Leonie Cooper

September 2025: Mexican food in London has never been better. What started in the 1990s as a Tex-Mex-leaning fascination with grainy cheese, hard taco shells, and oversalted tortilla chips, has got whole lot more authentic, blossoming into a bold community of cooks and chefs – Mexican, Brit and beyond – who seek outside the taco seasoning for more legitimate cuisine. Across London you can now find dishes from hyperlocal Mexican regions, as well as handmade tortillas, brilliant salsas and ceviches, fresh moles, fabulously mixed margaritas and even Michelin star rated spots. These are the finest 20 Mexican restaurants in London, where you can find all the above and more. Read more about the enviable current state of Mexican food in London here.  London's best Mexican restaurants at a glance: 🍹 Best for a blow-out brunch: Corrochio’s, Dalston 🌮 Best for traditional tacos: Proper Tacos, Holloway 🪙 Best on a budget: Sonora Taqueria, Stoke Newington 💅 Best for a fancy night out: Cavita, Marylebone  🌽 Best for vegans: Tacos Padre, Borough Market RECOMMENDED: London's best street food. Daniela Toporek is a London-based, Mexican-American food and travel journalist with a passion for discovering and sharing Latin-American culture and cuisine in the UK. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Head to Hackney and you’ve got a seriously exciting dining experience ahead of you, as some of the city’s boldest chefs have set up shop in this patch of east London. High-end restaurants sit alongside brunch spots, inviting gastropubs and well established neighbourhood joints. Whatever you’re after, you’ll more than likely find it here. The most recent additions to the list include the excellent Tiella on Columbia Road, Cafe Kowloon by London Fields, Ace Pizza in Victoria Park, and pubby pasta spot Elephant, as well as Bambi by London Fields. The list also features restaurants previously named by Time Out as the very best in London; modern Korean marvel Miga, chef Abby Lee’s incredible Mambow in Clapton, and the classy canal-side Cafe Cecilia. The best Hackney restaurants at a glance: 🍝 Best for regional Italian food: Tiella 🍀 Best for Indian-Irish fusion: Shankeys 🇻🇳 Best for Vietnamese classics: Hai Cafe 🥂 Best for BBQ: Hon's BBQ 💰 Best value Michelin star menu: Casa Fofo 💃 Best for dinner and a dance: Bambi  RECOMMENDED: Here are London’s 50 Best Restaurants. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor and thinks Hackney restaurants are some of the best in London (but don't tell the other boroughs, they'll only get jealous). For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. So east London it hurts? Follow our Time Out East London WhatsApp channel for the latest news, openings and goss from the coolest bit of the capital. (Yeah, we said it.

July 2026: Beer garden season is in full swing and it's time to answer the call of the al fresco picnic table. Here's our list of the finest places in London to have an outdoor pint, featuring old classics as well as new contenders such as The Black Eel in Dalston and a handful of waterside favourites too. Quite a few of these boozers also feature in our 50 Best Pubs In London list, as well as in our Best Historic Pubs in London ranking (see Hampstead and Highgate heroes The Spaniards Inn and The Flask) and our Most Haunted Pubs in London lists. There are few better ways to make the most of a sunny (or even just slightly warm) afternoon in London than by spending it in a beer garden. Drinking cold pints (or spritzes, or some pink wine with a couple of ice cubes) with your mates feels good anywhere, but there’s something special about imbibing under London’s skies. And this city certainly has no shortage of spectacular beer gardens. Some have lush foliage and serene, chilled-out energy, while others are ideal for what feels like an open-air day party. Some serve up marvellous cocktails, while others provide for gorgeous river views. If you’ve had enough of the great outdoors, don’t forget to check out our list of London’s best pubs. Or, if you want to be outside but higher up, you might like our directory of the capital's finest rooftop bars.  RECOMMENDED: Excellent outdoor activities in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor, and once got lost in the

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. RECOMMENDED: Have a night out at one of London's newest retaurants. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

London is full of perfect pizza. The finest of fast foods, this delicious staple has been elevated far beyond its humble roots by great Italian restaurants in London, pop-ups, street food vendors and pub residencies, and we know just where to find these world-class wonders, because we’ve been eating our way across London in order to discover the best. Whether it’s delivered in a cardboard box or served in a swish restaurant, excellent pizza is hard to beat. Browse our list of the best pizza places in town and try not to drool on your screen. London’s best pizza at a glance: 🍞 Best in central London: Breadstall, Soho 🌋 Best in north London: Bar Etna, Newington Green 🚗 Best in east London: Short Road Pizza, Leyton and Bethnal Green  🌸 Best in south London: Spring Street Pizza, Borough 🇮🇹 Best in west London: Napoli on the Road, Chiswick and Richmond Recent additions to the list include some nifty kitchen residencies; Dough Hands at the Spurstowe Arms and All My Friends in Hackney Wick, Hot Saint at the Old Queen’s Head in Angel, Little Earthquakes at the Railway Tavern in Dalston, and Short Road Pizza at the William The Fourth in Leyton and Three Colts in Bethnal Green. You can find Ace Pizza at the Pembury Tavern in Hackney Downs, but they have a standalone parlour in Victoria Park. Try also; Spring Street Pizza in Borough for pie with a Michelin-starred touch, Carmela’s on Upper Street for a cosy slice, Vincenzo’s in Shoreditch for no-flop pizza and Bar Etna in Newing

Most movie years post-pandemic have felt like rollercoasters, but 2026 so far has been particularly up-and-down – and at its highest points, especially exciting. Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day disappointed while Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey took on one of the oldest epics in literature and surpassed even the loftiest expectations. Several titanic franchises flopped hard, while smaller films like Obsession and Backrooms, made by total unknowns,  have come bursting through the box-office glass ceiling. The likes of Project Hail Mary and Toy Story 5 may not qualify as ‘original stories’, but both displayed an intelligence, emotionality and sense of crowd-pleasing fun missing from many of the IP-flogging blockbusters of the recent past. All-in-all, a pretty good year – and we haven’t even hit awards season yet. For now, though, here’s the best of what we’ve seen to this point. 📺 The best TV and streaming shows of 2026 (so far)😂 The best comedy movies of 2026📕 15 book-to-movie adaptations to get excited about in 2026🔥 The 100 greatest movies ever made

Why visit a bog standard boozer when you can enjoy a pint in a weird and wonderful London drinking den instead? Get lost in a theme so immersive that you’ll feel you’ve dived straight into your drink. The best quirky bars in London at a glance: 🚢 Best for drinking on a boat: Tamesis Dock, Vauxhall 🤠 Best for authentic Americana: Dukes of Highgate, Highgate 🍻 Best for dive bar energy: Big John’s Biltong Bar, Deptford 👾 Best for arcade games: Four Quarters, Peckham Delve into secret bars in the most unlikely of places. Or just have a laugh over arcade games, eye-catching lights, staff in character, and cocktails served in the world’s whackiest drinking vessels. We’ve rounded up the coolest and quirkiest bars and pubs in London, guaranteed to brighten your evening. RECOMMENDED: The very best bars in London. Quirky and unusual things to do in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Sometimes you want hotel beds, fluffy robes and a breakfast buffet laid out for you. But sometimes, you really just want your own space, and to live like an actual local – and for those trips, only an Airbnb will do. Our editors agree; some of our most memorable trips feature memories of playing vinyl and cooking scrambled eggs in a light-filled kitchen, and wandering out to our favourite local bar every evening.   There are endless lists out there of the most extravagant, out-there and one-of-a-kind Airbnbs in Europe – the kinds that get splashed in print magazines and featured on Airbnb’s homepage. But often these stays are booked up for the next three years or, ahem, a little out of our budget. Instead, we thought we’d show you the Airbnbs we’ve actually booked ourselves and fallen in love with lately. Some are rare finds, some are unique, and some are just exactly what we needed – filled with character, comfort and perfectly placed for exploring the city. That’s what we’re all about here at Time Out, after all. So for a bit of holiday inspo (or even your next holiday stay), read on, friends – here are our favourite Airbnbs right now.  ➡️ READ MORE: Our ultimate guide to hotels and Airbnbs in Europe Ella Doyle is Time Out’s Europe editor. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by experts across Europe. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This article includes affiliate links. These links have no influence on our editorial content. For mo

August 2026: We're now in the middle of peak 'drinking on a roof' season, so get out there onto some of central London's best al fresco and sky-high terraces. Lots of these bars are perched on top of big hotels (one is even on the roof of a massive department store), so don't expect the cutting edge of cool, but what you're really here for is the views, and these places have the most impressive ones in town. It was Dolly Parton who was supposed to have said ‘The higher the hair, the closer to God’, and while she probably wasn’t considering getting a drink while she was backcombing, who can really say? Let’s be honest, it’s hard not to feel spiritual when knocking back a martini 12 flights up. With that in mind, these are the best rooftop bars in central London, concentrated around the Soho and Covent Garden neighbourhoods. With such breathtaking views of Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square, you’ll start to feel jealous of Nelson up there on his column, drinking it all in. These spots can be tourist traps at the height of summer, and there’s also a chance of racking up a drinks bill as tall as the setting – but for views like this, it’s worth it.  RECOMMENDED: The best rooftop bars in all of London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.  

Once upon a time, the only reason to grab a bite at King’s Cross was if you were waiting for your train. But this once-grimy post-industrial area has undergone an enormous regeneration, and these days it’s packed with fine restaurants and great places to grab a decent bite. These are the best King’s Cross restaurants at a glance: 🍴 Best for a long lunch: The Yellow Bittern 🦆 Best for Chinese cuisine: Dim Sum Duck 🍛 Best for Indian favourites: Tamilla 🍠 Best for vegetarians: Bubala 🌮 Best for Mexican classics: Mestizo Be it the lofty, warehouse-sized joints around Granary Square, the trendy cafés in Coal Drops Yard or the hip little spots around lower Pentonville and a selection of Cantonese cult classics, there’s something for all tastes (and budgets, high or low). Check out our list of the best. RECOMMENDED: These are the best pubs in King’s Cross. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. 

July 2026: We've updated our roasts list to reflect the fact it's sunny and pretty warm out. Try the Macbeth in Hoxton, which offers a great Portuguese-style Sunday sesh, the ravishing Jamaican-inspired roast at Buster Mantis in Deptford, or Rice Paddy's northern Thai meat platter in Peckham. There are a couple of posh restaurants in the mix too, with a Nordic roast at the plush Ekstedt at the Yard near Westminster and a serious meat feast at Quality Chop House in Clerkenwell. We also have a new Number 1 to welcome summer in; a masterful roast at The Golden Tooth on Green Lanes. London’s best Sunday roasts at a glance: 🥩 Central: Sessions Arts Club, Clerkenwell 😇 North: The Golden Tooth, Newington Green ⛪ South: Old Nun’s Head, Nunhead 🌈 East: The Nelson’s, Hackney 🍻 West: The Mall Tavern, Notting Hill Sunday lunch. There’s nothing quite like it. An elemental meal, one that Londoners take incredibly seriously. Debates about what constitutes the ‘perfect’ Sunday roast have been known to last for hours. There is no shortage of top roasts and Sunday lunch options in London. We’ve rounded up the city’s best Sunday meals from a host of pubs, restaurants and breweries all around town. What makes a good roast? For us, it’s simple; a welcoming room is a good start, maybe in a pub with an open fire during the winter months. Then it comes to the plate – we need perfect roast potatoes, well-cooked lamb, beef or pork and a decent plant-based option too. A Sunday roast is more than

Year round, London’s restaurants and breweries are ablaze with barbecues and smokey, live-fire cookery. Here’s our selection of the best grills the capital has to offer including street food hot spots as well as taproom pop-ups. Here you’ll find everything from Jamaican jerk and Scandi-style wood-fired cookery to Texas platters and Korean BBQ. Want to DIY during the summer? Then here’s a list of the London parks that will let you set up your very own grill. London’s best BBQ restaurants at a glance:  🇯🇲 Best for Jamaican jerk: Maureen’s, Brixton 🇨🇳 Best for Chinese-inspired meats: Hon’s BBQ, Hackney Wick 🥩 Best for classic Texan BBQ: Texas Joe’s Slow Smoked Meats, London Bridge 🍆 Best for vegetarians: Acme Fire Cult, Dalston 🍖 Best for Sunday roast: From the Ashes, Hackney RECOMMENDED: A guide to the best fried chicken in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. 

Albers’ sweet, airy and pine-clad corner space feels as if you’re in the neat studio of a particularly humble architect or maybe a Scandinavian school for gifted children. There’s even a dash of the minimal Quaker Meeting House about it. It’s this 1960s Montessori energy that makes you feel what’s about to happen will be effortlessly great, despite the fact quite a large amount of serious effort has been put in, from the deftly sourced fresh produce, to the welcoming, friendly team.  Which is exactly what happens at our midweek dinner in the Dalston hinterlands. Mains feel like they’ve been prepared by a kindly aunt Opened in 2024 by former tree surgeon and artist Scott Pattinson, and named after his dog (who in turn was named after Bauhaus-trained painter and Black Mountain College teacher Joseph Albers), the fact Albers feels like a classroom is no surprise. A self-taught chef, Pattinson’s menu is guided by feel rather than rigorous structure. This makes for a confident but playful meal. Oysters come bobbing in peach vodka and horseradish, a touch wet maybe, but what’s more fun than fruity vodka running down your chin? The menu’s robust, clarified pina colada, maybe.  ‘White miso-glazed turnip with pear and toasted milk’ sounds like something Beatrix Potter might whip up had she been a harried Hackney millennial, but is surprisingly charismatic,  with lean wedges of pear balanced on squidgy turnips that have been coyly caramelised at the edges, then coated in a deeply umam

Gleneagles isn’t like other luxury hotels. Not only does this stately Scottish bolthole have a den full of ferrets, a deeply zen outdoor sauna and the kind of breakfast that puts Las Vegas’ bountiful buffets to shame, there’s also a spooky wine cellar where you can indulge in a Champagne-drenched feast. Oh, and they’ll let you shoot a gun. Beat that, The Ritz. If you’ve ever heard anything about Gleneagles Hotel, it’s probably thanks to its world-renowned golf courses. Politics purists might remember its stint hosting the 2005 G8 Summit, when Blair, Bush and Berlusconi hobnobbed over haggis. If you really know your rock’n’roll lore, it might even be to do with Oasis’s gig there for Sony Records execs in 1994. Even if you’re not concerned with any of the above, Gleneagles’ brand of luxury is pretty easy to enjoy, even when the hotel’s grey stone facade matches the gloomy sky. This 1924-built cathedral to hospitality is glorious, a sprawling pile that’s The Traitors castle minus Claudia Winkleman, but complete with fleets of Land Rover Defenders. And it’s even more glorious when the sun comes out. What are the rooms like at Gleneagles? There are 205 rooms and 27 suites on offer here, spread across the Main House and the Braid House wings. These range from the most affordable (though ‘affordable’ would be the wrong word here) to the Estate Rooms and the Signature Suites. These are, unsurprisingly, nuts – some feature their own libraries, roof terraces and private libraries.  W

With their all-are-welcome attitude, whack-it-on-a-plate comfort food and casual, pull-up-a-chair canteen spaces, diners are the American version of British caffs, albeit with more generous opening hours. They’re a community asset; independent and often family-run spots serving grub from the heart. Taquitos and tostadas come alongside chicken plates and patty melts  Johnny Boys is a good-natured attempt to bring the West Coast diner to the mean streets of Stoke Newington. Visually, it’s on point, with luminous orange tiles bringing to mind LA’s legendary Canter’s Deli and Norm’s diner, while Formica tables are tucked into cosy booths and a Coca-Cola branded sign hangs outside. If you remember the biker-adjacent Jim’s in Clapton (now a rather decent Italian restaurant called Leo’s), you’ll know this isn’t the first time an all-American eatery has opened in north-east London. But Johnny Boys is different, drawing not just on blue jeans and Bruce Springsteen, but the Mexican and Jewish immigrant communities of southern California. Which is why the short-but-sweet menu sees taquitos, tostadas and pastrami sandwiches alongside chicken plates, patty melts and cheeseburgers.  Johnny Boys is the project of LA native Julian Denis, who also runs nearby vegan Chinese restaurant Facing Heaven and the taco-slinging Easy 8 bar. What can you say, the man loves a theme. The attention to detail here is immaculate, as well as the perfect crockery, there’s the vintage Pizza Hut-worthy stained

For Londoners of a certain age - or those in possession of a Coutts bank account - the name Langan’s is synonymous with martini-fuelled long lunches and intoxicating celebrity glamour. Opened in 1976 by debauched restaurateur Peter Langan and actor Michael Caine, the Mayfair brassiere became a byword for a certain kind of decadence. A ritzy hangout for the likes of Jerry Hall, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando, Langan’s was it.   Langan’s French-leaning offering is made up of classics and crowd pleasers Half a century later, and proceedings are somewhat less headline-grabbing, but still as endearing camp. If ever a building could be described as ‘showbiz’, it would be Langan’s, which is also the only London restaurant with official tube signage directing you all the way from Green Park station towards the front door. Passing the iconic red neon, you’ll enter a contemporary take on the disco era; there’s a gleaming, mirrored bar, gold column lamps on green marble tables, fluted glass chandeliers and suited waitstaff with different colour blazers denoting rank greeting regulars with an easy charm. Though most of the restaurant’s original art collection was sold off at auction in 2012, the walls are lined with newer prints and paintings by a who’s-who of modern art, with appearances by everyone from one-time regular David Hockney through to Tracey Emin, Peter Doig and David Shrigley.  Langan’s French-leaning offering is made up of classics and crowd pleasers, with the likes of

Texas Joe’s is delightfully incongruous; an American BBQ smokehouse in the middle of the most Dickensian street in south London. The first sign that you’re not in Bermondsey anymore is the gleaming 1962 Cadillac Coupe DeVille parked on the Victorian cobbles outside. It’s the kind of classic motor you rarely see in the States, let alone London Bridge. The smokehouse itself is clad in coal-black clapper-board in tribute to true Texan roadside joints Kreuz’s, Snow’s and Black’s.  Our fiesta of BBQ starts with perfectly pink pork ribs Inside draws you deeper into the kind of old-school Americana that’ll have you humming honky tonk hits before your denim-clad hiney even hits the seat. The walls are covered in vintage Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic posters, proper Mexican sombreros and a giant painting of John Wayne. And that’s before we even mention the two-metre long dive bar diorama. It’s a hoarder's paradise, or, if you’d rather, an episode of American Pickers come to glorious life.  The master of ceremonies is Texas Joe himself, who walks around like he owns the place (probably because he does) in an embroidered, Nudie-style western get-up and Stetson. That’s his car outside. He opened the place a decade ago, and has weathered the temperamental dude-food storm by holding firm to his meaty manifesto. The restaurant has now been co-signed by the US’s current wave of outlaw country stars, with Margo Price and Charley Crockett both regulars, proving this is no parody but the

Cue Point has been one of London’s best-loved (and most nomadic) eateries for a decade. BBQ pros Mursal Saiq and Joshua Moroney have trucked all over town, from Walworth’s Orbit Brewery through to a recent stint off Brick Lane, but have seemingly now found their forever home at the heroically spacious Notting Hill boozer Garden Bar & Grill.  So good it almost makes you want to laugh Less a pub and potentially one of west London’s largest private parks, the sprawling outdoor space feels halfway between Frances Hodgson Burnett’s twee Secret Garden and Steptoe and Son’s chaotic salvage yard. In other words, it’s the ideal location in which to devour this acutely honed and brilliantly over-the-top Afghan-spiked and technically Texan feasting menu. This is food that needs room.  Outside of Meatopia’s annual flesh fest, perfect pitmastery still isn’t usually associated with London, and but Cue Point buck the trend, with Moroney bringing his skills from time as head chef at Smokestak and Saiq her Afghan heritage; she spent her childhood there before her family fled the wartorn country for Mumbai and then the UK. With their giant smoker casually resting in a corner and flames licking the side of an adjacent grill, serious BBQ business is Cue Point’s thing. Their small plates are anything but; fist-sized brisket burnt end skewers are super sturdy, soft meat trembling under a dark, crumbly bark, and bookended with thick pickles. Black lime pepper chicken bites are elite nuggets, with

We’re already huge fans of Hausu, the sassy restaurant inside the former waiting room of Peckham Rye station, with its Victorian tiled loos, complete with original wartime posters about venereal disease. Frankly, the lavs are worth the visit on their own. But now there’s yet another reason to check this place out. Venture up the enticing, mahogany-clad staircase and you’ll also find a beguiling cocktail bar, with inventive drinks, moreish bar snacks and giant vaulted windows from which to gaze upon the building of Peckham’s new public square. Inside it’s a simple but potent set-up; original brick walls are offset by flutteringly sexy red curtains, vintage 1970s classroom chairs, beige walls lined with vinyl and some largely unobtrusive decks in a corner. Yes, it’s another ‘listening bar’, but in this case, it just means you’ll likely hear some very good music (anything from Studio One reggae to winsome folk), which is what all bars should be aiming for, really. Salted daterini tomato martini is a light and elegantly savoury take on the most hyped cocktail around, while the fennel negroni is sweeter than you’d think, offering an ouzo-adjacent burst of aniseed and a pineapple sidecar hums with cognac and a fruity shrub.  Order this  The fennel negroni is barely a negroni at all (which is why I like it). Don’t forget the bar snacks, as these cocktails are potent. Oysters, topped with house hot sauce and lime leaf, are almost a meal in themselves, and on a warm day, sunsweet melo

Kumori is a classy place. A flimsy fabric sheet dances in the breeze of their (very good) aircon above a long granite counter, while the rest of this elegant dreamspace is bathed in a hazy purple light. It feels more like an expensive spa than a restaurant, but we’re quickly reminded it’s time for lunch rather than a facial as we’re handed a tick-box menu and a tiny pencil. Like Bao - and 1990s bookies - before it, you can indulge in Battleships-style menu marking before handing it over to your charming server. That’s when the true theatre begins.  There’s no denying the precision of this superior sushi joint Nominally a handroll bar (but there’s some torched nigiri and various sides, too), at Kumori you can opt for a set menu of three to five handrolls, or choose your own adventure with an a la carte option. Whatever you do, make sure you order what we’re boldly calling ‘the best of the handrolls’; spicy tuna wrapped in Kumori’s custom- made nori and placed on perfectly seasoned rice and laced with surprise crunchy bits. It is divine. The spiciness is more about hearty flavour than brainblasting heat, and were there not a whole range of other options to try, we would have totally ordered another one. The unagi and foie gras option is sweet and creamy, while yellowtail kosho offers a floral hit of fragrance. Baked crab in a pale soy wrapper might have been a little too sweet for us and the wrapper a little too beige, but there’s no denying the precision of this superior sush

Tavern has a lot going for it. There’s the marvellously warren-like dining room with airy, high ceilings, crisp clapperboard walls and stunning Victorian floor tiles that were already in place back when Tavern was Nest. Nest was a British restaurant with a reasonably priced tasting menu and a fixation on foraging. It was good, really good, but punters aren’t really doing tasting menus anymore, or at least they weren’t at Nest, so a fresh approach was needed.  Better still is a juicy pork and cuttlefish sausage A swift revamp and Tavern has appeared in Nest’s place. It’s still run by the same team (who are also behind the excellent Restaurant St Barts), but with the new name comes new branding, a stylistic revamp which suggests a kind of hard-edged, Dark Ages whimsy. The font that bears the restaurant’s name is aggressively gothic, their online presence is replete with chubby lairds drinking from bladders of mead, ragged sheepskins are casually tossed about the place and pewter tankards are used for serving shards of puffed pig skin to dip in a filthy little pot of moodily smoked cod’s roe. But this is where the medieval comparison ends, with Tavern’s menu less feudal chic and more contemporary global fusion with a side order of quirk. The best dishes at Tavern are impeccable. The ‘chunion puff’ is a tennis ball sized offering of choux pastry stuffed with creamy confit onion and cheesy custard before being showered in fluffy parmesan snow. It is a divine and decadent delight.

Zylia’s high ceilings and bashed brick walls belong to another time. Tacked onto the side of the shiny new Arcade food hall in Covent Garden, this Renaissance-style pile was built in the 1870s as a department store. The room retains its historic grandeur, even if attempts have been made to convert it into a low-key taverna, complete with white-washed walls, a rash of rafia, stoneware urns, dried flowers and a breezy Mediterranean energy, not to mention the buzzy clatter from a packed room of eager diners.  Kaimaki ice cream hums with earthy mastic Zylia is the latest from former Kiln head chef and current co-owner of Singburi Nick Molyviatis and restaurateur Barry Karacostas. The former was raised in Athens and the latter is of Cypriot heritage; Zylia is their attempt to marry the two cuisines in a splashy central London location. Both nations are present in the bread basket, with grilled and oiled Cypriot bread and Greek pita puckered with oregano. An enticingly textured (lumpy but good lumpy) spicy feta and yoghurt dip with an undercurrent of roasted chilli is perfect for piling onto both, as is smokey coal roasted aubergine with sweet peppers, which is so elegantly plated it resembles a posh ceviche. Bouncy fried balls of Greek metsovone cheese are crunchy and glistening on the outside and stringy and pliable on the inside. A drizzle of thyme honey adds a touch of elegance to what are essentially high-end party snacks. Next; wild prawn saganaki (referring to cooking in a

Open daily from 9am, swing by this cosy courtyard location from St John for breakfast, small plates lunches and dinners, as well as lots of wine and bakery goods sold to take-away. 

While everyone was eagerly awaiting the re-launch of cult Kings Cross boozer McGlynn’s by surprise new owners - acclaimed artist Peter Doig and his gallerist partner Parinaz Mogadassi - the chic pair have covertly opened the best new bar in London.  The drinks offering is deft, impressive and nonchalant Just behind the eerie 24-hour McDonald’s on City Road, in a municipal room that used to be Doig’s studio, you’ll find Tramps Bar. A white-cube space next to the Victoria Miro gallery, it’s fittingly minimal, with an A4 sheet tacked to the heavy door with the bar’s name scribbled in felt tip, seemingly by a five-year-old. Inside there are just a few splashy, modern canvases on the walls and a knotted rug bearing the Tramps logo (Tramps is also the name of Mogadassi’s roving gallery) behind a curvy, freestanding vintage bar. Most imposing of all, are the room’s two mammoth-sized speakers, which allegedly once belonged to Florian Schneider of German electro-pioneers Kraftwerk. DJs occasionally crop up, with the likes of Nabihah Iqbal getting behind the decks, but on our visit, staff had selected a soothing dub playlist.  The drinks offering is deft, impressive and nonchalant. On a weekly changing A4-paper menu you’ll find house martinis, alongside an ‘Arnoldo’ - a tequila-spiked Arnold Palmer, a vermouth and soda with a gilda on the side, as well as wines starting at £9 a glass. Perch yourself on one of the five round tables, at the handful of seats up against the bar or on one

American meat institutions InterStellar BBQ and La Barbecue are both coming to London next month for a serious BBQ collaboration. They’ll be popping up at The Ned in the City of London throughout September for a one-month residency in the hotel’s Electric Bar & Diner. Pitmasters John Bates from InterStellar BBQ and Ali Clem from La Barbecue will be prepping the ‘ultimate BBQ tray’ for the takeover. The £150 tray (based on two sharing at £75 a head) will feature signature dishes from both Austin-based restaurants, including InterStellar’s peach tea glazed pork belly, pulled lamb shoulder, chimichurri beef short rib, and La Barbecue’s pork ribs and chopped cheese sausage, alongside sides of Texas toast, La Barbecue queso shells & cheese, InterStellar beans and beetroot salad. Which should keep you going for a while. If that’s not enough, then La Barbecue USDA prime brisket sourced from Creekstone Farm can be added for two people at an extra £50. Still hungry? Go for InterStellar’s banana pudding with Jack Daniel’s caramel. Jack Daniel’s cocktails will also be on hand, including a Texan Sun with corn and honey and a hard shake with banana and raisin, as well as picklebacks.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Ned (@thenedlondon) Both InterStellar and La Barbecue received their Michelin stars in 2024. La Barbecue launched in 2012 and InterStellar opened in 2019.  The residency runs from September 4 until October 4 at The Ned’s Electric Bar & Din

We recently revealed Time Out’s brand new list of the 50 best bars in London for 2026, which contains all manner of boozy goodness. Exmouth Market’s Café Kick triumphed overall, Islington’s TRAMPS was ‘best new bar’, the top wine bar was Harringey’s Bonne Route and the city’s coolest bar was Ellie’s in Dalston. But what of the capital’s finest dive bar? Our top ranking dive in the list was a south London cult favourite, which, if we’ve honest, we’ve had a hard time not gatekeeping. Big John’s Biltong Bar can be found on Deptford High Street and not only serves cheap pints, but dishes up its own dried meat, as made by friendly proprietor Big John. ‘The diviest of dive bars, it appears to have collapsed into place or, perhaps, been excavated,’ wrote Dan Stubbs in his five star review of the bar. He added that Big John’s, though ramshackle, is full of heart and soul. ‘Whether it’s being among customers loudly singing along to a song you don’t recognise, the feeling of immediately being welcome or chatting to New Zealand native Big John himself, who might tell you about playing an Orc in the Lord of the Rings movies if you’re lucky.’ Big John’s opened in 2018. Other dive bars in Time Out’s top 50 bars list include Mascara Bar in Stamford Hill, the rocky Blondies in Clapton and Helgi’s in Hackney.   Big John’s Biltong Bar is at 29 Deptford High Street, SE8 4AD and open weekdays from 4pm and weekends from 2pm. Go and sink a pint and chew on some meat for us.  The best bars in Lo

An independent ‘micropub’ in deepest south London has just been named Greater London Pub of the Year 2026 by beer aficionados at the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA). The Cockpit opened in 2020 at the back of Roses Florist in Chislehurst, Bromley. The tiny boozer shares its space with the flower shop and deals in cask ale and fine cider. According to CAMRA, the boozer enforces a £1 fine for mobile phone usage and foul language. It also serves local gin and Neal’s Yard cheeses.  Speaking about the win, Adam Miller, who runs the pub with Paul Steadman, commented: ‘Flabbersmacked we are. Absolutely gobberghasted. Honoured to be rubbing shoulders with such a resplendent arsenal of boozers, let alone to be recognised by CAMRA as top of the pubs for Greater London this year. ‘A sea spanning embrace to everyone that has supported us since opening five years ago, so many of you have invested a titanic amount of enthusiasm into what we love to do, it makes every day a joy.’ View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Cockpit (@thecockpitmicropub) The best pubs in London 2026, according to CAMRA The winner was decided from the 12 Greater London regional winners for 2026, as listed below. Last year’s Greater London winner was The Hope in Carshalton.  Bexley – Long Haul Bromley – Cockpit Croydon & Sutton – Dark Horse East London & City – Cock Tavern Enfield & Barnet – Little Green Dragon Kingston & Leatherhead – Antelope North London – Wenlock Arms Richmond & Hounsl

When you’re offered the chance to follow in the fabled footsteps of The Rolling Stones by mooching around Jamaica while drinking the band’s very own rum, it would be wild to say anything but yes. Which is how I ended up on a beach near Keith Richards’ old house eating a bowl of mannish water while watching reggae legend Eric Donaldson sing an a cappella version of his 1971 hit ‘Cherry Oh! Baby’.  First, a little background. In 1972, the Rolling Stones wound up in Kingston to record the follow-up to Exile on Main St. As tax exiles who’d experienced various run-ins with the law, welcoming Jamaica was the perfect place for the Goat’s Head Soup sessions. Most of the band returned to the UK after recording, but Keith stayed on in Mammee Bay, a fishing village near Ocho Rios on the north coast of Jamaica. Which is where I found myself, thanks to a rather lavish launch party for Crossfire Hurricane, the rum brand recently launched by the band (named after the indelible opening line of ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’).  Photograph: Anderson PattersonEric Donaldson But before we get to the rum, a little more on the music. Keith connected deeply with the island, befriending a group of Rastafarian musicians who he met on the beach. Called Wingless Angels, Keith was besotted with their hypnotic drumming and chanting, and got them to Dynamic Sounds studio, and attempted to record an album. Things didn’t quite go to plan, but firm friendships were made. RECOMMENDED: The 20 best things to do in Jam

Time Out has just announced our brand new list of the best 50 bars in London for 2026 and it’s filled with our favourite places to drink in the capital. But which bar in the list is the greatest newcomer? Well, the highest ranking newly-opened business was Tramps Bar in Islington which opened earlier this year. Why do we like it so much? Let us count the ways. Firstly there’s the building itself. This semi-municipal white cube space can be found behind the 24-hour McDonald’s on City Road on the fringes of Islington. It’s a bit of a quest to find it, which makes it all the more intriguing. Situated at 15f Micawber Street, the front door has a handmade sign (seemingly written by a child in felt tip pen). Inside, there are a few splashy, modern canvases on the walls and a curvy, freestanding vintage bar. The paintings make sense – the bar is the project of acclaimed artist Peter Doig and his gallerist partner Parinaz Mogadassi, who runs a roaming gallery also called Tramps.    Leonie Cooper for Time OutTramps Bar, Islington     On a weekly-changing menu you’ll find gin martinis and a regularly changing short cocktail and aperitivo menu. ‘The drinks offering is deft, impressive and nonchalant,’ reads our five star review. There’s also a kitchen, with former River Cafe chef Harry McKenzie knocking out extremely decent weekday lunches. (The bar isn’t open on the weekends, which is quite a power move.)    Leonie Cooper for Time OutTramps Bar, Islington     In the evenings, ther

Drinkers, assemble.  Once a year we give our list of the best bars in London a massive overhaul. That time is now. We’ve just launched our brand new top 50 of the finest places to drink in London. The new list features places old and new, posh and divey, cheap and pricey, but all of them with great drinks and an unparalleled vibe. Our new list also has a brand new number one. Congratulations to Café Kick at Exmouth Market, which is Time Out’s best bar in London for 2026. The breezy Euro-chic sports bar currently seems to be more popular than ever, despite opening almost 30 years ago. It’s pretty much down to this unobtrusive spot that this pedestrianised Clerkenwell strip is as popular as it is, kicking off the area’s fresco wave of streetside delights way back in 1997.   ‘If the Spanish Riviera and old school east London had a baby, Café Kick would be it,’ writes Time Out drinks correspondent Eloise Feilden of the five-star bar.  🍸 Read the full top 50 best bars in London list here. The top 50 also features Waltz, Shoreditch, which we’ve crowned the best cocktail bar in London, as well Big John’s Biltong Bar in Deptford, which is our best dive bar. Our highest ranking wine bar is Bonne Route in Harringey, while the best neighbourhood bar is Ellie’s in Dalston. The honour of best new bar in London has gone to Tramps in Islington, which acclaimed artist Peter Doig and his gallerist partner Parinaz Mogadassi opened at the beginning of the year.  Take a look at our rankings o

Lenny’s – a brilliant pop-up in Finsbury Park pub The Bedford Tavern – was one of our favourite places in London to get pizza until it closed last year, so we’re super happy to hear that it’s returning in permanent form.  Lenny’s charred and chewy New Haven-style pizza will soon be found in a Covent Garden restaurant that’s set to open this autumn. Founder Max Lewis is teaming up with MJMK Restaurants (KOL, AngloThai, Luso, Fonda and Casa do Frango) for the project. Speaking about the restaurant, Lewis said: ‘Lenny’s started as a love letter to New Haven apizza and its culture. I couldn’t believe no one had brought this incredible style of pizza, and the stories behind it, to London. The support I’ve had from both London and New Haven has been overwhelming – it”s been amazing to see this idea grow into something much bigger.’ New Haven ‘apizza’ was developed by Italian immigrants in Connecticut, most notably Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria, which opened in 1925 and is still going strong, known for its oblong shape, irregular slices and coal-fired cookery. Our review of the Lenny’s Finsbury Park pop-up praised its ‘crispy and chewy with a proper, loud bite’ base. ‘Charred at the crust, delightfully salty and a little oily, all 14 inches of Lenny’s offering is bang on. For the ultimate test, lift your slice, give it a little wiggle, and see it stay perfectly straight,’ wrote Time Out’s Ella Doyle. The new Lenny’s will serve the popular tomato pie as well as the hybrid ‘Lenny’, a 14-inch

One of the best smash burger stands in London is branching out. Parisian burger pros Dumbo opened a first UK outlet last summer in Shoreditch and are now bringing the winning formula to Soho. This is good news, as the last few times we’ve swung by the east London location, the queue has been epic.  Dumbo’s second London burger joint will be opening late summer at 37 Berwick Street and will serve the same sleek cheeseburgers and fries as their Bethnal Green Road location. Count us in.  Dumbo ranks pretty highly in our top burgers in London list (and topped the ranking last year). Our last visit saw us praise the ‘perfect charred lacy crust on the edges of super succulent dry-aged beef.’ The double patty smash burgers are bulked out with gleaming American cheese as well as tangy, plump pickles and ketchup and mustard. Dumbo also offers a vegetarian ‘Earth burger’ option, as well as fries and nuggets.  Photograph: Valerio GeraciDUMBO Berwick Street, London Dumbo was founded in 2019 in the Pigalle district of Paris and now has a number of burger joints across the city (as well as an outlet in Milan).  Find London’s second Dumbo at 37 Berwick Street, Soho, W1F 8RS, pretty soon-ish by the sound of things.  🍔 The best burgers in London, according to Time Out. Plus: the 6 best new London restaurants opening in August 2026. Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Just follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel. Stay in the loop

The past few months have seen a bumper amount of new restaurants opening across the capital. Frankly, it’s been exhausting and nigh-on impossible to visit them all, so we’re grateful for this seasonal slow-down, meaning we can actually get out there and visit as many of the best new restaurants in London as possible.  There are still some pretty exciting things incoming this August, including a long-awaited comeback for one of 2025’s best pop-ups, Tasca, and new openings for some of London’s most-loved mini chains: Bancone, Superette and It’s Bagels.   The best new restaurants opening in London, August 2026 TascaTasca 1. The returning champ Tasca at Project 44, Shoreditch We loved last year’s wildly impressive Portuguese and Spanish-inspired pop-up Tasca and are chuffed to hear that head chef Josh Dallaway and sommelier Sinead Murdoch are back. They’ll be in the kitchen of Rivington Street cafe and wine bar Project 44 for the rest of summer, serving the likes of Cornish crab on requeijão cheese, Dexter beef tartare al pilpil, and mussel and chorizo rice.  Address: 44 Rivington Street, Shoreditch, EC2A 3QP Opens: Every Wed-Sat evening from July 29   Photograph: BanconeBancone silk handkerchief pasta 2. The big brutalist pasta project Bancone, Bloomsbury Pasta pro Bancone will be opening its sixth London location inside the newly spruced up Imperial hotel on Russell Square this summer. It’ll be a roomy one, with space for 140 diners as well as a 60-person terrace, where yo

We’re not shy about how much we like Bad Boy Pizza Society (one of Time Out’s best pizza restaurants in London) so it brings us great joy to let you know that there’s now another London location serving their serious slices.  You can now get their 12-inch pizzas at the newly-opened Village Underground Rooftop in Shoreditch. The rooftop terrace, which opened earlier this month, is on the top of east London venue the Village Underground.  This is the first time the general public has had access to the space, which as well as an lovely outdoor terrace, features recycled Jubilee line carriages on top of what was once a railway viaduct on Great Eastern Street. The rooftop bar is open Wednesday to Sunday. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Village Underground (@villageunderground) You can also score Bad Boy pizza at their very own pizza parlour in Bethnal Green, as well as at Seven Dials Market in Covent Garden, the Railway Tavern in Tulse Hill and Vinegar Yard in London Bridge. Our favourite is the ‘vodka-roni’, with pepperoni and vodka sauce. Bad Boy Pizza Society started out as a parody university society before they actually started making pizzas, then became a serial pizza award winner, including National Pizza of the Year 2022 and 2024. Inspirational, tbh.  🍕 The greatest pizza restaurants in London. 🍺 The best rooftop bars in London. Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Just follow our T

With his legendary Endo at the Rotunda restaurant in White City still closed following a fire, Endo Kazutoshi has plans to open up a brand-new sushi joint. Endo will launch in October, in the building that was formerly home to Michelin-starred Chelsea restaurant, The Five Fields, which closed last year. A tiny, 10-seater omakase restaurant, there will be no menu, with guests dining at the whim of Endo, who will whip up whatever sushi takes his fancy on the night as they perch at a 200-year-old hinoki counter all the way from Kyoto. Classy stuff.  Above Endo, there will be a listening bar called Moga, with a cocktail menu inspired by various teas. At first it’ll only be open to guests dining at Endo, but any old folk will be able to visit from December onwards. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kazutoshi Endo (@kazutoshi.endo) Speaking about the launch, Endo has said: ‘This project is the next chapter of my journey, strengthened by a clear vision and grounded more profoundly in the past. Behind every piece of sushi is the work of many hands - those who catch fish, grow the rice, and create the objects to serve it. This is a story I wish to tell. Like Kintsugi, the scars of last year have become part of my history; they have made me return more deeply to my roots.’ Endo at the Rotunda remains closed, with no relaunch date on the cards. Over the past few months Endo at the Rotunda hosted a pop-up at Mayfair bar Annabel’s, which came to an end earlier

Time to celebrate. Our favourite place to eat in London is opening a brand new restaurant. You’ll have to wait a few more months before you can actually eat there, but the team behind Camille - which recently topped our list of the top 50 restaurants in London for 2026 – will be launching a new location in late autumn. The restaurant will be in Farringdon and will serve food influenced by head chef Elliot Hashtroudi’s grandmother and ‘delve into old regional British and Irish cooking using ingredients from the Isles.’  The new restaurant will honour both ‘Victorian tradition’ and ‘regional cuisine’, according to an announcement on Instagram. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Camille (@camille_se1) Camille, which opened in Borough in 2024, serves up French food with an offal-focussed menu incorporating everything from snout cassoulet to cocks comb schnitzel. Our review branded it as a ‘triumph of imagination, talent, and guts’.  Topping our best restaurants list, Camille has followed in the footsteps of Miga (2025), Mambow (2024), Cafe Cecilia (2023), Chishuru (2022) and Singburi (2021) as Time Out’s London Restaurant of the Year. It’s the first spot south of the river to score the position since Chishuru, which was based in Brixton when it secured the honour, however you’ll now find Joke Bakare’s acclaimed, Michelin-star scoring West African restaurant in Fitzrovia.  Read our full review of Camille here. Did you see that Dishoom is opening a mas