This Michelin-starred Indian restaurant celebrates the very best of Asian cooking, with richly spiced dishes, impeccable service and an impressive wine list. Everything sounds familiar – confit potatoes (aka domino potatoes) are listed simply as chips, modestly downplaying the kitchen’s skills.
- BV, 6 Portland Rd, Notting Hill, London W11 4LA, Lee Tiernan left St John, with a love of pork and superb cooking skills, to open a cult barbeque restaurant in Islington. It’s refreshingly modern – the team simply serves what it is cooking that day, at Michelin star level. - BV, This seven-seater on a Clerkenwell side street arguably serves the best sushi in town. The Counter downstairs has a daily changing menu of superlative fresh fish. Hoppers is one of the first, and best, to bring complex curries, traditional hoppers and dosas and fragrant green peppercorn chicken wings to the capital. - CMH, Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old St, Hackney, London EC1V 9LT, Neil Borthwick is the latest chef to make his mark on the upstairs dining room of this archetypal Soho pub.
Prices may be steep, but the experience, attentive staff and quality of food make it worth every penny. Great for Sunday lunch (there is often a roast beef option) and the dessert menu includes classic comfort food such as sticky date pudding or steamed ginger sponge.
Arnold & Henderson’s two restaurants, Rochelle Canteen and Rochelle ICA, housed in a converted Victorian school in east London and an art gallery on the Mall respectively, attract an art and fashion crowd who feast on straightforward dishes such as radishes and cod’s roe or quail with harissa. - CMH, The family team at JKS (who own Bao, Gymkhana and Xu) have opened an Iranian kebab shop in Soho, with seats at the bar and a few tables in the back. His short, daily changing menu celebrates the French classics in a relaxed, bohemian atmosphere. - CMH, 19 Ganton St, Soho, London W1F 9BNSouthern Terrace, Westfield Shepherd's Bush, London W12 7GF, For over 30 years, A-listers have flocked to this Thameside location in Hammersmith location for (the late) Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers’ inspired Italian cooking. By focusing on quality ingredients, treated with respect and paired in winning combinations, it has garnered a loyal following for its unfussy and utterly moreish food.
One of the world’s most diverse cities for dining out, choices on the London restaurant circuit are endless. Husband-and-wife team Sam and Samantha Clark have introduced London to the flavours of rose water, cardamom, fragrant herbs and pistachio sauces at their Clerkenwell restaurant for over 20 years and it still remains as good as when it opened.
- CMH, 51 Lamb's Conduit St, Holborn, London WC1N 3NB, Lyle’s offers innovative and experimental plates in the industrial space of Shoreditch’s Tea Building. Not a place for a quiet night, but this is serious food and serious fun.
Every aspect of sustainability has been thought through on the £50 a head tasting menu, which focuses on fermentation and cooking over fire. - CMH, This Pimlico Chinese, inspired by Andrew Wong’s travels around China, offers the the best of the country’s varied regional cuisines.