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British food hasn't always had the best reputation, but nowhere in the country is that reputation being completely upturned more than in London. The city has zoomed up the global gastro charts, and can now seriously compete with the world’s top culinary heavyweights. The truth is that no other city—barring New York—has the immense range of global cuisines that London has to offer. Standards have rocketed at all price points, and every year it seems like the London restaurant scene is better than ever.
Feel like eating the most-tender Kagoshima Wagyu beef on planet Earth? It can be yours for £150 at CUT at 45 Park Lane. Want to try old English gastronomy from the time of Henry VIII with an ultramodern twist? Ashley Palmer-Watts is your man at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. Do you only eat Sri Lankan hoppers? No worries, we’ve got just the thing: Hoppers in Soho will give you a taste of the Sri Lankan pancake, for £4.50 a pop. Can’t stand any more snobby culinary nonsense? The low-key British wild game is so good at The Harwood Arms in Fulham that they’ve earned London’s first gastro-pub-based Michelin star.
To appreciate how far London has risen in the food game, just look back to the days of Somerset Maugham, who was once justified in warning, "To eat well in England you should have breakfast three times a day." Change was slow after World War II, when it was understood that the British ate to live, while the French lived to eat. When people thought of British cuisine, fish-and-chips—a greasy grab-and-gulp dish that tasted best wrapped in yesterday's newspaper—first came to mind. Then there was always shepherd's pie, ubiquitously found in smoke-filled pubs, though not made, according to Sweeney Todd, "with real shepherd in it."
These days, standards are miles higher and shepherd’s pie has been largely replaced by the city's unofficial dish, Indian curry. London’s restaurant revolution is built on its extraordinary ethnic diversity, and you’ll find the quality of other global cuisines has grown immeasurably in recent years, with London becoming known for its Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Thai, Spanish, Italian, French, Peruvian, and west African restaurants. Thankfully, pride in the best of British food—local, seasonal, wild, and foraged—is enjoying quite the renaissance, too.
British-Sri Lankan chef Cynthia Shanmugalingam's interpretations of regional Tamil cuisine cooked on an open fire have won plaudits for the home-cooked feeling of her curries, rotis, and sambols (especially the one that combines chickpeas, parsley, and coconut). Main dishes include a creamy sticky chicken pongal rice flavored with saffron, coconut milk, poppy seeds and cinnamon, a red tamarind prawn curry, and a whole Jaffna crab curry, and they are mostly small plates designed to be shared. There's a set menu at £38. Reservations are recommended (it's busy and service, while friendly, can become disorganized), but some tables are reserved for walk-ins.
You'll feel like quite the foodie insider once you finally track down the quirky Rochelle Canteen, founded by Melanie Arnold and Margot Henderson, two doyennes of the London food scene. It's set in a former bike shed at the Victorian-era Rochelle School—ring the buzzer next to a blue door, go through the "Boys" entrance, and enter the long white canteen, where you'll enjoy gloriously understated British fare ranging from monkfish liver parfait and crab apple jelly to beef and pickled walnut pie. Bump along with the Frieze London art crowd and enjoy braised chard with ricotta on toast, or go for a dessert such as poached quince with chocolate sauce and praline or a velvety custard tart.
This "greasy spoon without the grease" has become a neighborhood hot spot thanks to its modern reinterpretation of traditional British “caff” food (with the nontraditional additions of a wine list, vegan options, newspapers, and books) as well as its well-connected owners (the restaurant was officially opened by local resident Helena Bonham Carter and the vintage jukebox is “curated” by none other than Robert Plant). Daily-changing lunch and dinner options feature healthy, homemade dishes like pan-fried filet of sea bass with a balsamic glaze and roasted fennel, jerk chicken with rice and peas, an artichoke and spring vegetable pie, and homemade fishcakes, while breakfast offers a vegan Full English. The ambience is a cross between an American diner and a Parisian bistro, and the service is welcoming if sometimes disengaged.
You can feel the history at this 1889 Art Deco--dining powerhouse, which has hosted everyone from Winston Churchill to Marilyn Monroe. Nowadays it caters to business barons, well-heeled West Enders, and wealthy tourists, who come for the Grill's famed table-side silver serving trolley, which might trundle up laden with roast beef or a succulent saddle of lamb. Savoy signatures like twice-baked Arnold Bennett soufflé (with flaked haddock, chives, and Montgomery cheddar sauce) or Peach Melba dessert always impress, as do other timeless classics like Chateaubriand steaks, beef Wellington, and lobster Thermidor.
Imposing doormen in bowler hats greet visitors with a wee nod at this ever-fashionable seafood haven on Mount Street in Mayfair. Originally founded in 1851 in the Haymarket, and a former haunt of James Bond author Ian Fleming (he apparently enjoyed the potted shrimps), Scott's draws the wealthiest of London, who come for the fresh Lindisfarne oysters, Dover sole, and tasty shrimp burgers. Prices could make a Saudi sheikh blanch, but that's the price to pay for what many consider the hottest table in town.
This hole-in-the-wall restaurant, a neighborhood favorite for more than 30 years, is an amazing bargain for this pricey part of town, serving good basic Chinese food at reasonable prices. Standouts on the extensive menu include ma-po tofu, barbecued pork with noodles, and seafood ho-fun. It’s not fancy, but service is fast.
This restaurant run by two alumni of celebrated The Fat Duck in Bray now has two Michelin stars for its meticulous but unfussy modern cooking that features "prime ingredients expertly prepared" and an eclectic but outstanding wine list. Starters include sweetbreads with smoked maitake mushrooms and pickled lingonberries in a cumin-infused sauce and scallops and black winter truffles in broth, while entrées like poached and roasted duck or grilled venison with a beetroot sauce display a similar inventiveness. An attached shop sells wine and glassware.
To those in the know, this friendly neighborhood trattoria is one of the best Italian restaurants in town. The emphasis is on unpretentious, well-executed dishes bursting with verve and flavor, from fresh pappardelle with beef shin ragù to succulent steelhead rainbow trout served with borlotti beans and salsa verde. The atmosphere manages to be both buzzy and intimate, whether you dine on the bright, airy ground floor or in one of the basement booths. Service is pitch-perfect and there's an excellent wine list.
This canteen-style outpost of the eco-conscious chain serves mildly spiced Mexican food like a buttermilk fried chicken taco or ancho mushroom enchiladas, plus the usual burritos and quesadillas along with rainbow bowls. There's also a street-food truck parked beside the river.
Lords, ladies, and other assorted aristocrats blow the family bank at this Edwardian bastion of traditional English fine dining on Jermyn Street (the place first opened near the Haymarket as a shellfish stall in 1742). Posh patrons tend to order half a dozen oysters, followed by grilled Dover sole, Blythburgh pork from the carving trolley, or fabulous native game, such as roast partridge, grouse, or teal. There is also soft herring roe on toast, plus pleasing desserts like Peach Melba or sherry trifle.
Here at one of London's top Japanese restaurants, head chef and cofounder Yasuhiro Mineno creates fresh, colorful, and exquisite sushi, sashimi, salads, and carpaccios. Tofu foam-topped miso cappuccino comes in a Victorian cup and saucer, while nigiri might include signature flourishes such as truffle shavings on fatty tuna. But there's a lot more than sushi here, including sensational small plates such as Robata-grilled black cod marinated in soy sauce. The £16 salmon nigiri set lunch is a relatively affordable way to sample Yashin's below-the-radar brilliance.
In St. Mary-le-Bow's Norman crypt, this café is packed with City workers weekdays 7:30–2:30 for a menu covering breakfasts, scrumptious light lunches, and delicious cakes. It's also open for dinner Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Bringing the outside in, this café and restaurant is in the Wallace Collection's glass-roofed courtyard. It's open (daily 10–4:30) for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea, and for dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings (last seating is at 9:30 pm). The menu includes lamb rump, pan-roasted lemon sole, and other tasty offerings. If you don't want to strain your budget too much, you can just linger over coffee in the gorgeous surroundings.
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