London's top 50 restaurants

Saf

Best restaurants for vegetarians
Saf
Saf sets new standards for vegan and raw food restaurants. It’s almost a shame to eat dishes this pretty; and it’s even more remarkable when you realise these compositions, with their vivid colours, variety of textures and unusual flavours, are created almost entirely from uncooked fruit and veg (only low temperatures are used to cook a few of the ingredients).
Far from being worthy or hairshirt, Saf is a strikingly good-looking bar and restaurant, airy and bright and filled with fashionable Shoreditch folk. The cocktails are good too, and the head barman chatty and welcoming. A remarkable restaurant, and a must-visit if you’re a vegetarian bored of the same old options every time you eat out.
When to go When you've had all the mushroom risotto and pasta you can stomach
What to have The ‘almond cheese’, nicely paired with thin wafers of shaved fennel bulb
Saf,152-154 Curtain Rd, EC2A 3AT (020 7613 0007/www.safrestaurant.co.uk) Old St tube/rail. Open daily 11am-12midnight. Meals served daily 12noon-3.30pm, 6.30-11pm. Meal for two with wine and service: around £75.
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Rasa N16
There are eight restaurants in this collection of pink-coloured south Indian eateries. Amazingly, this cosy restaurant in deepest Stoke Newington sprang from owner Das Sreedharan’s longing for mum’s home cooking. In the early days culinary icons such as Rose Gray of the River Café, Jamie Oliver, and a raft of vegetarian celebrities would travel across London to sample the authentic dosas, thorans, moru kachiathu, bagar baingan, lemon rice, appams and wonderfully fresh pickles, such was the rarity of brilliant Keralan cooking in London. Now we and hundreds of other West End workers enjoy the good-value Rasa lunchboxes on a regular basis.
When to go When spice would be nice.
What to have Don’t miss the pickles (really), and the dosai are spectacular.
Rasa N16, 55 Stoke Newington Church St, N16 0AR (020 7249 0344/www.rasarestaurants.com) Stoke Newington rail/73, 393, 476 bus.
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Sagar
Sagar showcases the vegetarian cookery of the state of Karnataka, the coastal, temple town of Udipi in particular. It cleverly recreates the layered, delicate flavours of the area from the excellent, crisp dosais which are ideal for dipping into soupy sambar (made from lentils sharpened with perky tamarind and softened aubergine). Spicing tends to be mellow rather than fiery, seasoned with curry leaves and peppy mustard seeds. It’s remarkably good value, too.
When to go After visiting The Lyric.
What to have The thali set meals, or the dosais.
Sagar, 157 King St, W6 9JT (020 8741 8563) Hammersmith tube.
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Sakonis
Ealing Road in Wembley is a centre for ‘Indian’ shops and cafés, and Sakonis is one of the best. The most striking aspect is the buzz: it’s always heaving with local Gujju families. The other is the dishes, which cover the span of London Gujarati tastes from south Indian snacks, through the many Gujarati specialities to Chinese-Indian concoctions (best avoided) and some of London’s best fruit juice cocktails. The bill is so low it can feel as if you’re paying mere rupees.
When to go Saturdays, when Ealing Road market’s in full swing.
What to have The masala dosa, dahi wada.
Sakonis, 129 Ealing Rd, Wembley, Middx HA0 4BP (020 8903 9601) Alperton tube or 183 bus.
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Ottolenghi

Yotam Ottolenghi may have hit the big time as a Guardian recipe columnist (‘The New Vegetarian’), but Islington residents still regard his flagship café and restaurant as their own. No wonder – what a rare treat to go somewhere that gets everything so right, seemingly effortlessly. At lunchtime, choose from the salads and other main courses, which abound with innovative flavour and texture combinations. Some of the more involved dishes might include sesame-crusted seared tuna with a Thai fruit salsa, or baked fresh sardines with bulgur, ‘Iranian berries’, pistachio, lemon and pomegranate. Ottolenghi doubles as a bakery and deli, so after the savoury courses, swoon over the enticing array of cakes and tarts.
When to go Whenever you want a special treat in Islington.
What to have Vegetarian dishes such as red rice and quinoa with orange zest, onion, pistachio and rocket.
Ottolenghi, 287 Upper St, N1 2TZ (020 7288 1454/www.ottolenghi.co.uk) Angel tube.
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Busaba Eathai
Alan Yau’s Wagamama (which he no longer owns) kick-started the fashion for canteen-style Asian dining in the capital, which became the biggest eating-out trend of the last 15 years and spawned a hundred spin-offs. His more atmospheric Busaba Eathai mini-chain was in many ways a logical progression, built on the pillars that made its older brother so successful: speed, reliability, reasonable prices. But where Busaba Eathai truly distinguishes itself is in managing to deliver, with almost uncanny consistency, some of the very best Thai cooking in the capital. Busaba neatly epitomises two central themes of eating in London: we may be in a hurry, but damn it, we’ll eat well. We strongly recommend the (marginally) quieter Store Street and Bird Street branches over Wardour Street, which is so often too packed and hurried: verily a victim of its own brilliance.
When to go Late lunch or early dinner.
What to have Chargrilled duck, tofu with spinach, mandarin juice with chilli.
Busaba Eathai, 22 Store St, WC1E 7DS, (020 7299 7900) Goodge St tube.
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Food for Thought
You can eat a hearty veggie meal here for under six quid. The menu includes a daily changing soup such as butternut squash flavoured with apricot and a pesto, a moussaka, pasticcio or hotpot as a main dish and a good choice of excellent salads.
When to go When you’re shopped out.
What to have Anything, but order less than you’d think, as the portions are enormous.
Food For Thought, 31 Neal St, WC2H 9PR (020 7836 9072) Covent Garden tube.
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