156 Best Restaurants in London, England

Opened by Thomas Rule in 1798, London's oldest restaurant is still perhaps its most beautiful. The epitome of High Victorian design, overflowing with antique portraits, prints, cartoons, busts, and taxidermy, here you can indulge in traditional British fare like jugged hare, steak and kidney pie, or roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. For a taste of the 18th century, choose game from the restaurant's High Pennines estate, including roast grouse, mallard, or pheasant. Snag a table in one of the skylit rooms or the spot where the  Victorian-era Prince of Wales had trysts with the famed beauty and actress Lillie Langtry. 

The ultimate neighborhood restaurant in west London's wealthy Holland Park section draws diners with its brilliant-but-understated French and Mediterranean classics, relaxed service, and interesting, mainly French wines. Treat yourself to grilled dover sole with beurre noisette and capers, or King oyster mushrooms with sorrel risotto. With only 36 seats and a teeny bar, this is an intimate affair, which is highlighted by the white paper tablecloths and bentwood chairs. Service is friendly but not overly familiar, while wines are grower, boutique, or biodynamic. Traditional roasts served on Sunday.

Trailblazing Australian chef Skye Gyngell worships the seasons at her pastel-hued dining destination in majestic Somerset House off the Strand. Housed in the building's 1865 Neoclassical New Wing, Spring offers exquisite root-to-stem, produce-driven Italian dishes in an airy light-drenched dining salon. Expect everything from a tousled heap of biodynamic Fern Verrow Farm salad leaves to egg yolk–rich crab tagliolini. Free of single-use plastic, you'll find all the bread, butter, ice cream, cordials, vermouth, and tonics are made on-site. Also look for Spring's brilliant zero waste £30 "Scratch" menus, available in the early evening Tuesday through Saturday.

Global foodie fanatics join Clerkenwell locals for the pioneering nose-to-tail cuisine at this high-ceilinged, converted smokehouse near Smithfield Market. Here the chef uses all scraps of a carcass—from tongue and cheeks to tail and trotters—so brace for radically stark signatures like bone-marrow-and-parsley salad. One stand-out main is grilled ox's heart with chard and mustard while elsewhere on the menu you'll find crispy pig skin, lamb's liver, deviled tripe, and a pig's head and potato pie. Plunder the outstanding wine list (mainly French and Italian) and finish with traditional Eccles cakes with Lancashire cheese or half a dozen golden madeleines.

Perfect butter-basted rotisserie chicken from Baserri Aldabia served with French fries and house salad epitomizes the understated Parisian-style bistrot elegance of this showstopper from chef Tom Seller. A short menu of a few quirks like snail Bolognese with wild garlic butter on toast or comforting faves like roast whole Dover sole is complemented by an electrifying wine list.

A glitzy procession of famous faces, media moguls, and hedge-funders comes for the spectacle, swish service, and soaring elegance at this bustling Viennese-style grand café on Piccadilly. Located in a former Wolseley Motors luxury-car showroom, this brasserie begins its long decadent days with breakfast at 7 am (8 am on weekends) and serves Dual Monarchy delights until 11 pm (10 pm on Sunday). Don't be shy about popping by (they welcome walk-ins) for dishes like kedgeree, steak tartare, chicken soup with dumplings, or Wiener schnitzel. For dessert, go for an éclair, and don't forget to return to savor the classy afternoon tea.

Austrian-born star chef Wolfgang Puck amps up the stakes at this ultraexpensive steak house on Park Lane. Set against a luxe backdrop of Damien Hirst artwork and globe lights, carnivores go crazy for the pricey prime cuts from England, Australia, Japan, and the United States. Options include impeccable 35-day Creekstone filet mignon, Black Angus New York sirloins, and an 8-ounce rib eye of pure Kagoshima Wagyu beef from Kyushu in Japan. Add bone marrow, French fries, chimichurri, or creamed spinach with a fried egg on top for the whole nine yards.

Exceptional Brit-focused fish and meat dishes at wallet-friendly prices fly out of the open kitchen at this permanently packed, no-reservations (apart from Sunday lunchtime) gastropub in Southwark. Dishes like steamed Icelandic cod with spinach and lobster beurre blanc, pheasant two ways with choucroute and potato, a suet-crusted chicken with bacon and leek pie, and a buttermilk pudding with Bramley apple and salted caramel punch above their weight in terms of taste and tenderness. Mains are well priced at £20–£27, but keep in mind it's noisy, usually packed, and you may have to wait for (and then share) a table. That said, there are great dishes to share—like the seven-hour lamb shoulder with root vegetables or a cassoulet.

Lines form daily to get a prized seat at this no-reservations eatery from a team of Taiwanese steamed bao bun obsessives. The gloriously plump milk-based, rice flour bao buns—meticulously crammed with Cornish confit pork, peanut powder, and fermented greens—are the undisputed stars of the show. The palm-size bao buns also come with fried chicken, crumbed daikon, or lamb with soy-pickled chilis and garlicky mayo. Kick off with soy-cured, egg yoke--topped pig's blood on rice and finish with a fried bao bun stuffed with Horlicks ice cream for dessert.

New York–based French superchef Daniel Boulud combines French brasserie classics like escargot, salade nicoise, and poule au pot with American-style gourmet burgers at this sophisticated but casual restaurant located within the Mandarin Oriental. The excellent grazing menu has something for everyone, and the professional but informal waitstaff enhances the convivial vibe. Platters of delicate charcuterie and luxury seafood compete with the signature foie gras/beef/short rib burgers on black onion or sesame-seed buns. The two-course prix-fixe deals from noon until 6:30 are good value.

Every night feels as bustling as downtown Tel Aviv at Exmouth Market's superb and hip shawarma bar. Enjoy challah toast with tahini-rich meze before delving into slow-cooked, harissa-heavy lamb shawarmas and the best mejadera (rice with lentils and onions) this side of the Middle East. Be sure to leave room for malabi, a delicious Israeli milk pudding, for dessert. Twists on popular cocktails , such as a Berber Negroni, are also offered.

All the cool cats swing by this grand brasserie at Ian Schrager's insanely trendy London Edition hotel near Tottenham Court Road. Enter the monumental Edwardian dining salon, where you might swoon over a Herdwick lamb rump with aubergine puree and tomato and harissa fondue. Exquisitely appointed with framed pictures, paintings, and Grand Central Terminal--style bronze chandeliers, the sheer elegance of the place will soon have you feeling like a million dollars, too.

You'll need some help finding this East End fashionista headquarters located down a side alley in happening Bethnal Green. Once inside, check out the striking loft dining space and bar in their postindustrial chic setting, before polishing off light French and English dishes. Choices range from steak tartare and Croque Madame to cod and clams and Longhorn beef with red wine sauce. Be sure to catch the resident pianist at weekend brunch, camping up everything from Katy Perry to Girls Aloud on the baby grand. The Cockatoo is the downstairs performance space, serving up the same menu as the main restaurant along with cabaret. 

Set in a former basement brothel, this Soho meatopia cranks out £26 platters of chargrilled beef, lamb, and pork skinny chops and juice-soaked flatbread, all served on antique pearlware. Supplied by Philip Warren butchers from the Cornish moors, Blacklock's killer chops sizzle on the grill under heavy Blacklock cast irons from Tennessee. All-in platters include starters of crispbread topped with egg and anchovy and punchy sides like the 10-hour ash roasted sweet potato. Enjoy zippy '80s tunes, wine on tap, and a hearty tableside serving of white chocolate cheesecake for dessert. 

French tapas may sound sacrilegious, but Gallic gem Blanchette hits the spot at this family-run hipster bistro where jazzy French sounds complement the charming bare-brick and oak table candlelit interior. Visually feast on the eclectic Paris flea market bric-a-brac and then order a host of smaller plates to share, like the crispy frogs' legs and truffle saucisson (sausage) or baked scallops with Café de Paris sauce. The cramped tables can be a touch intimate, but desserts like chocolate tart, tonka bean syrup, and macerated cherries are a fitting Left Bank finale.

This unpretentious neighborhood restaurant serves inventive modern European cuisine—think rabbit, pork, and pistachio terrine or brill, mussels, and fennel in a bouillabaisse sauce. Enjoy your meal with some of the best natural wines you'll find in London.

There are plenty of vegetarian and vegan options at this joyous Middle Eastern extravaganza on the northern reaches of Soho. Go all in with the "Bubala Knows Best" spread to experience a cavalcade of laffa bread hummus dips, smoked Jerusalem artichokes, seared Chinese cabbage skewers, and slow-roasted celeriac, tahini, and Musakhan onion. The herb and spice count is high—with a profusion of sumac, za'atar, Aleppo chili, and ras el hanout—but happily, the sour labneh strained yogurt and epic challah and warm pita breads and raw crudités help smooth the way. 

Chef Angela Hartnett's low-key Italian café is an excellent value eatery perfect for pre-and-post theater meals. Set off Covent Garden piazza, you'll find classics like chicken Milanese or veal osso buco as well as fine cicchetti, crudo, risottos, gnocchis, and handmade pastas. Bargain three-course set lunch and theater meals are £30, and the portions, flavors, and general atmosphere are all on the warm and generous side.  

Set in a corner of what was once a vast Victorian warehouse, this airy eatery is open from early morning to late at night, serving great food and freshly roasted coffee (you’ll pass by the giant coffee roaster en route to the bathroom). The focus is on world cuisine (the jalapeño cornbread is a perennial favorite), and the all-day menu features shared plates as well as sourdough pizzas. There are excellent cocktails, too.

Variety is the spice of life, and it's also the modus operandi of this airy Charlotte Street eatery where an ever-changing roster of guest chefs from around the globe roll into town with their exquisite seven-course tasting menus. One week it might be Japanese trout roe with egg yolk and koshihikari rice, while the next week will feature skate wing bilbaina from the Basque country. Whatever the cuisine, the one constant is the sheer quality of the dishes on offer. Alternatively, there's also a wine bar that serves delicious tapas-style plates---don't miss the fried chicken with pickled cucumber and Scotch bonnet honey.

Revel with the A-listers in the glamorous buzz at this upscale Italian brasserie wedged between Cork Street, Savile Row, and the Royal Academy of Arts. It's perfect for a pit stop during a West End shopping spree or after browsing the nearby Mayfair galleries and auction houses, with diners spilling out onto pavement tables for breakfast, brunch, and cicchetti (Italian tapas)—and then returning later in the day for something more substantial. The luxe green-and-brown interior is a tony backdrop for classics like red mullet carpaccio, veal Milanese, and tagliatelle bolognese, and don't forget the pick-me-up tiramisù.

Tucked away down a pedestrianized back street, this casual French bistro is a favorite haunt for politicians based in and around the nearby Palace of Westminster. Open all day, one can only imagine the political intrigues being discussed over Gallic classics such as coq au vin or snails in garlic butter, all washed down with wines from the surprisingly extensive list.

Top-notch French and Mediterranean cuisine, faultless service, and a winning wine list make this one of London's all-star favorite restaurants. At this cozy haunt overlooking Wandsworth Common, prepare for unfussy grown-up gastro wonders ranging from homemade charcuterie to lighter, simply grilled fish dishes. Expect plates like chateaubriand, venison loin, and roasted cod with truffle mash all to be effortlessly conceived. Desserts like prune and Armagnac tart are packed with flavor, and the sommelier's a hoot.

This unpretentious but charming family-run Vietnamese street-food café offers delicious quick bites and takeout dishes for lunch. Try the pho, banh mi, or spring rolls.

A largely corporate crowd comes here for the Manhattanesque views of The City and chef Jason Atherton's masterful but straightforward cuisine. Impressed diners look out from Level 24 of Tower 42 on a majestic panorama that takes in illustrious buildings like the Gherkin and the Walkie Talkie. Dinner options include sea bass and Jerusalem artichoke or a generous hunk of beef "Josper cooked" on the grill. The soufflé is a total winner for dessert, while the service—like City Social itself—is stratospheric.

Styled as a collaboration between star designer Tom Dixon and chef/entrepreneur Assaf Granit, this delightful restaurant is full of infectious joie de vivre and, most important, to-die-for food. With a mix of shared plates and main courses, the menu is a playful, refined celebration of Israeli cuisine, with dishes that range from the most delicious sea bass carpaccio to grilled octopus on Yemeni pancakes with a truffle harissa sauce. Leave room for the tahini ice cream.

The kind of smooth-running, welcoming all-day brasserie that is difficult to find in Paris these days, Colbert offers well-prepared bistro favorites like croque monsieur, escargot, and steak haché, along with bigger plates like pan-roasted sea trout with samphire and seaweed or confit duck. The service is professional but friendly and the atmosphere is stylish but comfortable. Although a neighborhood favorite, it's a swanky neighborhood, which is reflected in the prices, but a prix-fixe menu (two courses for £24.75 and three courses for £29.95) offers good value.