Restaurants

  • London's top 50 restaurants

  • By Time Out Food & Drink editors

  • Time Out asked its food critics to come up with a list of the 50 best places to eat in London. And here it is: from capital curries to great gastropubs, as well as suggestions for where to eat on the cheap, if you want to impress, or are just looking for great service and value



  • Indian | Oriental | Italian | Cheap eats | British | Vegetarian | Gastropubs | Best service | Best to impress | Best for grazing

    Best Indian restaurants
    Amaya
    Much of the menu at this chic bar and grill is grilled on the tawa (a thick iron plate), sigri (coal grill) or in the more familiar tandoor (hot clay oven) right in front of diners, which adds a great sense of theatre to the sparkling surrounds. The biryanis are first rate; and if you’ve ever wanted to try proper ‘Awadhi’ dishes, from the height of the Moghul empire in Lucknow, this is the place to try them. Amaya’s relatively expensive, but it’s outstanding value nonetheless.
    When to go When you crave Indian food, but are tired of ‘curry’.
    What to have Biryanis, or ask for any of the Awadhi dishes.
    Amaya, 15 Motcomb St, Halkin Arcade, SW1X 8JT (7823 1166/www.realindianfood.com). Knightsbridge tube.

    Moti Mahal
    This top-end Indian restaurant hasn’t got the ‘wow’ factor that stunningly designed Indian restaurants such as London's Amaya, Red Fort, Tamarind or Benares have; instead, the owners appear to be putting their faith in the cooking to attract custom. The style of cooking is distinctly new-wave Indian, but the accent with all these dishes is still as much on careful spicing and masalas (spice mixtures) as looks. It’s not cheap for dinner, but the set lunch menu is a steal at £13.50 for three courses.
    When to go To explore Indian food beyond the usual Ruby Murrays.
    What to have Any of the tandoor-cooked meats, the breads, and the dahls.
    Moti Mahal, 45 Great Queen St, WC2B 5AA (7240 9329/www.motimahal-uk.com). Covent Garden or Holborn tube. Feature continues

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    Sagar
    Sagar is a humble Indian vegetarian restaurant in Hammersmith which charges very modest prices for exemplary cooking. It showcases the dishes of the southern state of Karnataka, and 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.
    When to go After visiting The Lyric.
    What to have The thali set meals, or the dosais are all reliably good.
    Sagar, 157 King St, W6 9JT (8741 8563). Hammersmith tube.


    Indian | Oriental | Italian | Cheap eats | British | Vegetarian | Gastropubs | Best service | Best to impress | Best for grazing

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37 comments

  1. Posted by Well, this is my answer to that seemingly impertinent question. , on 23 Oct 2009 11:21

    Well, this is my answer to that seemingly impertinent question. ,

  2. Posted by Raja on 22 Oct 2009 23:36

    Real Karahi Food - Hot Red Chillies in Eastcote all the way

  3. Posted by ruhel rouf on 28 Sep 2009 01:15

    the best turkish and meze to be found is i Olives and Figs restauarant in a small alley way in Spitalfields.I found the food is great value for money. Bring your own booze near Liverpool Street is just amazing. I am surprised there is no mention of the place.

  4. Posted by curryking on 02 Aug 2009 19:25

    ??? no mention of Tayyab's? the most popular restaurant with the pakistani and bangladeshi community in London - always huge queues for a tabel - and unbeatable home cooked - on Fieldgate street

  5. Posted by Great real pub... on 21 Jul 2009 16:19

    The Prince of Wales in Putney, is a hidden gem when it comes
    down to Gastropubs. I go there regularly with my partner or friends and we travel over the water from fulham to eat/drink there. I really rate this place.. Has anyone been there?

  6. Posted by grace jones on 21 Jun 2009 14:37

    this website rocks

  7. Posted by Will of London on 15 May 2009 16:16

    It is one thing to debate about suitability of omnivorous critics reviewing vegetarian cuisine. I do feel that one may find such a standpoint to be a 'slippery slope' argument – surely such logic would conclude that only vegetarians would be competent to review veg meals, and one might similarly go on to argue that as the subtle differences between different Moroccan herbs may be lost to those unaccustomed (i.e. foreign), only native Moroccan food eating people (note: this is irrelevant of their race/colour, such a category only concerns that one's 'home food' is Moroccan) should be deemed truly competent to review Moroccan food, and so on. What I believe (and correct me if I’m wrong) to be the fallacy here is that the herbivores amongst us must remember that the meat eaters go vegetarian quite often (porcini risotto with truffle shavings anyone?) and it is only suitable that critics represent the mainstream. Like it or not, even for dishes which do not contain meat, the omnivorous palette IS the mainstream and therefore justifies an omnivorous critic. In any case, I accept that this itself is a contentious line of reasoning and do believe debate on this topic may not necessarily be unhealthy.
    It is, however, a completely different animal (pardon the pun - I couldn’t resist) to talk about ‘the harmful effects to the environment’ eating meat indirectly causes, and I suspect I am not alone in being quite irritated by the veggies’ pretentiousness in the matter. Sure, cattle may consume part of the Earth’s resources. But are you suggesting that we cull all cattle and livestock in order to ensure that there are more resources left for humankind? Or is your proposed solution to let them all go back into the wilderness? For surely, they will consume as much resources in the wild. Why stop at livestock anyway? Why not start terminating humans whom you deem unfit and a waste of Earth’s resources? For surely, humankind as a species uses up the Earth’s resources the most – makes more sense to address the real issue at hand. Yes, I am being sarcastic. All I’m trying to say is- since when did preferring broccoli to beef suddenly make you guys rulers of the universe?
    Let’s also not forget that there are a million ways in which veggies themselves can help reduce the burden to mother nature that they themselves are causing. Recycle more. Invest and donate into research for renewable resources. Cycle around, don’t drive. Watch your carbon footprint. Instead of acting like you are the saints of this world simply because of your dietary preferences, get off your high horse, and if you care about the environment so much, go do something about it. Otherwise, the L.s and S.s, and Tommos – you really are just full of organic fertiliser.

  8. Posted by For Michael on 08 May 2009 14:25

    Michael,
    Buy the Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide. There is a section on Haute Cuisine. Just be aware in London that there are some expensive restaurants that don't have very good food and some cheap ones that have very good food. Also try the red star recommendations in each section, you can tell by the average pricing which are the more expensive/ "exclusive". (Note Hakkasan is expensive & has very good food) but is far from exclusive (as it is basically a canteen style restaurant with a beautiful interior).

  9. Posted by Michael Fenton on 06 May 2009 19:12

    Could someone out there please tell me where I could get a copy of a guide/brochure of the best restaurants in London eg Simpson the Strand, Rules, La Gavote, Connaught Hotel,Gay Hussar etc.
    In a nut shell - expensive, exclusive, up market!

  10. Posted by Matt on 23 Apr 2009 04:40

    Vegetarian/Vegans out there do not seem to understand that the majority of people in London are not vegetarian. Hence restaurant numbers in the review are weighted towards those catering to omnivorous diets.

  11. Posted by Tracey Z. on 10 Mar 2009 00:52

    We recently went to Amaya during our first visit to London and had an unforgettable meal. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

  12. Posted by Tommo on 06 Mar 2009 13:46

    M.moss - your argument falls over at the first hurdle!!! If you object so much to the resources it takes to produce wheat, you'll be comforted to know that 70% of grain and cereals grown in the US are fed to animals reared for the meat industry. It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of meat. According to Compassion in World Farming, about 20% of the world's population could be fed with the grain and soybeans fed to US cattle alone!! On top of this, a 2006 United Nations report summarised the devastation caused by the meat industry by calling it "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." Need I say more?!

  13. Posted by pooperscooper on 03 Mar 2009 13:56

    i used to live in Snaresbrook, England and The Carvery was a great resturaunt!

  14. Posted by taylor on 18 Feb 2009 11:22

    it really bothers me the way that ciprianni, zuma, nobu, jaks ( the most amazing well priced food i have ever had in my life on walton street) are not mentioned. I should be a bloody critic

  15. Posted by jackerypie on 16 Feb 2009 02:05

    Hey, i think the following places are worth a shout for ultra cheap eats...all up the west end
    Bodean's, best burgers in town from 5quid with chips.....
    Indian YMCA...unfussy authentic indian food, curries from 3quid...
    Rasa,,,,South Indian food....there lunch box menu is really amazin
    Icco....pizza from 3.50.and they are actually really nice...much better than pizzahut....though that wouldnt be hard
    Italia Uno(charlotte st)amazin meatballs with rice for

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