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 dishes: Confit potato, Mince and potatoes
Must 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.
Address: 92-94 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3EA
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.
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.
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 map in town.
Signature: Classic bao, Fried Horlicks ice cream
Order: Classic pork bao with peanut and fermented greens, plus the fried Horlicks ice cream to finish.
Tip: Walk-up only. Put your name down on the chalkboard outside; the queue moves in 20 to 40 minutes from open.
