Choosing where to eat in London brings about the same fight or flight reaction as being handed the aux cable to choose a playlist. The more you look, the more overwhelming it gets and the more you settle on the ‘hot hits UK’ of restaurants. No newbie to the city, here are a handful of go-to restaurants that won’t disappoint and are perfect to have in your arsenal.
Soho
Uncover this intimate spot amidst the buzzy streets of soho through thick navy drapage. Despite the snug space, you find the predominantly bar-top dining does well to make it not feel crowded, while the hum of fellow diners fills the periphery. Expect to find seasonal fare in the form of small plates with a surprisingly affordable natural wine list. Low-lit lunar lights, white washed walls and an enviable playlist make this a perfect relaxed spot to have up your sleeve for catch-ups with a friend or date night.
Newington Green
Step into a stripped-back room framed by exposed beams, brushed plaster walls and large potted fig trees for a comfortable yet elegant dinner setting. This neighbourhood haunt offers a punchy menu with no more than 10 dishes of simple and seasonal ingredients. The personal hidden cutlery drawers in each table add a charming touch.
Shoreditch
The nose-to-tail italian serving a simple menu of hand-rolled pasta without the fancy price tag that you’d expect from the stand-out food, sleek oak interiors and finishing touches like the chic linen napkins. Having tried and tested each of the pasta dishes we can safely say this is the pasta spot we keep returning to. The duck ragu fazzoletti with crunchy duck fat pangrattato is the star of the show, with chilli kale rigatoni and brown crab tonnarelli cacio e pepe close joint second. Do order the mussels and don’t forget the focaccia for moppage.
King's Cross
If Tom Dixon did restaurants. Instantly recognisable with his iconic hanging melted bulbs and contemporary finishes, this middle-eastern open-kitchen restaurant overlooks the industrial scape of the coal drops yard, serving fire grilled meats and seafood. Every dish is a main character, even the dips and breads bring a slice of theatre.
Various locations: Queen’s Park, Soho
Another small plates affair, this time inspired by Australian cuisine. Having fallen in love with the trailblazing queen’s park location tucked down the trendy Lonsdale Road mews, seeing them open a new spot in the more-easily-accessible soho is music to our ears. For the relaxed neighbourhood feel, live music and street dining in the summer, queen’s park has our heart.
Dalston
Ducksoup’s little sister is a restaurant putting their ferments and pickled goods in pride of place. The double-fronted facade with a tease of those half-curtained bay windows is a welcoming start, while the statement communal dining table taking centre stage gives the space a familiar feel, like arriving at a friend’s for tea.
Notting Hill
An intimate restaurant slash wine bar with open-fire dining and unexpected vinyl room downstairs, caia is everything you need for a good catch-up with friends or spice up date night. Sharing plates of monkfish, octopus and jerk peas made our night.
Queen’s Park
Neighbouring the lovely Milk Beach down Lonsdale Road mews, Carmel is a middle-eastern restaurant filled with hanging plants, white-washed brick and those communal tables that liven up the place. If you order one thing here, make it the spiced lamb flatbread which sees the spicy lamb cushioned in a plump and pillowy base.
Highbury
From the people behind Jolene, Westerns Laundry is another neighbourhood beauty set in a former laundrette. Not that you can tell with its shopfront makeover of floor-to-ceiling crittal windows - which open out fully in warmer months - onto a sheltered cobbled courtyard dining space. The menu is big on seafood and natural low-intervention wines. Their cult dessert is a rum baba and may seem a given, but you’ve got to love rum.
Newington Green
If-you-know-you-know cult spot, Jolene, is your coveted bakery-turned-dining hotspot. Keeping the rustic energy with handwritten blackboard menus and steel work-top tables, and softened with the low candlelight and unfussy menu, this place feels familiar and cosy yet still special.
Hackney
Finding out your favourite pastry shop also stays open late serving fresh hand-rolled pastas almost seems too good to be true, and then we found out they repurpose the day’s croissants into dessert for the evening sitting and we lost our minds.
Notting Hill
A perfect example of bringing the outdoors, in, and somehow they make it cosy; ideal in london’s climate. Expect terracotta, large potted plants and open-fire grill. They have mastered an atmosphere that feels buzzy and intimate at the same time. If you don’t order the meatballs and hispi cabbage, we must question you.
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