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The best new restaurants in London
Where’s hot? Where’s great? Err, this lot: London’s best new restaurants and cafés to have opened up in the last 12 months
Every week, a frankly stupid amount of brilliant new restaurants, cafés and street food joints arrive in London. Which makes whittling a shortlist of best newbies down to manageable size one helluva challenge. But here it is. The very best London restaurants of the last 12 months. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: eating out in London kicks ass.
RECOMMENDED: The 100 best restaurants in London
The best new restaurants in London
Allegra
What is it: A fine-dining restaurant on the seventh floor of The Stratford hotel.
Why go: The savoury choux bun. Just £3 a pop and so very good.
Bloomsbury Street Kitchen
What is it: A Japanese-Mediterranean small-plates restaurant in Bloomsbury.
Why go: For those lamb gyros. Late-night kebabs at their best.
Venue says We have unfortunately had to close for now, but you can buy vouchers for our Afternoon Tea, Masterclasses and experiences on our website
Bob Bob Cité
What is it: A City sibling to Soho’s Bob Bob Ricard, styled like an Edwardian train.
Why go: Don’t worry – the champagne button’s still here.
Bubala
What is it: A Middle Eastern veggie small plates joint in Spitalfields.
Why go: The halloumi. Chewy, crunchy, salty, sweet.
Casa Fofò
What is it: A tasting-menu neighbourhood restaurant from an ex-Pidgin chef.
Why go: For a home-from-home vibe, but without the washing up.
Darby's
What is it: An all-day Manhattan-style brasserie with a menu from The Dairy's Robin Gill.
Why go: Pastries by day. Cocktails by night. And truffled Baron Bigod in between.
Flor
What is it: A more casual sibling to Shoreditch's Lyle's, this time in Borough Market.
Why go: For anchovy toast under a little cured pork fat blanket.
Endo at the Rotunda
What is it: An eighth-floor omakase (tasting menu) restaurant in White City.
Why go: It's the best omakase experience in London.
Gold
What is it: A fashionable restaurant on Portobello Road.
Why go: To see and be seen.
Hello Darling
What is it: A boho restaurant, close to The Old Vic, serving small and sharing plates.
Why go: For the swede tartare. Yes, really.
Kebab Queen
What is it: A hidden restaurant serving a kebab-based tasting menu.
Why go: The cabbage 'kebab'. With monkfish bone marrow and crisp chicken skin. Sigh.
Kerb Seven Dials Market
What is it: A two-floor food hall and produce market in Covent Garden.
Why go: For the food. All of it. And, the lovably laidback vibe.
Lucknow 49
What is it: A homely Indian restaurant in Mayfair, from the chef behind Dum Biryani in Soho.
Why go: The goat biryani. Royally good rice.
Mao Chow
What is it: A vegan, cash-only, Sichuan street food joint in Hackney.
Why go: The smacked cucumber. The dry-fried beans. The dan dan noodles.
Master Wei
What is it: A Bloomsbury restaurant serving food from China's Shaanxi province.
Why go: For the traditional liangpi noodles. Chilly but brilli(ant).
Venue says 20% off for collection customers!!!
No. Fifty Cheyne
What is it: A stylish brasserie on Chelsea's posh Cheyne Walk.
Why go: For chargrilled, melt-in-the-mouth rib-eye steak.
Venue says At its heart is a Chelsea neighbourhood restaurant with intimate dining spaces complete with a cosy upstairs drawing room and cocktail bar.
Nutshell
What is it: A modern Iranian small-plates restaurant in Covent Garden.
Why go: The quince tarte tatin. You'll never go back to apple.
Numnum
What is it: A trendy Southwark joint serving southern Chinese cooking.
Why go: The kung pao chicken: as tender as tender gets.
Parrillan
What is it: An outdoor terrace restaurant from Barrafina, offering tabletop grilling.
(NOTE: this restaurant is only open during summer months.)
Why go: The pork collar. The milk-fed lambs’ kidneys. That £5 baby gem salad.
Sette
What is it: A high-end pasta joint in Knightsbridge's Bulgari hotel.
Why go: The signature spaghetti. It arrives under a glass cloche.
Silo
What is it: A stylish zero-waste restaurant in Hackney.
Why go: It's actual food for thought.
Soutine
What is it: A neighbourhood bistro from the duo behind The Wolseley.
Why go: It's like a Parisian bistro, only, well, better.
Suzi Tros
What is it: A Greek bistro and casual spin-off to Mazi, next door.
Why go: The savoury feta cheesecake. It's dakos, but not as you know it.
Yopo at The Mandrake
What is it: An all-day Fitzrovia dining room with South American influences.
Why go: For DIY tacos you won’t want to share.