40 editor picks in London.
40 mid-range places in London, editor-picked. the comfortable everyday-good restaurants in London, with real cooking and no surprise on the bill. All London food.
Gordon Ker's basement chophouse on Great Windmill Street in Soho London, opened 2015, runs charcoal-grilled chops in a 1850s-era basement room.
OrderThe all-in chops board with beef, lamb and pork, plus the bone-marrow gravy.
TipSunday roast is £20 and books two weeks ahead through Resy. Pre-theatre chops at 17:00 walks in for half-price.
Evin O'Riordain's railway-arch brewery in Bermondsey London, founded 2009, the city's most-influential modern craft brewery, runs a Saturday-only retail.
TipSaturday market hours only (09:00-14:00). The bottle shop runs at the arch alongside Mons cheese and Maltby Street market.
Andrew Edmunds's candlelit Lexington Street bistro in Soho London, opened 1985 by the print-dealer Edmunds, still the city's preferred Soho dining-room.
TipBar seats at the front are released as walk-ins after 21:30. The handwritten daily menu does not appear online.
Mike Davies's gastropub on Camberwell Church Street in south London, opened 2014, runs a daily-changing seasonal menu and a famous family-style Sunday roast.
OrderSunday roast for four (booked in advance), or whatever whole-animal cut is on weeknight dinner.
TipSunday lunch books a fortnight ahead and serves until they run out. The bar room takes walk-ins all evening.
John Devitt's hand-pulled udon counter on Frith Street in Soho London, opened 2010, runs the city's most serious Japanese noodle kitchen. Priced at ££.
OrderHot udon with the English breakfast (bacon, egg, mushroom) at brunch, or the kake bukkake at dinner.
TipWalk-up only. Doors open 12:00; arrive at 11:45 for first sittings without a wait. Closed Sundays.
Anette Moldvaer and James Hoffmann's Square Mile coffee roastery near Wenlock Basin in north London, founded 2008, the city's most-cited specialty roaster.
TipNo public cafe; the beans go to subscribers and the city's top espresso bars (Workshop, Prufrock, Kaffeine).
Anita Le Roy's pioneer London coffee roaster, founded in 1978 on Monmouth Street in Covent Garden, runs two retail-and-cafe sites and is one.
TipThe Covent Garden original on 27 Monmouth Street has the standing counter; Borough has more outdoor seats.
The Brick Lane Beigel Bake bakery in east London, trading since 1974, runs 24-hour hand-rolled bagels and salt beef sandwiches, the city's defining.
OrderSalt beef bagel
TipAfter midnight queue runs 15 minutes. Salt beef bagel £6, cream cheese bagel £2.50. Cash or card.
The Smoking Goat charcoal Thai BBQ kitchen on Shoreditch High Street in east London, opened 2014 in Soho then moved to a larger Shoreditch site in 2017.
TipWalk-up at the bar; tables book a week ahead through their site. The fish-sauce wings and lardo-curry are the canonical orders.
Steve Williams's wine-bar-with-kitchen inside a Maltby Street railway arch in Bermondsey London, opened 2010, runs a daily-changing chalkboard of small.
OrderWhatever the smoked-fish or charcuterie opener is, with a half-bottle of growers' Champagne.
TipOpen Wed-Sat lunch and dinner; closed Sun-Tue. Walk-up only; first sitting at 12:00 always has bar seats.
Harneet Baweja's family-recipe Indian small-plates kitchen on White's Row in Spitalfields London, opened 2015, plates regional Indian home cooking, no buffet.
OrderSpicy venison doughnut, then Chettinad pulled lamb shoulder for two.
TipTiny room. Bookings open six weeks ahead and burn fast. Counter seats released as walk-ins from 17:30.
Howling Hops's Hackney Wick tank bar in east London, founded 2014, is the UK's first dedicated tank bar with ten stainless-steel tanks pouring unfiltered.
TipOpen daily from midday. Live music Fridays from 20:30 and vinyl DJs Saturdays from 20:00. Latin-fusion kitchen runs through the day.
Margot Henderson's daily-changing British canteen inside a converted bike shed off Arnold Circus in Shoreditch London, open since 2004 for lunch.
TipOpen Mon-Sat for lunch and Thu-Sat dinner only. No music, no printed menu; the day's run is on the wall.
Chris Corbin and Jeremy King's grand European brasserie on Piccadilly in London, opened 2003, runs the city's most-traditional power-breakfast crowd.
OrderEggs Benedict with smoked salmon, plus a flat white
TipWeekday breakfast at 07:30 is the easy slot. The weekend full English at £24 is the marquee brunch order.
Dishoom's Boundary Street Shoreditch dining room in London, opened 2012, serves the brand-defining bacon naan roll, sausage naan and Bombay omelette.
OrderBacon naan roll and a chai
TipWalk-in until 11:45 Mon-Fri. Weekend breakfast queues run 30 minutes; weekday at 09:00 walks in. Chai is unlimited refill.
Ben Chapman's wood-fired Northern Thai counter in Soho London, opened 2016, sits in front of an open grill that turns out skewers and clay-pot noodles.
OrderClay pot baked glass noodles with brown crab, plus a skewer of aged Tamworth cured pork.
TipCounter seats are walk-in only after 17:30. Lunch tables behind the counter take bookings two weeks ahead.
The Layo Paskin brothers' Jerusalem-leaning counter and dining room on Rupert Street in Soho London, opened 2014, runs a kitchen-counter front and a calmer.
OrderKubaneh bread (warm pull-apart with tahini and pepper jam) followed by the octopus mishmish main.
TipCounter seats face the open kitchen and take walk-ins. Tables in the back take bookings two weeks ahead.
Assembly Coffee's specialty roastery inside a 19th-century Brixton fire station in south London, founded 2015, runs a Loring roaster, sensory lab.
TipThe Door Coffee Bar runs weekdays only. Cuppings at the roastery book through their site; subscription ships UK addresses weekly.
Daniel Climpson's roaster on Broadway Market in Hackney London, founded 2002, runs a Saturday-market cafe at 67 Broadway and a roastery on Helmsley Place.
TipThe Saturday market is the canonical visit. Climpson's Arch on Helmsley Place is a Friday-Saturday-only railway-arch bar.
Michael Allpress's New Zealand-founded specialty roaster, opened in London on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch in 2010, runs cafes across east London.
TipThe Redchurch Street original sits next to Brat. Their Dalston site has the bigger laptop seating area.
Tom Sobey's Cornwall-founded Origin Coffee, roasting in Helston since 2004, opened the Charlotte Road London cafe in 2015 and runs a third-wave filter bar.
TipThe retail wholesale relationship runs to many of Soho and Clerkenwell's morning coffee bars.
Four Seasons on Gerrard Street in Chinatown London, trading since 1996, runs the city's most-cited Cantonese roast duck, served whole or half with plum sauce.
OrderCantonese roast duck
TipWalk-in any night. Take-away roast duck is half the dining-room price. The Queensway Bayswater sibling runs the same kitchen.
Bao Soho counter on Lexington Street in central London, opened 2015 by Erchen Chang and Shing Tat Chung, runs late Taiwanese steamed buns and grilled skewers.
OrderTaiwanese bao and grilled meat skewers
TipWalk-up only. After 21:30 is the easy slot; weekday last orders at 22:30. The Borough sibling runs to midnight on weekends.
Gergovie Wines's importer-run wine bar and kitchen inside a Maltby Street railway arch in Bermondsey London, opened 2010, the home address of London chef.
TipWed-Sat only; closed Sun-Tue. Walk-up at the counter from 12:00. The kitchen rewrites the chalkboard every service.
Fadi Kattan's Palestinian dining room on Uxbridge Street in Notting Hill London, opened 2022, spreads across four floors and runs traditional Palestinian.
OrderWhatever lamb-shoulder course is on, and a glass of arak to open.
TipGround-floor counter takes walk-ins for mezze. Tables upstairs book a fortnight ahead. Brunch service runs Saturday and Sunday.
Stephen Leighton's Has Bean Coffee, founded 2002 in Staffordshire and a foundational supplier to the early London specialty scene, runs a subscription.
TipHas Bean's beans feature at Tap, Prufrock and other London cafes. Subscribe through their site for weekly single-origin filter beans.
Manchester's Cloudwater Brew Co opened this Bermondsey railway-arch tap on Enid Street in 2019; 20 keg lines plus one cask handpump on the Beer Mile.
TipClosed Monday. Friday afternoon and Saturday are the busiest crawl windows; arrive before 15:00 Saturday for a seat. Cloudwater can-art banners mark it.
Joy King Lau on Leicester Street in Chinatown London, trading since 1985 as a four-floor Cantonese family restaurant, runs roast meats, congee and dim sum.
OrderCantonese roast meats and dim sum
TipWalk-in any night for the takeaway counter at the front. The roast goose with rice is the marquee plate at £18.
Bill Granger's Australian brunch room on Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill London, opened 2011, runs ricotta hotcakes and brown rice porridge from breakfast.
OrderRicotta hotcakes with banana and honeycomb butter
TipWalk-in only. Sunday queue runs 60 minutes; weekday breakfast walks in. Closed half an hour 16:00-16:30 for staff service change.
Toklas just off Aldwych in central London, opened 2021 beside Somerset House, runs a Mediterranean kitchen by Martyn Lyons (ex-Spring, ex-Moro) with its own.
OrderSoft-boiled eggs with bottarga and rye toast from the in-house bakery
TipThe bakery shop next door sells the same pastries from 08:00. Sunday weekend brunch runs to 16:00; weekdays serve through dinner.
Caravan's flagship dining room at Granary Square in King's Cross London, opened 2012, runs an Antipodean all-day brunch and in-house coffee roastery.
OrderSmashed avocado on rye, plus a flat white from the in-house roastery
TipOutdoor terrace seats fill the canalside in summer. Closed half an hour 16:00-16:30 between brunch and dinner sittings.
Erchen Chang and Shing Tat Chung's original Bao counter on Lexington Street Soho in London, opened 2015, the bao that put Taiwanese food on every restaurant.
OrderClassic pork bao with peanut and fermented greens, plus the fried Horlicks ice cream to finish.
TipWalk-up only. Put your name down on the chalkboard outside; the queue moves in 20 to 40 minutes from open.
Britain's first gastropub on Farringdon Road in Clerkenwell London, opened 1991 by Mike Belben and David Eyre, still serves Mediterranean-leaning.
OrderThe Bife Ana steak sandwich, on the menu since 1991, and a pint of bitter.
TipWalk-in only. The chalkboard menu rewrites every day at 12:00; the best dishes go by 14:00 on a busy lunch.
Neil Borthwick's upstairs dining room above the historic French House pub on Dean Street in Soho London, opened 2017 in the room Free French resistance used.
OrderWhatever the seasonal main is on the chalkboard, with a glass from the focused wine list.
TipNo mobile phones, no music. Tables book one week ahead. The downstairs pub still pours a proper half-pint of bitter.
Kurt Stewart's Stockwell-based London coffee roaster, founded 2010, runs a serious B-corp-certified specialty roastery in south London and supplies cafes.
TipNo public cafe; subscribe online or buy beans through stockists. The Mons Sandwiches deli on Stockwell Road is the nearest cafe pouring their beans.
Ross Shonhan's Soho ramen bar on Peter Street in central London, opened 2012, runs late-night tonkotsu ramen, fried chicken bao and a Japanese-American menu.
OrderTonkotsu ramen
TipWalk-up only after 21:30. Counter seats face the open kitchen. The Soho original closes at 23:00; the Bond Street sibling runs to 00:00 on weekends.
Alan Yau's Cantonese gastropub on Berwick Street in Soho London, opened 2015 in the former Endurance pub, runs Cantonese dim sum and a late kitchen serving.
OrderLate Cantonese dim sum
TipThe upstairs dining room takes bookings; the downstairs pub-and-bar walks in any night. Closed half an hour 16:00-16:30 daily.
Cay Tre Vietnamese kitchen on Dean Street in Soho London, opened 2009 by Hieu Trung Bui, runs late pho, bun cha and banh mi until 22:30 every night.
OrderVietnamese pho and bun cha
TipWalk-in or book a fortnight ahead. The pre-theatre menu at £20 for two courses runs until 18:30.
VQ (Vingt-Quatre)'s 24-hour cafe and diner on Fulham Road in Chelsea London, trading since 1995, runs eggs Benedict, burgers and a full alcohol licence.
OrderAll-day diner classics, eggs Benedict and burgers
Tip24-hour alcohol licence. Post-club crowd peaks 02:00-04:00; weekday late nights are quieter and walk in without waiting.
Lori De Mori and Laura Jackson's Regent's Canal cafe on the towpath in east London, opened 2010, an outdoor-only seasonal cafe closed November to March.
TipOpen March to October only. No bookings, outdoor seats only, cash and card. Daytime kitchen runs to 17:00.
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