The most romantic restaurants in London

A grand distressed pastel-hued dining room in a Grade II-listed former courthouse? Check. Dimly lit with candles everywhere? Check. Sexy European food to get you in the mood? Check, check, check. Score big brownie points with your significant other at one of London’s fittest restaurants.

A bastion of old Soho since 1986, Andrew Edmunds wine bar/bistro was doing shabby chic long before the term became common currency, and regulars are still hooked on its charms. As a diamond in the rough, it has nurtured countless love affairs with its cosy nooks, candlelit tables, big-hearted food and a gloriously oddball wine list stuffed with bargains.

Depending on who you're trying to woo, a heavy metal themed Highbury hideout complete with a framed section of the penis graffiti that used to cover the floor might just be a winner. Head chef Lee Tiernan is a St John Bread & Wine-trained marvel, and a rock-themed, uber-kebab concept is a great place to make eyes at someone over lamb offal flatbread. 

A teasing spoonful of provincial France in all its rustic warmth, this infectiously cosy eatery is a delightful squeeze. Chatty personal service sets the tone, while the brief blackboard menu (scribbled in French) promises big-hearted, boldly chosen and smartly executed takes on the bourgeois classics. Nibbles of cheese and charcuterie make the whole thing even more intimate. 

Named after the darkly decadent Victorian-era illustrator Aubrey Beardsley – whose erotic art is still racy enough to raise eyebrows – The Aubrey is a seductive space indeed. The food is just as tempting – earthenware sharing plates of deep-fried karaage chicken with zingy yuzu mayo, soy-licked edomae nigiri sprinkled with edible ants and charcoal-charred meats, pulled straight off the robata. It's supposed to be inspired by an ‘eccentric Japanese izakaya’ and it's definitely one for woo-ing. 

Nothing says 'I love you' like a pie with a lobster's head poking out of it. That's the signature dish on the menu at Mount St, where you can also swoon at each other while surrounded by £50 million's worth of art. Visit The Games Room, a secret private dining room covered with risque art and tentacle erotica, if you want to ramp things up a notch. 

This listed Georgian mansion was built in 1758 and is now a haven of history in among the skyscrapers of Vauxhall. The main dining room is an utter delight, filled with stunning vintage light fittings from the architectural salvage yard next door. Chef Jackson Boxer knows romantic food – think raw Dexter beef and aged Gruyere served with honey and cornichons – but it's the setting which will really have you swooning. 

The team behind Mayfair’s Kitty Fisher’s have set up another restaurant named in honour of a notorious English courtesan. It’s low-lit and atmospheric: just the place for a midweek date. There’s parquet flooring, ceiling fans and sumptuous upholstery, with drinks served in antique glasses. The cow’s curd stuffed into parcels of agnolotti, with a smooth jerusalem artichoke purée, is delicious.

A stately greenhouse complete with a meadow on its doorstep, plants all around and horticultural paraphernalia in abundance, the daytime Café at Petersham Nurseries is the ultimate in muddy-booted, green-fingered rustic charm. Channel all your romance into a sprightly seasonal lunch replete with sunny Mediterranean overtones and ingredients picked fresh from the gardens.    

Imagine Jay Gatsby on the Orient Express – that’s the in-excess vibe at this rakish spot, a lavishly OTT haven for out-and-out good fun. Dig the glitzy Roaring Twenties decor, the Anglo-Russian menu and little touches like the ‘press for champagne’ buzzers at each booth that are sure to win over any prospective suitor. Chilled vodka shots will get things off to a racy start. 

Brassy, energetic and classily cosmopolitan, this NYC import mixes Gallic joie de vivre with snappy US-style customer service in a glammed-up setting of red leather banquettes, mirrored walls and mosaic floors. Manhattan meets Montmartre on an all-day menu that’s just the ticket for that special date – Balthazar’s must-try breads and pastries are guaranteed to melt the hardest of hearts.

Batik textiles, colourful masks, incense and acres of carved teak spell exotic romance at this South Bank stalwart – a long-time favourite for self-styled Thai-Malay cooking. Champor Champor means ‘mix and match’, so share the fusion-inflected spoils with your date (don’t panic, there’s plenty for veggies and vegans too). Book a table à deux on the mezzanine if you’re going for broke.

J Sheekey lures lovers in with its red canopies on St Martin’s Court. What could appeal more than the chance to knock back a plate of native oysters overlooked by photos of the finest stars of stage and screen? Not into aphrodisiac bivalves? There are plenty of hot plates for sharing too – including the legendary fish pie.

From the folks behind Primeur and Westerns Laundry, Jolene is a supremely beautiful restaurant opposite the park in Newington Green. Everything about it evokes romance: the candle-lit tables, the warehouse-style space with its long, classy bar, the dimly lit loos that smell of cinnamon. It's a great low-key options for almost every occasion; a brunch spot and bakery during the day, but at night a small-plates menu featuring fresh pasta and rustic hunks of meats comes out to play.

Every inch of this bijou Covent Garden fish restaurant has been put to good use – just look above the door to see the carousel of customers’ coats (well, that’s one way of making sure nobody does a runner). Fish arrives fresh off day boats, with specials – grilled sardines, say, or dover sole – scrawled on the tiled walls or mirrors. For something more memorable, do have a rummage through the snacks, like the smoked cod’s roe.

Surely the grandest and most glamorous of Jason Atherton’s Midas-touch restaurants, this place is a real humdinger and a shoo-in for seduction. The huge lobby bar looks fabulous, but the vast baroque-style dining room, with its ornate plasterwork ceiling and portrait-lined walls, is even more alluring. Prices are high, but the lights are low, and lovers can expect luscious indulgence from the off.

Above is the more expensive first-floor restaurant of super-chef Ollie Dabbous’s Michelin-starred restaurant-and-bar complex Hide. Tasting menus are the thing here (although there is an à la carte too), with five courses for £120 per head or seven courses for £160. The light-filled dining room offers romantic views of Green Park.

If your idea of romance is waltzing round old Vienna to the sound of Strauss, you can capture some of that old ‘Blue Danube’ magic with a trip to this instantly comforting Mittel-European number. Schnitzels, sausages, ice-cream coupes and – of course – incomparable viennoiserie provide welcome sustenance, with excellent hot chocolate and coffee adding that vital X factor.    

Squirrelled away in a basement off Tottenham Court Road, the trendsetting Michelin-starred Hakkasan made Chinese food sexy with its combination of revelatory Cantonese-themed cooking, intoxicating clubby vibes, latticed screens and black-lacquered interiors – all backed by big-ticket wine flights and cool Asian-themed cocktails. Our tip: bring a hot date, and bag one of the sultry nooks for an intimate tryst over some top-notch dim sum.

The Hawksmoor name means masculine clubby interiors and a penchant for the best of British beef, but this capacious offshoot overlooking Regent Street also adds a generous helping of luxury seafood to its offer. As ever, the atmosphere crackles and engaging staff are bang on the money, while cosy booths, snugs and corners make it irresistible for couples. 

Like the original Hutong in Hong Kong, this offshoot halfway up the Shard is a glitzy rendezvous with amazing views, ersatz Old Beijing decor and a Sichuan-Northern Chinese menu. Tuned-in service and high prices come with the territory, but Hutong is a City date restaurant par excellence serving carefully rendered, offbeat food that’s guaranteed to jangle and soothe curious palates. 

Take the glass elevator clinging to the side of Heron Tower, shoot up 38 floors in a few stomach-flipping seconds, walk through the pulsating bar and find your way to the double-height glasshouse of a restaurant, with its magnificent bamboo-lattice ceiling and wraparound views. Japan, Brazil and Peru come together here, making Sushisamba a sure-fire hit for a showy date night.

Most of the celebs have moved on, but the splendidly re-energised Ivy is still one of London’s more covetable treasures. Come here for five-star service, supreme hospitality and the chance to eat upscale shepherd’s pie (or anything else you fancy) in a beautiful room emblazoned with harlequin stained-glass windows. It’s the epitome of glamour, and a prize ticket for romantic assignations.

Whether you choose the hugely atmospheric, velvet-hued basement dining room or the street-level wine bar, this Mayfair neighbourhood restaurant (named after an eighteenth-century courtesan) will put a big smile on your face. Sample the cod with fennel and artichoke, or the Iberico presa (a thick cut of pork shoulder).

If you’re searching for the vibe of a vintage lounge bar to woo your date, try Kudu – a friendly neighbourhood restaurant in Peckham. The look is retro with a feminine side: dusky pink plaster walls and marble tables. The small plates menu is inspired by South Africa (a kudu is an antelope), including several dishes served in traditional cast-iron skillets, having been cooked in or over open flames – the way it’s done in the rainbow nation.

Lucky Herne Hill to have Llewelyn’s on its doorstep. Set up by a team with hot credentials, this place deals in super-seasonal British cooking – although that’s only half the story. Also check out the serene interior and the super-chic terrazzo bar, as well as the tables out front for alfresco carousing. A perfect local date spot with some low-key romance thrown in.

Pink cherry blossoms, swathes of rich red velvet and taffeta, a jazz quartet playing – welcome to Park Chinois, Mayfair’s sumptuous take on a 1930s Shanghai speakeasy. It’s a long way from spaghetti and meatballs, but you can indulge your deepest ‘Lady and the Tramp’ fantasies here by ordering the udon ‘carbonara’– an Asian ode to Italian trattoria richness that’s perfect for the restaurant’s slinky boudoir glitz.