There’s something magical about dining beside water, whether it’s the silvery Thames or London’s intricate network of canals. By day, riverside diners can delight in watching the passing boats and the odd duck or two, while at night, the water becomes a mirror that reflects the city’s sparkling lights. Here are some memorable options for riverside dining, whether they’re plush South Bank restaurants, or even cafés on boats. Cast your eyes south for a round-up of our favourite waterside restaurants in London, a few of which can also be found on our best outdoor dining and restaurants with a view lists.
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Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.
Set back from the Thames Path, the River Café is a celeb in its own right, and something of an icon when it comes to riverside dining in the capital. Warm, buzzy and casually expensive, it’s dedicated to serving unfussy yet stunning Italian food based on artisan seasonal ingredients. Ok, the prices are excruciating, but portions are generous – so go for a summer lunch, sit on the terrace, order a plate of pasta and live like the A-listers do.
Breakfast on the towpath overlooking the Regent’s Canal near Whitmore Bridge is a cracking way to start the day, and once you’ve bagged a table you may be tempted to linger for hours – especially if the sun is shining. This self-consciously low-key café has always been a favourite with passing dog-walkers, runners and cyclists, who stop off for coffee and snacks, rustic but skilfully cooked hot lunches and light-as-air cakes.
Would we even be in Hackney Wick if the building wasn’t covered in graffiti, and the interior wasn’t chicly industrial? The spacious white restaurant (once home to the super sustainable Silo) by the River Lee sees Hon’s cooking meat the Texan way – low and slow – and then bombarding it with Chinese-inspired flavours. The Taiwanese pork belly alone is enough to send us into a frenzy. Buttery beef ribs come piled with crispy golden garlic, chargrilled chillies and a glossy dousing of satisfyingly-numbing Szechuan peppercorn sauce. Cumin-laden, salty lamb is served with tangy chunks of pickled cucumber. Ox cheek – cooked for eight hours – falls apart instantly, and is flavoured with fragrant five spice and pickled onions. All this decadence is balanced with bright and crunchy grilled green beans and sticky rice enhanced with beef drippings and scallion oil.
Seafood specialists Wright Brothers have washed up by the water’s edge in Battersea with one elegant-looking restaurant: glossy marble tables, dark wood and walls peppered with illustrations of crustaceans. This site is home to the group’s first Josper charcoal oven, too. Everyone is here for the immaculate oysters, however.
The Twickenham outpost of storied Mayfair seafood spot Scott's. This one – which opened in 2022 – comes with a frankly gorgeous terrace which looks out over the Thames, as well as a big budget menu of oysters, crab, caviar and plenty of Champagne to wash it all down with.
Enjoy Lebanese delights in a riverside garden at this appealing Park Royal restaurant. If you go in the morning you can enjoy breakfast items like labneh, eggs and balilah (lemon and chickpeas), while later in the day you can get your hands on hot and cold mezze, salads, kebab platters, burgers and wraps.
Billed as a ‘bar and kitchen’, this all-rounder sits right beside the River Lee – no wonder Hackney Wick hipsters crowd around rough-cut communal tables and lounge in old-school deckchairs within a toe’s dip of the water. Popping here can herald the start of a lost afternoon, with craft beers, cocktail coolers and a full programme of leftfield cultural events on offer to keep punters entertained. Chef in residence is currently James Cochran, who is serving up his legendary fried chicken.
Moored on the Grand Union Canal outside Paddington Station, Darcie Green and May Green aren’t simply floating barges; they’re also floating pieces of art designed by the legendary Sir Peter Blake. With owners from Australia, it’s no surprise that there are flat whites and slices of banana bread for breakfast, plus bottomless Aussie brunch and a menu of Antipodean-inspired dishes. The combined 50-metre upper deck is perfect in summer.
This classy Thames-side beauty is a looker inside as well as out. There are sweeping views of Tower Bridge and beyond, and Le Pont de La Tour touts a sought-after terrace, a conventional brasserie-style Bar & Grill and a posh restaurant majoring in elaborately plated modern dishes with a French flavour.
Things don’t get much more bucolic in London’s East End than at this hip warehouse-style pizzeria-cum-brewery on the banks of the Lea. In summer, arrive as early as decency allows, bag a reclaimed riverside bench, then proceed to order your first pint of Crate’s own craft beer, lager or cider (with perhaps a pizza on the side). After that, sun yourself, watch the birds and gaze at the boats bobbing past until last orders.
Oxo Tower is a bona fide London landmark, so it’s no surprise that its eighth-floor restaurant, brasserie and bar emanate a sense of occasion. It’s recently been taken over by the team who run the ever-popular Fallow who will gradually make tweaks to the existing restaurant. It’ll stay up and running as normal and Fallow plans to ‘empower the current team’. It’ll officially take over in 2027.
You guessed it: handcrafted pasta takes centre-stage at this charming little restaurant overlooking St Katharine Docks – and they take the whole business of rolling, shaping and cooking very seriously indeed. The menu is short and familiar, but the results are so unpretentiously delicious you’d think they’d come straight from nonna’s hob. Staff are sweet, the vibe is cosy, and prices are rather reasonable.
It’s not a bracing Cornish seascape, but we doubt you’ll be disappointed by the views from the London outpost of Rick Stein’s empire, right by the river in well-to-do Barnes. Ask for a window table to make the most of the Thames-side vistas while gorging on plates of messy, finger-lickin’ Cornish lobster, Indonesian seafood curry, and other fabulous seafood favourites from the TV chef’s worldwide travels.
What’s in a view? A great deal, judging by this restaurant attached to Shakespeare’s Globe on Bankside. Bag a seat facing the window if you can – by night, the riverside aspect of St Paul’s in all its illuminated glory is stunning. As well as making the most of its watery backdrop, this venue also allows visitors to feel part of the bustling walkway. It’s a win-win situation.
A fail-safe on the first floor of the Royal Festival Hall, Skylon’s wow-inducing views of the Thames and the South Bank make it a permanently spectacular venue, day or night. The restaurant’s menu is sufficiently fancy to underscore those vistas, offering dishes such as trout in champagne sauce, crab and prawn linguine and a spring set menu.
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