomplishing with all that robe-wearing and would rather agreement your acceptance with some aces fire-licked food.

Order this Score their adorable abode flatbread topped with Acme’s own ‘Marmite’ butter, which is fabricated with extra beer aggrandize from the brewery abutting door. 

What’s the deal? The baron of London back-scratch houses, the family-run Lahore Kebab Abode offers accomplished Punjabi-style tandoori broiled meat, acceptable portions of ghee-laden curry, bags of candied onion bhajia and heavily spiced lamb chops. 

Why go? Bargain prices, alert account and BYOB accomplish Lahore Kebab Abode one of the acceptable guys. 

Order this The buttery and abstracted one-pot craven haleem is beatitude in a bowl.  

What’s the deal? The River Café is a London celebrity in its own right. Opened in 1987 by Attrition Rogers and the backward Rose Gray, it has congenital its acceptability by confined aloof yet beauteous Italian food. Oh, and training the brand of Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall forth the way. Prices are excruciating, but portions are acceptable and the affection is consistently high. 

Why go? To order a bowl of pasta and alive like the A-listers do.

Order this Taglierini al pomodoro: basically pasta and amazon sauce, but it’s the toothiest pasta and best circuitous amazon booze ever.

What’s the deal? A august admixture of Asian, African and Average Eastern cuisines from aliment biographer Ravinder Bhogal, whose absorbing comestible surprises accommodate a prawn acknowledgment scotch egg with assistant ketchup.

Why go? Despite the chic Marylebone location, annihilation about Jikoni is prissy or pretentious. The aliment may appear with a abundant amount tag, but Bhogal’s airedale and blithesome affable will leave you activity added than full.

Order this The Keralan hake and mollusk moilee. If we could alcohol a pint of that glossy, golden, coconut-y sauce, or bigger yet, booty a ablution in it, we would. It’s candied but not cloying, and oh-so-silky. Absorb up the bulk of booze with some adhesive auto rice.

What’s the deal? This sister to accepted small-plates restaurant Primeur offers a card that’s lighter and brighter than its sibling’s. Cacographic on a blackboard, the avant-garde European agency changes daily.

Why go? To eat from a actively abracadabra neighbourhood menu, featuring a active alloy of fish, meat and abnormal veg, served up on a mix of common tables and cosy banquettes. You'll anticipate you're in Soho, rather than Holloway.

Order this The card changes on the regs, but it usually appearance some anatomy of croquette – these never abort – as able-bodied as admirable little snacky starters like jamon and Provençal chickpea chips aka panisse.

What’s the deal? Former Nopi and Berber & Q chef Luke Findlay’s appropriate and antic booty on Japanese cuisine. Ham, egg and chips mazemen ability account a few aloft eyebrows, but this isn’t artlessly achievement food. Afterwards the success of its Dalston spot, this additional annex sits on the Rye Lane armpit ahead active by much-loved Mexican collective Taco Queen.

Why go? Seriously, area abroad are you activity to get a cheeseburger mazesoba? Appear actuality for aged-beef-fat noodles and a burst beef patty smothered in burger sauce, American cheese and white sesame.

Order this The blooming onion: deep-fried and served with miso mustard, Kewpie mayo and pear hot sauce. It’s vegan to boot.

What’s the deal? A quietly assured angle and seafood-focused airing from Jackson Boxer of Brunswick Abode fame. 

Why go? Notting Acropolis is air-conditioned again, don’t you know? Orasay is abounding of bodies accepting a acceptable time: couples on dates, gaggles of mates. Go to insolate in such blithesome conviviality. 

Order this Boxer knows his way about Brixham crab. Try the tagliolini with preserved auto and chilli, and if you’re there in the aboriginal evening, accomplish the best of the blessed hour ability deal. 

What’s the deal? This much-loved Neal’s Backyard restaurant boasts a adorable modern-day Jerusalem card served up at a horseshoe-shaped adverse bar. The menu, sweetly, is breach into ‘land’, ‘sea’ and ‘earth’. Pudding is, fittingly, ‘heaven’; try the Knafeh and you’ll see aloof why. 

Why go? The atmosphere is electric, the air abounding with charcoal smoke, music and laughter. It’s a abode to abatement joyously, arch over heels, lightning-bolts-R-us in adulation with.

Order this Mechoui octo houmous: a charred, breakable barb served in a agitate of chickpeas in convalescent auto and parsley with a burst of spiced lamb jus. Magic.