Restaurants

Goring Hotel

The Goring Hotel’s well-judged version of modern Englishness – grand over grandiose, service over servility – suits its restaurant well. It’s a gracious,...

Victoria: Beeston Place, Grosvenor Gardens, SW1W 0JW

Hereford Road

Chef Tom Pemberton is a graduate of St John and St John Bread & Wine, and the influence behind his forthright cooking style is clear, from the deep-fried calf’s...

Bayswater: 3 Hereford Road, W2 4AB

Hix

Quality British cooking in Soho

Soho: 66-70 Brewer Street, W1F 9UP

Lindsay House

CLOSED

Soho: 21 Romilly Street, W1D 5AF

Magdalen

Tooley Street with its old warehouses, tacky London Dungeon-style attractions and giant office developments doesn’t look quite the place to find a snug and smart...

London Bridge: 152 Tooley Street, SE1 2TU

National Dining Rooms

The death of Shaun Gilmore in a motorcycle accident in March 2008 deprived London of one of its brightest young chefs. However, the restaurant over which he presided,...

Trafalgar Square: Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DN

Rhodes Twenty Four

It’s difficult to say which aspect of this Gary establishment is most impressive: the view or the grub. The first is a feast for the eyes, without doubt: best at...

City: 24th floor, Tower 42, Old Broad Street, EC2N 1HQ

St John

St John closed for a spring clean in summer 2008, but apart from a good scrub behind the ears, it’s business as usual at this leading light of the British revival...

Farringdon: 26 St John Street, EC1M 4AY

The Exhibition Rooms

Modern British gem in Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace: Westow Hill, SE19 1TX

Albion at The Boundary Project

Caff at Terence Conran's latest restaurant development

Shoreditch: 2-4 Boundary Street, E2 7DD

Gilmour's

British food in the posh end of Chelsea

Chelsea: 9 Park Walk, SW10 0AJ

High Timber

New steakhouse in the City

City: 8 High Timber St (entrance on the riverfront), EC4V 3PA

Hix Oyster & Chop House

Renowned for innovative updates of British food, Mark Hix now has free rein to indulge us with his passion, in this his first independent project after leaving Caprice...

Farringdon: 36-37 Greenhill Rents, off Cowcross Street, EC1M 6BN

Market

Camden’s other Market is a ulititian British restaurant that opened late in 2007 – and it’s very good. Stripped-back hardly covers it: brick walls are ragged and...

Camden: 43 Parkway, NW1 7PN

Restaurant at St Paul's

Sensual decor and heavenly food in the cathedral crypt

City: St Paul's Cathedral, St Paul's Churchyard, EC4M 8AD

Roast

Perched above Borough Market, Roast celebrates its marvellous location with a menu inspired by British produce, much of it sourced from the stall-holders below....

London Bridge: The Floral Hall, Borough Market, Stoney Street, SE1 1TL

Rochelle Canteen

To reach Narnia you went through a wardrobe; here you press the buzzer on the door of this former school to enter another world. Grimy Shoreditch is left outside, and...

Shoreditch: The Canteen, Old School Building, Arnold Circus, E2 7ES

S&M Café

Friendly, efficient staff handle busy periods well at this Islington stalwart, taking names and honouring tables so customers don’t have to queue. Although famously...

Islington: 4-6 Essex Road, N1 8LN

St John Bread & Wine

We confess – we’re fans of the St John take on Brit cuisine. We love the food, like the lack of fuss and pretension in both menu and decor, and welcome the casual...

City: 94-96 Commercial Street, E1 6LZ

The Brill

Simply British

King's Cross: 6-8 Caledonian Road, N1 9DT

The Bruncheon Club

Secret Sunday brunch club

London: a secret location, E8

The Luxe

Cafe-bar and restuarant in Old Spitalfields Market

City: 109 Commercial Street, E1 6BG

The Pantechnicon Rooms

Smart Belgravia dining room and bar

Belgravia: 10 Motcomb Street, SW1X 8LA

Wiltons

Prole-proof, recession-proof and frankly critic-proof, Wiltons has been trading in St James’s for 260 years, settling into this location in the 1980s. It now, horror...

St James's: 55 Jermyn Street, SW1Y 6LX

Albannach

The Scottish theme at Albannach is applied with a light touch. Apart from the young waiters’ kilts (in a subdued tartan), a splendid antler chandelier and a modish...

Trafalgar Square: 66 Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DS

Boisdale of Belgravia

We’ve never met Boisdale’s owner, Ranald McDonald, but we imagine him to be an ebullient likeable fellow. Certainly, his imprimatur is all over this agreeably...

Victoria: 13-15 Eccleston Street, SW1W 9LX

Canteen

A neat, modern box on restaurant row on the western side of Spitalfields Market, Canteen is equally simple inside, furnished with utilitarian but warm plain oak tables...

City: 2 Crispin Place, off Brushfield Street, E1 6DW

Canteen

Waterloo: Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX

Docklands Bar & Grill

Royal Victoria Dock’s latest restaurant

Docklands: Royal Victoria Dock, Western Gateway, E16 1AL