The wine-led dining room on Lamb's Conduit Street in Bloomsbury London, opened 2015 by Daniel Keeling and Mark Andrew of the wine magazine, runs a serious Modern European menu.
Signature dishes: Slip sole grilled in seaweed butter, Whole roast quail
Must order: Slip sole in seaweed butter, plus a glass of mature white Burgundy off their by-the-glass list.
Tip: Lunchtime three-course is a third of dinner's price. The Soho sibling on Greek Street has the same kitchen with longer hours.
Address: 51 Lamb's Conduit Street, London WC1N 3NB
The 1869 Farringdon Road working-class dining room in Clerkenwell London, restored under Will Lander since 2012, runs daily-changing British cooking in original Victorian booths.
Signature: Confit potato, Mince and potatoes
Order: The famed confit potato, then mince and potatoes off the daily menu, with a bottle from the shop next door.
Tip: The wine shop next door is corkage-free if you buy a bottle there. Lunch takes walk-ins at the counter Tue-Sat.
Fergus Henderson's St John in Clerkenwell has cooked the nose-to-tail British canon in London since 1994. Whitewashed dining room, no music, daily-changing menu on a single sheet.
Signature: Roast bone marrow and parsley salad, Eccles cake with Lancashire cheese
Order: Roast bone marrow with parsley salad and toast, then Eccles cake with Lancashire.
Tip: The bakery counter near the front sells the same Eccles cakes, doughnuts and brown loaf to take away if you can't get a booking.
Tomos Parry's Basque-fired wood-grill room above the Smoking Goat in Shoreditch London, opened 2018 and the whole-turbot benchmark for the city.
Signature: Whole grilled turbot, Smoked potatoes
Order: Whole turbot for two off the wood, with smoked potatoes and grilled lettuce.
Tip: Bookings open thirty days ahead at 10:00 and burn fast. Walk-up bar seats are released on the day from 11:00.
James Lowe's Tea Building dining room in Shoreditch London is a Michelin-starred set-menu kitchen built on British produce, opened 2014, on the World's 50 Best list.
Signature: Cured mackerel, Brown butter ice cream
Order: Whatever raw fish opens the menu and the brown butter ice cream that closes it.
Tip: The lunchtime daily-changing two-course is half the price of dinner and uses the same kitchen.
Isaac McHale's tasting-menu kitchen inside Shoreditch Town Hall in London, opened 2013, kept its Michelin star and a place on the World's 50 Best list through 2026.
Signature: Buttermilk fried chicken, Wood-fired raw scallop
Order: Whatever the seasonal seafood opener is, and the buttermilk fried chicken canape that started the room.
Tip: Counter seats face the kitchen pass directly. Book the bar for an a la carte run if the tasting menu is full.
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 all day.
Signature: Clay pot baked glass noodles with brown crab, Cured pork skewers
Order: Clay pot baked glass noodles with brown crab, plus a skewer of aged Tamworth cured pork.
Tip: Counter seats are walk-in only after 17:30. Lunch tables behind the counter take bookings two weeks ahead.
