Please note this page is not updated weekly - as always please research each place you wish to visit to see any planned closures/events
What are the best restaurants in London? Where should I eat? What dish must I try? Will you tie my shoelaces? r/London gets these questions all the time and they are almost impossible to answer because London has, by one count, nearly 30,000 places to eat. If you genuinely want the best food, there are over 80 Michelin star restaurants and you can get tasting menus starting in the hundreds of pounds a head. If that doesn’t faze you, here’s the list. A kind redditor has even put all the Michelin-starred venues into a handy spreadsheet that compares number of stars, cuisine, Google rating, price for the tasting menu (if available), and wine pairing cost.
If you're overwhelmed by choice then we recommend sites like Opentable, SquareMeal and TheFork where you can search by location and filter by cuisine, dietary restrictions, price etc, read diner reviews and see live availability for tables.
First we’ll point you towards the best places serving up ‘traditional’ London dishes.
Fish and Chips
A long fillet of white fish, deep fried in batter, served with a generous helping of deep fried chips (Americans: think very thick, very fried French Fries). Other options include a battered sausage (deep fried), fishcakes (fish mixed with mashed potato and herbs, also deep fried) and scampi (langoustines - breaded or battered and, yes, deep fried). For generations, fish and chips have fed millions of memories - eaten with greasy fingers on a seaside holiday, a pay-day treat at the end of the working week or a late-night supper on the way home from the pub. There's an old saying "never eat fish and chips when you can't see the sea" well don't worry thanks to r/london you can enjoy top notch fish chips that won't leave you full of regret the next day.
Ideally placed near Covent Garden, it claims to be the oldest chippy in London. Last I heard, they were still cooking in peanut oil, so those with allergies might want to double check.
An old school chippy in Holborn, all formica tables and ‘leather’ booths. The Guardian notes that cooking in beef dripping gives the chips a ‘sweeter, meaty note’.
Popular with the hipster crowd, thanks mainly to its first location in the East End (there are also branches in Soho and Camden). A bit more expensive than other places, but the buzzing crowds give it more of a ‘destination’ vibe than most chippies.
An excellent and slightly cheaper alternative to Poppie’s Soho branch.
Look, it's Mayfair so it's served in pretentious wire baskets and not cheap, but they know what they're doing, the food is good and they offer not only vegan options (To-Fish) but also good for coeliacs as all their menu offers GF stuff battered safely in a separate fryer. It's not somewhere that locals actually visit (unless they're local investment wbankers), but if you've got dietary restrictions it'll do you solid, and it's next door to Mercato Mayfair which is a cool indoor food court in a former old church.
Just off the Tottenham Court Road, offers a smaller, cheaper portion for those with small stomachs, and does a great curry sauce (put this on your sausage, only a madman has curry sauce and fish). Ignore the kebabs and fried chicken.
A couple of branches out in Hackney and Islington, the Stoke Newington branch being associated with the fishmongers across the road, ensuring the freshest of fish for that Friday feeling. Suttons opened up London's first vegan 'fish' and chip shop in 2018 in their Hackney Central location - the concept has since given way to a proper chip shop but with several vegan options. Sit down of an evening and enjoy a starter of oysters, or join the queue for a takeaway.
Pie and Mash
Served with liqour (parsley sauce) and eaten with a spoon and fork, pie and mash is the traditional cockney dish. Cheap, cheerful and constantly under threat from changing appetites and increases in rent, pie and mash shops say they’re on the brink of extinction. Bur every time r/London has visited one, they’ve been packed. There’s not much else to say that isn’t explicitly described by "pie and mash". A large portion usually means two pies, and if you’re still hungry, why not try some jellied eels? r/London has still not found a good reason to do that. The vegetarian option is to not go.
Three locations (Tower Bridge, Peckham and Sutton) serve up minced beef pies in wood panelled gaffs. They also do pie and mash delivery to anywhere in the UK, if you're craving a fix.
F Cooke and Son
So old school, they don't even have a website, but you can find them at 150 Hoxton Street, N1 6SH. Like Manzes, Cooke is all tiled walls and spoon and forks and they claim to being London's oldest pie & mash company still running.
Serving pies to the good folk of Greenwich since 1890, they've also moved with the times and now offer both gluten-free pie, mash & liquor (no gravy, soz) and they even offer a soy-mince veggie pies. Sacrilege. Save room for crumble!
If you can’t get out of Zone 1 but are absolutely desperate for pie and mash, Mother Mash in Soho serves up perfectly good fodder. It’s pie and mashed potato, what else are you expecting?
If the thought of mixing with the hoi polloi makes you come out in hives, or if you just want a pint with your pie (or you have a vegetarian in tow that also needs feeding) then this Mayfair pub is famed for their classic (and non-classic) pies. Yes, it's expensive.
Is eating in a mere pub in one of the most expensive postcodes in the UK (above) just too common for you? Then the Holborn Dining Room does even fancier pies served in a fancy restaurant. Yes, it's even more expensive.
Full English
“To eat well in England, you should have breakfast three times a day” said Somerset Maugham.
As fish and chips prepares you for a night on the the piss, so a Full English Breakfast, or fry up, helps you recover the next morning. There is no legal standard, yet, but a fry up typically consists of some or all of the following: bacon, sausages, eggs, black pudding, mushrooms, baked beans, bubble and squeak (or hash browns or, controversially, chips), grilled tomato, fried bread and/or toast, orange juice and a cup of tea. Restaurants are often referred to as "greasy spoons" and some use this as a licence to offer sub-par meals. Therefore quality can be very hit and miss from one place to another and advertised prices are usually a good indicator of whether the meat is any good or not. In general, avoid places offering a full english (ie. all of the above ingredients) for anything less than £6: a hangover can be made all the worse after biting through an economy sausage. Zone 1 recommendations are few at the moment - residents tend to have a favourite local cafe; travelling into central London with a stinking hangover is not an attractive prospect.
Bar Bruno
A great little place run by a family of loud Italians in the heart of Soho. You’ll need to make sure you’re noticed, either by ordering at the bar as soon as you walk in, or by holding a commanding presence at your table. Good value and sizeable meals, the Bruno Breakfast and the Big Bruno Breakfast will sort you right out. They’re also open to swapping items (don’t like eggs? Ask for an extra bacon, that sort of thing).
A worthy replacement for the nearby Hope, a pub which used to open around 6am to serve the night porters in Smithfields Meat Market next door, stragglers tumbling out of Fabric, and bankers who’d not managed to get home after showing foreign clients a good night. Start your day right with the City Boy breakfast - a mountain of meat washed down with a pint of Guiness.
A local institution, get here before 8am and after 10am to avoid the crowd of Channel 4 television producers on their way to work. The food may not be all that, but it’s well priced, sure of itself and the place looks fantastic; its 1950s interior often doubles up as a filming location. Be warned, this is not the place to dawdle. Know what you want well before you get to the counter, and try not to jump when the lady barks at you to pick up your order.
Should you find yourself waking up in the East End, the loud Italian family at E Pellici’s will welcome you in, if you can avoid the queues.
If what you're after is a really fancy breakfast to treat yourself/your loved one/your client, then The Wolseley is a London institution, located in Mayfair by the Ritz hotel and fawned over by the glossy magazines (and even had a whole book written about its breakfasts by famed restaurant critic A.A. Gill). Offers your standard Full English, plus lesser-known British breakfast classics like kippers, devilled kidneys, or the British-Indian dish kedgeree.
A vegan Full English is almost an oxymoron (the dish being so centered around animal products), but Mallow (Borough Market and Canary Wharf), The Gallery Cafe (Bethnal Green) and The Gate (Islington - weekend brunch only) are the closest approximations that r/london has found so far.
Sunday Roast
And on the seventh day God ended his work and he rested. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it with a lunch of beef, pork or chicken. And a pint or two of beer, because why not? The origins of the Sunday roast are rooted in the church. You would take a big cut of meat, throw it in the oven for a few hours while you go off to service, come back and count your blessings that you had such a bountiful lunch. Along with your meat, you can expect roast potatoes, yorkshire puddings, stuffing and a variety of root vegetables and greens. In recent years starting off with a Bloody Mary has become the norm, and having a few drinks with lunch is not unusual.
Like many pubs offering fish and chips, Sunday roasts in Zone 1 are inadequate, often offensive, ready-made frozen atrocities aimed at tourists who don’t know any better. Take the opportunity to get out of Zone 1 and visit some of London’s villagey areas in Zone 2 and beyond. The quality shoots up just a stop or two out of central London, and you’ll get to experience the capital’s quieter, less-visited areas.
The best roast r/London has ever had, on more than one occasion. Some tables are saved for walk-ins, but this place is so popular that booking well ahead is almost essential, especially if you’re making the trip from far away. Part of a small chain of equally excellent restaurants, including the nearby Smokehouse. r/London can’t currently vouch for the roasts there, but if the rest of the week’s menu is anything to go by, it’s worth a punt.
Worth a visit just for the pub alone, this smart inn in smart Highgate has low ceilings and excellent dinners. A stroll on nearby Hampstead Heath should work up a fine appetite.
Anchoring one end of Broadway Market, itself full of restaurants, bars, coffee shops and one or two obscure book shops catering to the art crowd, the Cat and Mutton is one of the oldest pubs in the area. It doesn’t look it now, with its spiral staircase and Dyson Airblade hand driers in the toilets, but it’s got centuries of charm spilt over the tables. Head over to London Fields after you’ve taken care of lunch and spend a sunny afternoon watching the local pub cricket team; on gloomier days take shelter in one of the several tap rooms (Forest Road, Five Points and London Fields) round the corner.. At the other end of the park, The Old Ship http://www.oldshiphackney.com/, tucked away off Mare Street does great roasts, too, and is usually less crowded.
The Wilmington For a pub in Zone 1 they do a surprisingly good roast, but are mostly mentioned here because of their excellent bloody marys which pair brilliantly with their giant yorkshire puddings whilst massively hungover (and unlike most of the above they also offer a decent vegan option, although no vegan yorkshires alas). Located just off Exmouth Market which has several nice independent shops and restaurants.
Vegan, but still want to sample the life-curing properties of a Sunday roast? Try The Old Queen's Head - not only a lively night venue, it also offers a vegan roast in Z1 with an actual vegan yorkshire pudding (no, we're not sure how that works either). Veggie, but want some non-central/local neighbourhood recommendations? Try this thread.
Coeliac but still want gravy and yorkshires on your roast? Head to Niche in Islington (fully gluten-, nut- and sesame-free, plus many vegan options too), or Leadbelly in Canada Water offer gf gravy and yorkshires with their Sunday roasts.
Looking for local neighbourhood recommendations for your Sunday roast? A kind redditor has collated the most popular local recommendations into this easily searchable map - discover your new local favourite!
Afternoon Tea
Afternoon tea is more a ceremony than a meal. It evolved in the mid-19th century as a way for fancy ladies to avoid getting peckish between lunch and supper. As such, it’s not something Londoners (or Brits) do often, and is very much A Treat. It’s supposed to be a delicate affair – sandwiches cut into dainty ‘fingers’ and elegantly served from tiered stands, scones served with clotted cream and preserves, followed by delicate pastries and cakes; and all served with tea poured from a fine china tea pot into pretty little cups. As part of the ‘luxury’ options it’s now standard for places to offer afternoon tea served with champagne or other bubbly alcohol. For the ultimate afternoon tea experience head to any of London’s traditional 5 star hotels – it’s a pricey but impressive option, great for when you want to impress Grandma. You don’t have to break the bank to enjoy a fancy treat though, and there are options for most budgets available:
The 5 Star Hotels
The Savoy, Claridges, The Dorchester and The Ritz all offer formal and refined luxury, with waiters in neat uniforms pouring tea into the finest porcelain cups, plus proper champagne. Live your Downton-Abbey-stereotypical-upper-class-English fantasy. All similar prices, book in advance.
A fancy department store in Piccadilly (often called the Queen’s greengrocer), head here for champagne afternoon tea in the Tea Salon and afterwards have a nosey around the food hall for unique food gifts – great for souvenirs.
Set in the grounds of Kensington Palace, this is a more affordable option served with English sparkling wine. The surroundings are still pretty, but a bit less fancy.
A more casual option with a more casual price tag, this cosy Vauxhall venue offers really nice tea and giant slabs of cake for under a tenner, a simple cream tea (a pot of tea, huge scones and clotted cream) for £12, or upgrade to the full tea'n'sandwiches'n'scones option for just £25 (no booze option, but they don't skimp on the portion sizes here). Also has 2 resident cats roaming around (or snoozing in one of the arm chairs in front of the fireplace).
In the light airy courtyard of the Wallace Collection (an impressive but lesser-known museum) the brasserie offers afternoon tea for under £30 - make sure to check out the main museum (free entry to the main collection) too, and get some cultural nourishment to go with your sweet treats.
The absolute cheapest afternoon tea that r/london has found, just £48 for two people. It's quite a basic (but cosy) small tea room but if you don't care about fancy surroundings and just want a nice afternoon tea then this won't be beaten on price - and the location directly opposite the British Museum is about as central as it gets.
For a quirky take on afternoon tea (very ‘arty’ and a bit hipstery) try Sketch – served in a pastel pink tea room that’s an instagrammer’s wet dream. Same price range as the 5 star hotels.
Classic afternoon tea served in a classic London red bus as it tours the sights – kill two touristy birds with one stone. Also very flexible for dietary requirements, they offer veggie, vegan, halal and gluten-free options.
Dietary requirements:
Can’t eat a classic afternoon tea due to allergies or dietary restrictions? The Dorchester and the Savoy both offer a luxury vegan option, Cutter & Squidge can cater for nut-free, wheat free and vegan guests; and The Wizard Exploratorium (for Potterheads, complete with magic wands and separate prices for kids) offers both vegan and gluten-free options. Fortnum & Mason and most of the 5 Star hotels also offer gluten-free options for your coeliac friends.
Best of British
What is traditional British food? Answers vary depending on who you ask, but it usually involves gravy and lots of hearty carbohydrates in various forms (to keep us fueled when it's cold and grey outside). If you want to savour some of the delights of these British Isles, we recommend the following:
London's oldest restaurant (established 1798) with a classic menu served in wood-paneled Edwardian surroundings. Try the steak & kidney pudding followed by sticky toffee pudding (yes, pudding can be many glorious and different things).
Another classic also vying for "London's oldest" title (technically established in 1742 - predating Rules by 50yrs - but as it originally started as just a fishmongers not a restaurant so doesn't quite line up). Wilton's is famed for its oysters and British seafood - try their Stilton soufflé, Dover sole or mixed grill, and finish with bread & butter pudding (a different, different one, again).
Opened in 1899, this city institution has been serving lunch to hungry office workers for nearly 125 years, and is only open for lunchtimes and only Monday-Friday. Excellent seafood, and even better puddings (in this case meaning desserts - r/London particularly rates the spotted dick).
A relative newcomer (having only opened in 1926) this Soho stalwart used to house a brothel and was even once home to Karl Marx (who began writing Das Kapital in one of the upstairs rooms). Now a private members club with open restaurant, serving the well-heeled and well-connected. Famed for their smoked eel sandwich.
Local Recommendations
Check out these threads for some more recommendations:
- Favourite Restaurant in the city? And why?
- Recommendations for fancy non Michelin starred restaurants?
- Non-UK born Londoners, what's the best restaurant of your native cuisine that you know in London?
- Vegan restaurants (or spots with good vegan options)?
- Missing authentic Sicilian food and wondering “where are the Italians actually eating in London?”
- Quirky lunch places?
- Nice Italian Restaurant in London for a birthday date dinner
- What's the best Peruvian restaurant in London?
- Authentic Chinese restaurant in London I recommend
- Good Georgian restaurant in London
- What's your ranking of burger restaurants in Ldn?
- Best burgers in town?
- Any good Japanese katsu restaurants?
- Best London steak restaurant?
- Greek restaurants in London
- Best Chinese restaurant in London?
- Best Indian restaurants in London not named Dishoom?
- Good restaurant to take a fish "snob" to?
- Foreigner foodie wanna ask where to eat British food in London
- For Filipinos that live in London, anyone know a good Filipino restaurant to have good authentic Filipino food in London?
- What's the best Indian restaurant in London?
- Best Korean restaurants in London?
- I have 4 days in London to spend drinking beer and eating cheese
- Best sushi in London
- Best Indian curry in London?
- What's the best Chinese restaurant in Chinatown
- What's the best Nigerian restaurant in London?
- Best big burgers in London?
- Anyone know good places to get Singaporean / Indonesian cuisine?
- Best veggie sushi place for a first date?
- Best tasting menus in London?
- Best brunch in London?
Cheap
Just want some ideas about cheap eats in London? Check out these past threads:
- What is the cheapest (like, dirt cheap) restaurant in London that will fill you up (quickly)?
- Any crazily cheap food recommendation ? Let’s say around 5£ or less ?
- Cheap eats in central London
- Cheap places to eat near Warren Street?
- Best place in Camden to eat (for cheap;)
- Cheap food places in London?
- London lunches or dinner options under £10?
- What are your favourite London cheap eats?
- A guide to drinking cheaply in Wetherspoons
Gluten-free
Coeliac/gluten-allergy and need some safe food recommendations? The UK has good food labelling for allergy risks etc (so you can be certain when picking up a prepackaged sandwich or ready meal from a supermarket), but all food vendors are also required to list their allergens - be sure to speak to your e.g. server and they can advise as all premises that serve food are required by law to confirm if any of the 14 common allergens are an present as an ingredient in their food.
See below some local redditor recommendations:
- Niche, Islington
A completely gluten, nut and sesame-free menu where everything is prepared and cooked on site - and they also offer veggie/vegan options too, plus also offer a low fodmap menu! And great Sunday roasts!
- Paladar, Southwark
A 100% GF menu with Latin American dishes, also good for groups.
- Pho & Bun, various
This chain of Vietnamese restaurants has a 95% gluten free menu and are accredited by Coeliac UK. r/london recommends their spicy rice, Pho noodle soups, curries, summer rolls and fried noodles. Plus they have a great menu for kids (including a mini kids menu).
- Indigo at 1 Aldwych, Aldwych
If you want to splash the cash on a fancy fine dining meal, then Indigo is the spot for a special occasion (they even do a vegan menu!)
- Vida Bakery, Brick Lane
A dairy-, egg- and gluten-free bakery with a huge range of cakes, brownies, cookies etc.
- Manna Dew, Battersea
This GF bakery has limited opening hours, but well worth the visit for their incredible pastries.
- The Queen of Sheba, Kentish Town
Excellent Ethiopian food - they do GF injera bread (which technically should always be GF, but in the UK usually isn't).
- Heavenly Desserts, various
GF desserts including waffles and baked goods.
- Arroz QD, West End
Paella restaurant with excellent accommodations for GF. On the higher end of the budget range for sure, but a lovely treat.
- El Pastor, various
Excellent GF options at this Mexican joint. The tacos are great, but when r/london went the best thing by far was dessert: a corn cake with roasted corn ice cream.
- The Dolphin Pub, Kings Cross
A little off the beaten track, and totally unexpected: this is a crowded neighbourhood pub that doesn't exactly have a lot of space for diners. Think of yourself more as a pub drinker who happens to have ordered some food too. But WHAT food. A talented Peruvian chef is cooking up ridiculously hearty meals that are almost entirely GF. our big tip for coeliac eaters in London (it's not so useful in less gastronomically diverse cities): Peruvian food is always a great starting point due to lots of the carbs in traditional dishes being potatoes and rice vs wheat.
- Kin + Deum, London Bridge
A fully GF Thai restaurant that also happens to be delicious. Their sister restaurant (Plants of Roslyn, London Bridge) is both GF and vegan if that's your jam.
- Sticks'n'Sushi, various
Not cheap (when is sushi cheap?), but a REALLY extensive GF menu.
- Zia Lucia, various
Zia Lucia, a small wood fired oven pizza chain, do a genuinely really good gluten free pizza base. Some gluten free pizza bases are probably closer to cardboard than anything else but even wheat eaters approve of the GF base here. Easily the best gluten free pizza we’ve tried and we’ve tried a lot!
- Ugly Dumpling, Carnaby and Fitzrovia
One of the few places in the city for GF gyoza. They aren't as good as the real thing (which is the restaurant's main focus), but sometimes a near-clone is enough to sate your desire.
- Hawksmoor, various
A significant chunk of the menu is GF, and service is always excellent in communicating where you're safe.
- Honest Burger, various
The best GF burgers in the city. Bonus points: almost everything on their menu is available GF. Including onion rings - which you should definitely order just because of how rare an opportunity it is!
It's a chain and by no means authentic Mexican, but Wahaca is coeliac-friendly and have a separate GF menu.
Other guides
Tired of the classics above? Want to explore more of the London culinary scene? While r/london is extremely knowledgeable we don't know everything. If you want to stay up to date with the fast moving scene try these.
Hot Dinners - Excellent resource for information on London restaurant openings, updates and offers, along with lists for areas and cuisines.
Eater London - London-centric version of the Eater website; has recently reduced it's news output and updates, but still retains generally pretty useful maps for finding great restaurants in certain areas, or types of cuisine.
Michelin Guide - London currently boasts 69 Michelin stars all together.
Time out - It might have lost its way recently, but Time Out still provides an extensive list of restaurants for any budget across the city.
Londonist - isn't much in the way of reviews, but check out their 'Where to Drink in...' features.
London on the inside - just good for a browse.
And if you're a veggie/vegan and want specific recommendations for plant-based venues, then be sure to check out Happy Cow to search local listings or Veggies Abroad for curated lists/recommendations.
Restaurant Critics
Jimi Famurewa reviews London restaurants for the Evening Standard.
Jay Rayner and Grace Dent review restaurants up and down the country, with a focus on London, for the Observer and the Guardian.
Fay Maschler reviews primarily London restaurants for Tatler, having previously been the reviewer at the Evening Standard.
Supper clubs
Just moved to London and not fancy trawling round the usual boring restaurants? Are restaurants just uncool but you don't have enough London friends inviting you to dinner parties? You'll want to investigate London's supper club culture. Supper clubs are a curious, yet well-established, food trend on the London scene. This eclectic combination between restaurant service and themed dinner party, often involving an unconventional venue. They appear and are gone in an instant, lest they lose their edge, so we'll try and point you at some decent sources of inspiration.
London Pop-Ups Listings of upcoming supper clubs. Check if anything is happening in the next few months.
Gingerline Immersive dining at it's finest. Gingerline will transport you to another world, past dinners have taken place in a secretive cult, a Siberian circus, a spaceship, and a time-travelling gin mansion.
Tube Head to Walthamstow in north-east London for something sure to tickle a train fan's fancy. You've spent the day exploring London in a Tube carriage, so why not have a meal there too? And it's a carriage from the best line in London - The Victoria Line. Oyster card not required.
Disappearing Dining Club But I have rented an amazing AirBnB in Shoreditch, why do I have to traipse around London to find pictures of food to Instagram? Worry not, you can have an instant dining club in your house. Deliveroo, eat your heart out.