Restaurants
Where to eat in London at the top end, from the Michelin rooms to the Sunday roast worth crossing the city for. Every price checked against the restaurant’s own menu, with what you actually pay once service is added.
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There are three ways into this section. By cuisine, which runs from Japanese and Italian through to Lebanese and Vietnamese. By neighbourhood, where Mayfair, Shoreditch, Marylebone and Borough Market each behave differently enough to need their own page. And by occasion, which is where pre theatre, private dining, set menus and late night sit.
The part that takes the time is the booking mechanism rather than the food. Some rooms open their diary a fixed number of days before the date, some release in seasonal windows, and some take no bookings at all. Where that is true it is stated on the page, because knowing a restaurant is good is not much use if you cannot work out how to get into it.
Start with the best restaurants in London for the overview, or the Michelin starred rooms if the occasion warrants it.
The Best Seafood Restaurants in London Keep Two Sets of Hours
A London seafood restaurant is a raw bar and a kitchen sharing a room, and they close at different times. Three checked at source, including the published raw bar only window almost nobody plans around.
The Best Vietnamese Restaurants in London Are Mostly on One Road
Kingsland Road has held London's Vietnamese restaurants for decades and everyone who eats there calls it Pho Mile. Three restaurants checked at source, including one whose entire website is an address.
The Best Lebanese Restaurants in London, and the Two That Have Closed
Kenza closed in January on its own announcement and Arabica's old domain now serves a gambling site. Three Lebanese restaurants that are actually trading, checked against their own published information.
The Best Turkish Restaurants in London Are Nearly All North of the River
Turkish food in London lives on Green Lanes, not in Soho, and the best of it calls itself Aegean or ocakbasi rather than Turkish. Three restaurants checked at source, plus one that closed and whose site now serves a casino.
Late Night Restaurants in London: Kitchens That Are Still Cooking, Not Rooms That Are Still Open
Most central London kitchens stop at ten, and last orders come before closing by anything from fifteen minutes to two hours. Six kitchens with the exact published cut-off, including the one serving until quarter past midnight.
The Best Mexican Restaurants in London, From a Michelin Star to Heirloom Corn Tortillas
KOL in Marylebone holds a Michelin star and the Guide lists its cuisine as Mexican. Four London Mexican restaurants checked against their own published rules, including the kitchen that shuts two hours before the bar.
Bottomless Brunch in London: The Prices Are Not Comparable, and Here Is Why
One venue charges 29 pounds for drinks only with food compulsory on top, another 35.50 including unlimited barbecue. Three London bottomless brunches checked against their own published rules, including the fifteen minute cutoff.
The Best Pizza Restaurants in London, Sorted by Which of the Four Styles You Want
London has four pizza scenes that barely compete: Neapolitan, sourdough, twenty inch and delivery first. Five pizzerias checked against their own published rules, including the 12.50 pound weekday lunch.
The Best Vegan Restaurants in London, Including the One With a Michelin Star
Plates on Old Street holds a Michelin star and the Guide lists its cuisine as Vegan. Five London vegan restaurants checked against their own rules, from four-day weeks and deposits to the two open fourteen hours a day.
The Best Thai Restaurants in London, and the Booking Rules That Decide Them
Five London Thai restaurants checked against their own published rules: the one with no telephone, the one open four days a week, the one that texts you when a table frees, and the one serving until quarter past midnight.
Elsewhere in the guide
Questions we get asked
How many Michelin starred restaurants does London have?
88 holding one, two or three stars, which is more than any other city in the country and among the highest in Europe. Six hold three stars: Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Core by Clare Smyth, Helene Darroze at The Connaught, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, The Ledbury and Sketch.
Is set lunch really cheaper at London's best restaurants?
Substantially, and it is the single most useful thing to know about eating well in this city. The same kitchen, the same dining room and often the same dishes cost a fraction at midday. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal serves three courses at lunch for 65 pounds, which is two Michelin stars at the price most one star rooms charge for dinner.
How far ahead do you need to book a London restaurant?
The three star rooms book months out. Starred restaurants generally want several weeks, and several open their diaries on a fixed window, such as exactly three months in advance to the day, so the date you ring matters more than how early you try. Neighbourhood restaurants are usually fine a few days out, midweek.
Which London neighbourhood is best for dinner?
They are genuinely different rather than better or worse. Mayfair and Knightsbridge hold the formal rooms and the hotel dining. Soho and Covent Garden are where you eat before or after something else. Marylebone behaves like a village and keeps neighbourhood hours, which means quiet Sundays and closed Mondays.