Restaurants

Hélène Darroze at The Connaught

Haute cuisine hotel dining

Mayfair: The Connaught, Carlos Place, W1K 2AL

Le Cassoulet

Although chef-patron Malcolm John’s first restaurant, Chiswick’s Le Vacherin , is highly regarded, it was always going to be a gamble opening another –...

Croydon: 18 Selsdon Road, Croydon, Surrey, CR2 6PA

Le Cercle

No passing trade here – the entrance, on a side road off Sloane Street, is easily missed. Word gets around, though, and on our visit, this member of the Club Gascon...

Belgravia: 1 Wilbraham Place, SW1X 9AE

Passage Café

You dream of (but rarely get) places like this in provincial France. The Passage is a tiny finger of a venue with hardly room for 20 diners – though there’s a few...

City: 12 Jerusalem Passage, EC1V 4JP

1 Lombard Street

As converted banks go, this Grade II-listed building (originally home to a forerunner of NatWest) has a higher interest rate than most thanks to a central domed glass...

City: 1 Lombard Street, EC3V 9AA

Almeida

The Almeida is an ex-Conran restaurant that’s now part of the D&D group, and for our money one of its best, with prices at the lower end of the scale (in set deals...

Islington: 30 Almeida Street, N1 1AD

Angelus

Tucked into the genteel residential area behind the one-way system around Lancaster Gate, this brasserie de luxe looks the part: dark wood and white linen, twinkling...

Bayswater: 4 Bathhurst Street, W2 2SD

Bord'eaux

Situated in the relative Siberia that is the hotel restaurant, where many Londoners and non-hotel guests seldom tread, Bord’eaux nonetheless offers a pleasing,...

Mayfair: Grosvenor House Hotel, 86-90 Park Lane, W1K 7TN

Boundary

French restaurant at the Conran-backed Boundary Project

Shoreditch: 2-4 Boundary St (entrance at 9 Redchurch St), E2 7DD

Club Gascon

Club Gascon dazzles just with its extraordinary flower arrangements – in spring, elaborate cherry blossom towers, echoing Japanese touches in the sleekly opulent...

Clerkenwell: 57 West Smithfield, EC1A 9DS

Côte

Wimbledon’s popular French restaurant is a busy brasserie with obvious ambitions to be a chain – it has already spawned a branch in Soho. That means blandly tiled...

Wimbledon: 8 High Street, SW19 5DX

Côte

Soho: 124-126 Wardour Street, W1F 0TY

Côte

Richmond: 24 Hill Street, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1TW

Galvin Bistrot de Luxe

All credit to the Galvin brothers – not just for setting such high standards for themselves, but also for maintaining and sometimes exceeding them. From the moment...

Marylebone: 66 Baker Street, W1U 7DJ

Kettners

French relaunch of Soho stalwart

Soho: 29 Romilly Street, W1D 5HP

La Petite Maison

Part of the buzz around this place is that it’s based on a namesake in Nice and co-owned by venture capitalist Arjun Waney, one of the owners of Roka and Zuma . It...

Mayfair: La Petite Maison, 54 Brooks Mews, W1K 4EG

La Trompette

This jewel of a restaurant, under the same ownership as Chez Bruce and the Glasshouse , has so much going for it: an attractive dining area that appears bright and...

Chiswick: 5-7 Devonshire Road, W4 2EU

La Trouvaille

On a corner just off Carnaby Street, this upstairs restaurant has sometimes been a favourite of ours and may well be again. However, on this occasion, we pined for the...

Soho: 12A Newburgh Street, W1F 7RR

Les Trois Garçons

Although Les Trois Garçons resembles a happy collision between a taxidermist’s (it’s a toss up between the giraffe’s head and the whole swan for the most OTT...

Brick Lane: 1 Club Row, E1 6JX

Morgan M

This very personal operation – Morgan Meunier is the chef patron and the room feels like the dining room of his home – is one to cherish as a bastion of...

Holloway: 489 Liverpool Road, N7 8NS

Papillon

Papillon is the perfect place to play out a fantasy of being a lady-who-lunches, and the French kitchen doesn’t miss a note. The menu offers a well-balanced, if...

Chelsea: 96 Draycott Avenue, SW3 3AD

Racine

Even on a cold and wet Tuesday evening, Racine was full by 8pm – with neighbouring places, almost as good as this one, nearly empty. What makes the difference? For...

Knightsbridge: 239 Brompton Road, SW3 2EP

Roussillon

Roussillon is both a gastronomic destination and a neighbourhood place. On our visit, the clientele included families with young children, elderly couples, and friends...

Belgravia: 16 St Barnabas Street, SW1W 8PE

RSJ

RSJ is the place to go in London to learn about Loire wines. Sure, the grey and wood dining room is slightly weathered, but the perennially friendly and polite staff...

Waterloo: 33 Coin Street, SE1 9NR

Sauterelle

Situated on the mezzanine level of the Royal Exchange, Sauterelle has a fantastic vantage point over the buzzing Grand Café below. It is set up for City power lunches...

City: Royal Exchange, EC3V 3LR

The Belvedere

Arrive around dusk and, with the birds singing in surrounding Holland Park, you see the blue neon sign shining across the car park, tempting you into one of London’s...

Holland Park: Holland House, off Abbotsbury Road, in Holland Park, W8 6LU

The French Café

Tooting café-bistro

Tooting: 16-18 Ritherdon Rd, SW17 8QD

The Ledbury

The Ledbury’s food is as adventurous and technically accomplished as that of any restaurant in London, but you’ll pay 20-30% less. That’s reason enough to join...

Notting Hill: 127 Ledbury Road, W11 2AQ

Trinity

Back in 2007 we voted Trinity our Best Local Restaurant, and nothing has changed to blunt our enthusiasm. It’s still an outstandingly slick operation, passionately...

Clapham: 4 The Polygon, SW4 0JG