The best restaurants in London you should be booking (Updated July

Best

The latest Michelin-starred Spanish spot from Nieves Barragán Mohacho, the visionary chef behind Mayfair’s Sabor. One of London’s oldest restaurants, this hospitality monolith dates back to 1828 but recently re-opened after a fallow period. Instead, you will be awed by fat egg noodles glistening in rich, piquant curry laksa adorned with crispy onion and deep-fried seabass wallowing in rich chili sauce. Normah’s – named after its chef owner, whose nephew, Aizad, runs the front of house – fits that description perfectly. If anyone ever says that English food is bad, simply rub their face in a St John menu.

• Sleek, creative cuisine in a shabby-chic listed building that doubles as an antiques shop.
• The Wiri Wiri lamp rump comes with a delicious mint crust and a gorgeous artichoke puree, and I’ve heard great things about the pan-seared pimento duck, although we didn’t manage to stretch our stomachs that far this time.
• When choosing restaurants, our editors consider both high end and affordable eateries that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination.
• Arguably the most important British restaurant of the past decade.
• This is powerful and intense food.

Found within the Radha-Krishna Temple on Soho Street, Govinda’s restaurant serves up what their website describes as karma-free food. Greek food is only the jumping-off point for a menu that begins on the Ionian islands before skipping off to the Levant by way of the Balkans, with a South American layover. Mostly though, Chan’s menu defies geographical borders, instead pushing culinary boundaries via dishes that simultaneously make you think and make you feel held. Of course, there is jerk chicken on the menu, but it’ll be the lamb that creates the most extreme food envy. There’s a slightly rowdy playlist that will have you questioning whether you’re in a club or restaurant.

Servers move around the tables as though performing a well-rehearsed dance, skilfully placing napkins over laps at one table before pouring wine – explaining every detail without spilling a drop – at our own. In a restaurant this grand, you might expect service to be stilted and stuffy – it couldn’t be further from the case. It takes a good few moments after stepping inside the grand dining room for your eyes to adjust and take in the spectacular surroundings. With a two-course lunch available for £23 and a service charge of just 10 per cent, it’s all attractively affordable. The current star of the show, however, is the potato sourdough with house gravy, the deep, rich aroma of which seems to rise up from the dish and do an impression of the famous Bisto advert.

Merging high-end food, glamorous interiors and a hard-to-impress postcode, with authentic familial influences and traditional Indian cuisine, BiBi was well worth the wait. I’d advise you to leave some room for dessert, too; the cacao ganache will be haunting my dreams for some time to come. This was followed by the freshest Irish oysters drizzled in a slap-in-the-face kind of hot fermented chilli sauce. The bisque is made up of the remnants of crab from one of the a la carte dishes – bonus points for waste reduction.

The best restaurants in London you should be booking (Updated July

The restaurant’s menu features seriously old-school dishes like kedgeree, bubble and squeak, and ‘raw beef and crisps’, which is some kind of wonderful. There’s a rotation of fiery, no-frills dishes such as bavette steak rubbed with yaji dressing (served with the requisite quarter-tomato as is custom, Rafal explains), and ekuru with pumpkin-seed pestou and Scotch bonnet sauce. The wine list is extensive, ranging from the house St John white (£8.75), red (£8.75) or Cremant (£11) by the glass up to blow-the-budget Burgundys north of £600. We update this list regularly as new restaurants open and existing ones evolve. A grand dining room in a Grade II-listed former courthouse. Now it’s a wonderful, community-focused space, with a menu of Jamaican-inspired home-cooked classics.

If you’ve no room for pudding, the hefty cocktail list does a good job of extending sittings. Don’t sleep on the Channa bhatura, a melty chickpea dish served with raita. Tender chunks of Indian cheese smothered in the rich masala sauce is best eaten scooped onto piles of sweet coconut pilau rice. The lobster pie comes with a googly-eyed crustacean peering out, the caviar is served with blinis and bubble and squeak, while the mid-18th century mock-turtle soup has been modernised in the form of a croquette. There’s so much to look at within the lowlit space you could easily sit and just take it all in. But you’d be advised to order a bottle of sherry – the fino en rama, perhaps – which goes well with everything on the menu.

St John recently celebrated 30 glorious years in the game and most great modern restaurants in London (if not the world) owe St John a serious and meaty debt. Chance your arm on a drop-in perch, where the full food menu is available. Camille is a place where carnivores will be much happier than vegetarians – it is French, after all – but it’s a triumph of imagination, talent, and guts (which you can expect to see on the menu regularly). Every spot on this list has been independently reviewed by Leonie and our critics, and we regularly revisit favourites to make sure the list stays current. This is a snapshot of where London dining is at right now; a city of global flavours, hilariously varying budgets and some of the best food you’ve ever eaten. If an engineer capable of besting Eiffel did not step forward soon, Burnham knew, there simply would not be enough time left to build anything worthy of the fair.

Less than a year later, it seems his dreams are on their way to becoming a reality; the young chef opened his own restaurant in trendy Herne Hill (just opposite Brockwell Park) in late 2025, and the reception has been overwhelming. The owners of The Barbary, Layo and Zoe Paskin, have created something rare – a set of London restaurants under the umbrella of Studio Paskin (The Palomar, The Barbary, The Barbary Notting Hill) where a table is as coveted now as it was on opening night. It’s a dish that proves a useful avatar for the whole menu – an example of a time-honoured classic with something just a touch askew.

A refined yet wholesome family affair, the contemporary Korean eatery arrived on Mare Street, Hackney, in June, care of chef Hyun Sang Ko, and his two sons, both named Jae Ko. Contrary to popular belief, sometimes the best things in life aren’t free; they’re hard-earned – a theory which would explain the success of Miga, more than 22 years in the making. There are two wine pairings to choose from – one around the £90 mark and one costing £125, as well as a clever non-alcoholic pairing for £49. 14 courses change daily, and are cooked in front of diners – they might include Newlyn crab on roasted chicken skin, Orkney scallops with wild chamomile or Devon Red Ruby beef with fermented artichokes and pickled tapioca, as at the time of writing. Rogan closed Aulis in early 2023, as it entered its sixth year, and reopened with a new look and a fresh menu. Simon Rogan’s little restaurant in Soho could easily be described as an immersive West End theatre experience.

It’s all accompanied by claypot rice, carefully just-crisped at the bottom, and gorgeous glasses of wine, well-recommended by Michael Mackenzie, including a Sauvignon from Burgundy that proves as delicious as it sounds unlikely. A quartet of wontons similarly steep, more literally, in a chilli vinegar dressing, my dining partner terms “celeriac-y” – we are joyfully baffled at its depth of flavour. The pale pink walls of the restaurant’s latest incarnation are adorned with photos of the family, who first opened Poon’s of Covent Garden, around the corner, in 1973.

Canteen

The sprawling building feels like a luxury hotel, and is a multi-space affair, featuring all-day cafe Romano’s, and two cocktail bars (Simpson’s Bar upstairs and Nellie’s in the basement). Pizzettas and flatbreads made using fermented koji and silken tofu get their own section of the menu – and rightly so. But this new outpost in Spitalfields is not vegan, with all manner of dairy- and/or egg-based wonders across the menu. At the original outpost in Portobello, head chef Daniel Watkins’s live fire cooking and ferment laboratory established Holy Carrot as one of London’s great pioneers of vegan cuisine. Try also ‘Gina’s Pasta’, which is simply a damn good plate of spaghetti in a rich and comforting marinara sauce.

When it opened, there wasn’t an empty seat in the house for weeks as the city’s most fashionable flocked to get a table. One Club Row is the kind of restaurant that gets Londoners talking. This diminutive Soho spot is still our favourite in the Bao family – and well worth the queue. The Wiri Wiri lamp rump comes with a delicious mint crust and a gorgeous artichoke puree, and I’ve heard great things about the pan-seared pimento duck, although we didn’t manage to stretch our stomachs that far this time.

Tender langoustine is paired with an intriguing smoked chilli and sea buckthorn which guests pile into corn tacos themselves, and seared lamb is chopped and served with a subtle guajillo mayonnaise. Things are split into a couple of tasting menus, but it doesn’t feel stiff and lots of the courses are designed to be pieced together at the table. Since then Lastra spent time foraging for the best ingredients, from the woodlands of Kent to the Scottish coastline. We first heard rumours that Santiago Lastra, the dashing chef who was handpicked by René Redzepi to lead the sell-out Noma pop-up in Tulum, was coming to London in 2018. This is casino not on gamstop a beautiful place to eat serving food that will make you smile. The short cocktail list leans into eastern spices, or, if you’re not drinking, order one of the cleverly curated selection of teas.

A Malaysian flavour powerhouse and our 2024 restaurant of the year. Head chef Jamie Thorneycroft honed his flair for fire and ferments over at Lagom and his menu here is potent stuff, with flavours more than capable of making themselves heard over nightly vinyl-only DJs. Less a ‘listening bar’ and more of a ‘dancing restaurant’. Elegant enough to parade the catwalk at London Fashion Week, it’s served with a bowl of tiny pink pickled onions, a deft, couture-worthy touch. A casual but indulgent spot in East Dulwich with the ex-head chef of Gymkhana in the kitchen. Like most things on the menu here, it’s spicier than a Gaspar Noé movie, but that’s why you’re here, right?

Despite Mambow’s size, Abby Lee and her modern Malaysian restaurant will be stamping a big footprint on the London dining scene. Next up, small plates that ranged from my favourite lor bak – a spicy crispy pork bite that I’ve been dreaming about since – to a nutty grilled banana blossom and prawn toast that was unlike any I’ve tasted before. First-timers should order the classic, with juicy pork and peanuts packed inside a fluffy pocket, or the indulgent fried chicken. It’s been years since London’s favourite Taiwanese bun house launched in Soho, and queues still snake outside the tiny space on Lexington Street.

It’s industrial but warm – steel panelling, marble tabletops, and polished concrete floors are softened by canary-yellow booths and shelves stacked with pots and saucepans. At 9pm, a queue still snakes outside while inside, the space hums with life. Settle in with a 3-sip serve (a tiny cocktail made to cleanse the palate), like celeariac with rum or pear and vodka, and argue cheerfully with your dining companions about your must-orders.

For main, we enjoyed pollock fish balls in a sour orange curry sauce and our first foray away from seafood for the evening, a glistening and succulent pork chop. The menu might be simple (two pizzas – one meat, one vegetarian – four pastas, and a short list of wines and beers), but the dishes pack a punch. The menu is vast and made to share; perfectly pitched seafood dishes, a whole section just for lamb (we especially liked the lamb cutlets Milanesa) and pork (sucking pig ears, Iberian pork ribs, pig trotters). These days, thanks to the recent glut of whipsmart Thai restaurants, London diners are on first-name terms with pad peds and nahm prik paos, squeezing out nam jim jaew sauce like it’s ketchup.

Where Taiano runs the mains, Gill has put together a pleasingly retro dessert menu that reminds me of my school days, albeit far more refined; riffs on rice pudding and chocolate sponge cake are joined by peach cobbler with clotted cream, one of the highlights of our meal. We’re encouraged to try the Tasting Menu to experience the breadth of the menu, ranging from a nigiri selection of bluefin tuna, yellowtail and trout to an aged monkfish paired with smoked eel, ginger sauce and a potato rosti. There’s a bustling open kitchen plan that overlooks the dining space, allowing guests to see first-hand the detailed precision with which the team works.

I expected these dishes to be given the Michelin treatment – portion sizes reduced, plates prettied up, a foam here or a jús there. The menu celebrates aspects of his terroir – the seafood-heavy accents of the coasts and Gaza; the maftool and freekeh of the traditional, olive-grove-filled centre; and the dried yoghurts and salting and drying traditions of the desert nomads. In spite of its Michelin star, acquired within a year of opening, Oma somehow manages to bridge the gap between elevated, sophisticated dining and a more relaxed, taverna-style restaurant. Located above Agora (the more laid-back ground-floor eatery), it’s the ultimate romantic spot, with flickering candlelight, a soft colour palette and cosy corners.

Will you be crammed into this small space to an almost uncomfortable level? Order the deep fried feta with quince relish, and burnt leeks with escabeche sauce and walnut dukkah. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the food must have suffered in the face of such dedication to the sesh. Both dishes are less than a tenner. But there are also plenty of dishes unique to here. Which actually makes it feel more like a backstreet San Sebastian pintxos bar than any fancy refit ever could.

It’s unfussy and honest cooking, served in a setting that feels more country house than East End. Rochelle Canteen has come a long way in those two decades – from a low-key spot with “a big sharing table and a box for a till”, these days the team has been serving a diminutive, hyper-seasonal menu since before it was zeitgeisty to do so. No wonder it’s been drawing in Michelin chefs and curious tourists alike since it opened in November 2023. We’ve seen a flurry of London boozers reopening recently that have kept all the atmosphere intact but woven in excellent restaurants, such as Ben Tish at The Barley Mow, Hauser & Wirth’s The Audley and, best of all, Henry Harris’s Racine 2.0 at Clerkenwell’s The Three Compasses. This always-busy, always-buzzing restaurant, just around the corner from Spitalfields Market, is the kind of spot you’ve been loyal to since opening in 2016, or that you come to late-to-the-game, disbelieving that you’ve never booked a table here before. There’s a cosy atmosphere, creaky floors, and the nation’s most classic bar snacks (think pork scratchings) served alongside beers like Allsopp’s and Portobello Pilsner.

The dining room now seats 12 – four more than the original eight spaces – and there’s a bar to hang out in for an aperitif or digestif, to properly make an evening of it. As with any good Mexican, there’s a carefully curated list of mezcal which also feature at the end of the wine flight. The house wine has been created specifically for KOL by Slovakian winemakers Slobodné Vinárstvo. Sunshiny chef Ravinder Bhogal cut her teeth at Michelin-starred Trishna before opening up her own place – a ‘no borders’ kitchen that draws on Indian, African and European cooking to curate its menu.

These are still authentic family recipes, cooked with passion and without much finesse, served on pink Formica plates. This has long been one of Soho’s best restaurants, and now it’s making waves all over again. The last few years have been kind to Rogan and his team; in 2022, another of his restaurants, L’Enclume, was awarded a third Michelin star – the highest accolade in the Michelin guide.

Few places are as grand and historically significant as the OWO – a hotel that’s home to nine restaurants, including Kioku by Endo. And don’t scrimp on the vegetable sides – I haven’t stopped talking about the sprouting broccolini and the mashed potato, served on a knockout shellfish bisque sauce and topped with lobster. The menu is not the traditional roast or scones that you might expect, but an unexpected, hold-onto-your-hat, seafood adventure. Taking its name from HRH Elizabeth II, who was born at the Bruton Street address, the restaurant is the creation of Ross Shonhan (Nobu, Zuma, Bone Daddies), who, peculiarly, wanted to imagine what life would have been like for Lilibet had she never become queen. London’s dining scene can be split into two categories – mouth-watering food or eye-wateringly beautiful decor. Cleanse the palate with a refreshing white port and tonic before opting for something funky from the short wine list – we’d order a Chardonnay from the Languedo or a zingy Vinho Verde from Portugal’s Minho region.

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Scotti’s Snack Bar

The set menu (£55 at lunch, £105 at dinner) changes frequently – snacks every week, larger plates depending on what ingredients look good. Joké’s Nigerian heritage is at the forefront of her home-style cooking, and it’s hugely exciting – if not long overdue – to see a business run by a Black woman flourishing in London’s competitive restaurant scene. Although the anjou pigeon a la presse is quite the spectacle (prepared tableside by a team of three), it’s the Crêpes Suzette that steals the show, doused and flambéed in Grand Marnier before being gently placed onto our plates in a neatly folded triangle. Many restaurants have tried to emulate the industrial-chic St John design blueprint, but this is the original – an unbuttoned, always excellent place to come for a long, boozy lunch fit for 1994. When choosing restaurants, our editors consider both high end and affordable eateries that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination. Every restaurant on this list has been selected independently by our editors and written by a London-based Condé Nast Traveller journalist who has eaten at that restaurant.

The Dubonnet Negroni comes with a succinct history lesson, and is a touch more syrupy than its aperitif original, but it was the Naturally Fresh that we’d ask for again, even if it comes off the menu. There’s no elegant way to eat the grilled prawn ‘soup’ (a peppery seafood broth) or the latke-inspired cassava fritters, but that’s what the stack of napkins is for. Despite the six previous courses, it’s gone in seconds – the perfect end to a dinner verging on a theatrical experience.

While Fisher’s can seem too much like a private member’s club at times, the wood-panelled Brat is more open, with all the atmosphere of an upstairs Spanish asador at 11pm. Tomos Parry is famously the chef behind Kitty Fisher’s, the celebrity hangout in Mayfair. Walking up the stairs, past rows of wine bottles, to be greeted by the soft, camp-fire wumpf of wood smoke, bright chatter across long tables… you’d be forgiven for wondering why you’d never stumbled across this place before. Brilliant value, and utterly deserving of a spot on our edit. But most Londoners in the know will make an exception for the buttery roti this spot is famous for – perfect for scooping up mouthfuls of curry (lamb, fish, chicken) or daal. The original Roti King is in a basement joint in Euston, a part of town most of us try to avoid at supper time unless we’re forced into catching a post-work train.