This is our little pick of the finest, quirkiest, and just downright fun places to eat and drink in London ….
Based on 36 years of wining and dining in the city, and nothing else very scientific.
Click on the image to re-direct to the restaurant website.
Stars denote price with ***** the most expensive.
And take a look at Square Meal also, it’s an excellent resource…
Petersham Nurseries
Richmond
This restaurant-in-a-greenhouse is our go-to eatery if lunch when a verdant country feel is in order. The setting, in a nursery bursting with flowers and a gazillion shades of green down by the River Thames, is a haven of tranquility in the midst of the crazy city outside. They also have a cafe serving English teas, and a shop stocked full of goodies. Combine with a walk beforehand along the Thames towpath to build an appetite. ****
Tea at The Wolseley
160 Piccadilly
English tea is famous all over the world, but this is the place to do it in style. Housed in a former luxury car showroom, which then became a bank hall, the interior is on a super grand scale, with Venetian pillars, vaulted ceilings and monochromatic geometric marble flooring. Scale up to ‘champagne tea’ if needed (it usually is). Then you may be tempted just to stay on for dinner. Great to combine with trips to the theatre. Access via Green Park or Piccadilly Tubes. ****
The Havelock Tavern
Brook Green
You can’t come to England and not visit a pub (the Boozer in London slang). There are great gastro pubs for quality eating, plenty of them, and then there are Boozers (basically where people go to drink). This pub, manages to be both, making it a bit if a rarity. It’s a brilliant place, is always full and vibey, is very reasonably priced, and the food is excellent. And this is where you might meet real life locals, so go carefully!**
Odette’s
Primrose Hill
This is a little gem of a place in a gorgeous street right next to Regent’s Park, on a summer’s day they put tables outside to watch the world go by. Bryn Williams’s food is superb, a sort of French English hybrid, don’t miss the superb Jaffa cake pudding. We have a special fondness for Odette’s as it is where we always miss most of the cricket action down the road at Lords because lunch is so good we never get back to the ground until tea time. There’s also a brilliant view of the London skyline from the top of nearby Primrose Hill. ****
Gong & Hutong
The Shard - London Bridge
In the category of dining with views, London is spoilt for choice. But we feel this is an area where one should go big. Or go high, in this case. The Shard near London Bridge, is very, very high. The highest in Europe. You can’t dine right at the top, but you can take your pick of three different restaurants on the 33rd floor. Our favourite is Hutong, a Chinese eatery serving the diverse cuisines of Northern China and based on a much-loved restaurant of the same name in Hong Kong. Top tip, book a table at Gong Bar on the 52nd floor for a pre-dinner drink. ****
Bluebird
Kings Road - Chelsea
The Kings Road in Chelsea has been a byword for fashion and glamour since the heyday of The Swinging Sixties when Vivienne Westwood opened her now-famous boutique there. And so it is that this restaurant, not far from the little bend in the road at World’s End, is the latest stage on which the Chelsea fashionistas of today strut their stuff. This is see and be seen. And it’s very vibrant. The food is good, if not great, and the bar can get quite rowdy - but overall this is the place to get your glad rags on and party like it’s 1966. ****
Elystan Street
Chelsea
We were lucky enough to spend a day at Lords (cricket) last summer with the editor of Square Meal, an esteemed guide to London eating. We asked him what last (i.e. best) restaurant he would go to tonight if the Apocalypse was coming tomorrow. He said Elystan Street. He wasn’t wrong. This place has an uncanny knack of being very vibrant and at the same time strangely calming. It’s very clever. Top quality everything, especially service. This is probably for when a celebration is in order. *****
Ottolenghi
Notting Hill
If the picture alone doesn’t send your taste buds into heavenly orbit, we don’t know what will. The chic, all-white counters come loaded with mouth-watering salads, savouries, cakes & oversized meringues. While their distinctive sit-down cuisine makes for a melting-pot menu that might feature Indian roasted aubergine with turmeric yoghurt, Middle Eastern lamb kofta with manouri, pistachio & saffron yoghurt, or a Franco-Italian wild mushroom quiche with pecorino. Heavenly. ***
Sam’s Riverside
Hammersmith Bridge
This fantastic new restaurant down by the river is part of the big renovation project at Riverside Studios (culture vultures take note) and the upgrade of the riverfront between Hammersmith and Putney Bridges. It’s a lovely spot for people watching and a stroll along the river at sundown. And so to dinner: Sam has quickly gained a reputation for well priced, mostly seafood-orientated fare, oyster lovers will be well catered for, and a really excellent wine list, including some lovely English sparklers. Great views of the bridge, mercifully now open again to pedestrians. ***
Cambio de Tercio
Old Brompton Road
One of the first places we went when the Covid lockdown was over is back to our favourite tapas corner of London. I say ‘corner’ because these guys actually have three separate tapas bars (plus a cocktail bar shortly to open) all in one little nook of the Old Brompton Road. There is tapas for all tastes and prices, and it’s top quality. We got a bit overexcited too as we were on the next door table to Roberto Mancini, the very suave Italian football manager. This one is the top of the range restaurant, go for their ten course tasting menu, awesome. There is bar tapas at Tendido Cero across the road, and Capote y Toros for ham and sherry. ****/***/**
Bibendum Oyster Bar
Fulham Road
Housed in the former Michelin car and tyre showroom for London, this marvellous art deco building has reinvented itself as something of a haven for seafood. There’s a top notch sit down restaurant run by the well-respected chef Claude Bosi, which to be honest we haven’t yet sampled, but what we really like here is popping in for a glass of Sancerre and a plate of oysters at their Oyster Bar. Which you can do at any time of day, even breakfast. On one of their tasting plates you can sample oysters from Morecambe Bay to Aquanostra in Portugal. Better make that a bottle of Sancerre. Close to South Kensington Tube station. ***
The Cross Keys
Chelsea
This gastro pub is nestled in the back streets of Chelsea, just off the Kings Road, and down by the river, and as such is a great place to head after a spot of shopping or after an evening stroll along the river. They are passionate about British produce and create menus that showcase the provenance of the ingredients. They emphasise the ‘field to fork’ concept and feature the best local ingredients. Things like crispy langoustines with tartar hollandaise, pea puree and fries. Had that last time we visited, oh baby. There’s always a good vibe here, both in the bar area and the dining room, but it’s so popular now that booking is essential. ***
The River Cafe
Off Fulham Palace Road
An institition along the Thames waterfront (and easily walkable along the towpath from Hammersmith Bridge), we have to confess that none of our team has ever actually eaten here. It is Italian in flavour, that we can tell you, has a lovely waterside location, though in a perhaps not beautiful wharf-like building, and is ‘reassuringly expensive’, as they say. So this is really an appeal to our intrepid clientele that if you are in need of a special treat whilst in London please drop us a line and let us know what you thought? Many Londoners consider this the finest restaurant in London. www.rivercafe.co.uk *****
Boat Trip to Town
The River Thames
One of our favourite Summer activities is to just jump on an Uber river taxi (they stop at many places, but in West London you can jump on at Putney Bridge or Chelsea Harbour, we often pick up a Santander ‘Boris Bike’ from any bike stand nearby and cycle to the river boat) and just head out along the river into central London (about 30 mins). You can jump off literally anywhere and have an al fresco dinner along the river somewhere, there is always a lot going on around Westminster and on the South Bank of the river, and you could even take in a play at the National Theatre there.
Bluebird
Kings Road - Chelsea
The Kings Road in Chelsea has been a byword for fashion and glamour since the heyday of The Swinging Sixties when Vivienne Westwood opened her now-famous boutique there. And so it is that this restaurant, not far from the little bend in the road at World’s End, is the latest stage on which the Chelsea fashionistas of today strut their stuff. This is see and be seen. And it’s very vibrant. The food is good, if not great, and the bar can get quite rowdy - but overall this is the place to get your glad rags on and party like it’s 1966. ****