Hi,
I will be in London very soon, and am wondering which restaurant serves the best shepherd's pie.

I don't think I've ever encountered shepherd's pie in a restaurant - not even places like St John or any of Gary Rhodes' setups.

And I've certainly never eaten a shepherd's pie in a pub that was anything other than a microwaved disgrace. It's possible I'm doing English pubs an injustice: maybe they've all started serving edible shepherd's pie and I've just missed them.

But it really isn't a dish that lends itself well to pubs from the eater's point of view. It's best cooked in reasonably large quantities, then served up at a table. Pubs make horrid little single-serve versions (usually from vile meat with industrial gravy), microwave them so they're too hot to eat comfortably, aren't properly browned on top and get soggy, watery mash, then serve them in a ridiculous oval dish that no-one would ever use in the real world.

A classic example of the "let's do what suits the caterers" mentality that makes English pub food so awful.

But there's absolutely no need to eat this junk when it's a complete doddle to make it at home. There's no obscure skill or special ingredients needed: anyone living anywhere outside a famine zone can make it themselves a million times better than in London pubs.

It doesn't much matter whether you use lamb or beef,though pedants insist it's called cottage pie with beef. But the better the meat in the first place the better the pie will be. All recipes work best if you use leftovers from a roast, and avoid low-fat versions like the plague. Make sure there's a moderate amount of fat in the meat you mince up.

Download a reliable recipe: the first article of the British Constitution is "always trust a recipe from the Blessed Delia Smith" and you can't go far wrong with www.deliaonline.com/recipes/r_0000000713.asp She's getting too elaborate by adding leeks to the mash (I'd just drop them). But it's essential the mash browns during the baking, so if you're not adding cheddar, make sure you've brushed the top of the mash will egg before putting it in the oven.

And spend your time in London eating the food we actually get right in restaurants: Cantonese, Punjabi and Bengali.

Without a doubt, the best restaurant one is at The Ivy, but that's slightly more elaborate than one that would be found made by the housewife. I'd second the recommendation for deliaonline.com. She's a very good home cook whose recipes (especially the British ones) are well worth making.

I would never make a cottage pie from scratch. It's one of those things that were traditionally used to make the Sunday roast last the week.
You just mince up some of the leftover roast, moisten it with leftover gravy and bung some mash on top.

I'd do a bit more than just old meat and gravy. For one thing, some onion for flavour, as a minimum. Personally I like adding some mushrooms, diced red pepper, carrots and maybe some peas. If you're using lamb, you could put in a layer of spinach leaves, or put some in the mash.
I've done vegetarian imitations using chopped mushrooms (but you must cook them down first or it'll be too wet, and it'll need some of those dried ceps or porcini funghi for flavour), and you can do it with lentils.

But whatever you put in the pie, the oven must be hot enough to make the mash topping crusty - try putting a ridged pattern in it with a fork to ensure there are some really crispy golden brown bits.