Leonie Cooper

Fish and chips is London’s quintessential street food. It originated with the fried fish sold by Sephardic Jews in the seventeenth century, before being refined over the centuries into the golden, battered, crispy delight we know and love today. Traditionally, it involved cod, which used to be as cheap as, well, chips. But these days, dwindling stocks of the fish mean that London's fryers are getting creative: you’ll find halibut, hake, calamari and more on many chip shop menus. When done well, fish and chips is a stodgy godsend, ready to be drenched in salt and vinegar, and dipped into a delicious pot of mushy peas. When it’s bad, it’s just a load of beige. So let’s take the element of risk out of it. Here are the best places to get your fry on in London.  Recommended: London’s best seafood restaurants.

It’s time to bellow your favourite anthems surrounded by similarly uninhibited friends. London’s best karaoke bars provide the perfect spaces for hairbrush heroes and air-guitar maestros to realise their pop-star dreams, whether in a private room with mates or in front of an audience of strangers. Cue up your tune and step up to the mic at one of these joints that make embarrassing yourself in public fun. RECOMMENDED: The 50 best karaoke songs.  

From Asian patisseries to sourdough specialists and beigel gurus, when it comes to bakeries London is one big doughy goldmine. This means whittling down the best bakehouses in the city is no mean feat. But, we’ve risen to the challenge and eaten our way through the lot to round up London’s yeasty royalty. Whether you want fluffy naan breads from north London institutions, exquisitely-made pastries, perfectly-proved sourdough, or heritage-grain flaky goodness, there’s an oven in London cooking up something for you. Why not pair your pastry goodies with a hot drink at one of the best cafés and coffee shops in London? Go on, treat yourself.  RECOMMENDED: London's 50 best cheap eats.

When it comes to outdoor dining and soaking up that all-important vitamin D (well, we can hope, can't we?) while you eat at London’s best restaurants here are some of the best city terraces that will make you feel like you’re on a proper holiday. Whether you’re in the mood to have spaghetti in the sun and snack on schnitzel by starlight, our list has you covered, with some of the best rooftops views as well. RECOMMENDED: These are the best rooftop bars in London.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Trawling London for excellent seafood restaurants is a joy – it turns out that there are plenty of fish in the sea when it comes to where eat a fine coastal supper in the capital. To help you make your choice we've done the decent thing and spread the net wide across the city to bring you the very best in bivales, crustaceans, molluscs and more. From fish and chips and Michelin-starred must-visits to sushi – with this list, London is your oyster. Go fish. RECOMMENDED: The best bargain oysters in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Sometimes, tinnies in the park, a rowdy beer garden or one of London’s perenially over-subscribed rooftop bars just isn’t going to cut it when it comes to spring and summer drinking. For a more classy way to socialise when the sun comes out, what you want is a table on one of London’s drinking terraces or chic bars. Finding great sunshiney spots in London can be a bit of a challenge, so read on to discover some of our favourite locations for alfresco drinking done the right way. RECOMMENDED: The very best of outdoor London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.  

Oysters. Food of the gods. Sloppy globules of joy. But, more often than not, pretty pricey. Which is why the oyster happy hour has long been a firm favourite, letting mere mortals feast on these salty treasures for a more reasonable price. We've got together a list of the various spots across London that will offer you the chance to dine like a king, despite having relatively empty pockets. Don't forget your mignonette.  RECOMMENDED: The best seafood restaurants in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

After-hours fun in London is easy to find if you know where to look. To help you avoid the hapless post-midnight plod around town on the hunt for more liquor in London's best pubs, consult our definitive list of late-night bars and boozers in London. These are the best of the capital’s drinking spots that stay open into the wee small hours, listed in order of lateness. Remember, cocktail hour can be any hour in London. If you fancy a dance with your drink, then check out London’s best clubs. RECOMMENDED: The best cocktail bars in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

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.

Why battle your way through the crowds at the obvious spots – here’s the inside track on the best bars in Waterloo. Escape to rooftop bars with banging views high up above the rush hour frenzy or dive into basement cocktail joints where happy hours and pop bangers on the stereo guarantee to get the party started. Or if you’re just after a civilised pint before your train, there’s craft beer galore. Get to work on our list of Waterloo’s best bars. RECOMMENDED: The best restaurants in Waterloo and neighbouring South Bank.

Want views with your food? Then eat at altitude. London’s best rooftop restaurants offer the elevation you need to gaze upon our beautiful city, and top menus to enjoy while you do. Our list includes swish spots, great gastropubs, hotel terraces and even a thriving herb garden. Although dining in the clouds is best in the summer – shout out to this country's unpredicatble weather – most of these places have outdoor spots that are open all year-round, so you can catch a sunset whenever you like, with some much appreciated heaters or glass roofs in the mix. If you’re thirsty for the high life but just want a drink, try London’s best rooftop bars.  RECOMMENDED: London's best outdoor dining restaurants.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Forget super spenny spots with Michelin stars, some of the finest food in London is dished up at street markets and in food halls. Oh, and eaten with a wooden fork. If you’re a foodie on a budget, street food stalls are here to save you. From perfect pies to BBQ chicken skewers, we’ve rounded up the cream of the crop. Now pack wet wipes and get out there (and do check your fave trader's IG before heading out, just to make sure they're gonna be open). RECOMMENDED: Find London’s best street-food markets and food halls.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Hotels don’t come with much more cultural cache than the Chelsea Hotel (its new owners will insist you call it The Hotel Chelsea, but we’re pretty sure that’ll never stick). From Leonard Cohen and Patti Smith to Dylan Thomas, Iggy Pop and Stonewall icon Stormé Delarverie, the majestic red brick building—with its French Quarter style balustrades and legendary neon sign—has been home to a hilariously lengthy list of truly inspirational artists, renegades and creatives. Taylor Swift also has a song about it.  Finally open to the public after a decade or so of legal wrangling and redevelopment, the 155-room hotel has certainly been given a lick of fresh paint, but the dreamy, pleasantly ragged apartment-building style air remains. Like Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont before it, it feels upkept rather than updated; there are wooden floors throughout, ornate brass fixtures, and suites feel lived-in and homely, with mismatched furniture; velvet sofas, comfy cushions, leopard-print chairs and antique writing desks. There are other sweet touches too, such as monogrammed sheets, robes, and slippers. The grand, original Victorian staircase is also worth wandering up, lined as it is with art, much of it supplied by one-time residents. There are a few completely new touches – a fabulously decadent but still fittingly offbeat spa on the top floor comes complete with a purple tile-lined steam room, treatment rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows and outdoor balconies with serious city views.   

This historic Vauxhall pub and dining room offers seasonal food alongside a drinks selection boasting real ales, continental beers and wines cherry-picked from across the globe. But nothing makes it quite as famous as the fact that Taylor Swift name dropped it on her 11th studio album The Tortured Poet Department.  Fans think that track 17 on the 2024 album is about Taylor’s London-based ex Joe Alwyn. In the song, she sings: ‘I am someone who until recent events you shared your secrets with and your location. You forgot to turn it off. And so I watch as you walk into some bar called The Black Dog.’ The Spanish-inspired kitchen serves up tapas such as rosemary manchego with oak honey, confit garlic & coca bread as well as padron peppers, spinach & goats cheese croqueta with quince jam. Good eats are guaranteed; actual sightings of Ms Swift, less so. 

Despite only opening at the end of last year, The Dover already seems comfortably steeped in its own mythology. Usually it takes a place decades to gain such an alluring cache, but here’s The Dover at 6pm on a Thursday, heaving with heritage rock’n’roll blondes discussing trips to Marrakech and the air that Bianca Jagger might slink in at any moment on the back of a white pony. They even have their own slogan; ‘The Dover, a good place to be since 2023’, which is embossed on their chicer than chic martini mats (to call them beer mats would be deeply inappropriate).  Usually the person behind the opening of a restaurant is less important than who happens to be doing all the hard work in the kitchen, but the fact that The Dover comes from the mind of Martin Kuczmarski – former Chief Operating Office of the Soho House group – actually means a great deal. Here is a man who knows how to craft accessible exclusivity and make everyone who’s outside gagging to be inside.  This is not your average nonna’s kitchen but rather a shimmering space to see and be seen Rather than an Italian Italian, The Dover is a self-styled ‘New York Italian’ that’s more Nolita than Naples. This is not your average nonna’s kitchen but rather a shimmering space to see and be seen, with gorgeous walnut wood walls that seem lifted directly from a 1930s cruise liner and a row of discreet corner booths that line the way from the bar to the raised dining room at the back of the restaurant. The little touches are

The concept of a ‘wood-fired’ London restaurant might not elicit the same reverential ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ as it did a decade ago; such an elemental technique is now commonplace, with the ash-licked likes of Lagom, Acme Fire Club and Eksted at the Yard all dishing up scran straight from the coals. Not to mention Dalston and Green Lanes’ many Turkish mangals, where flames and meat have long lived in scorchingly close quarters.  We can’t help but think it’s for the best. Humping a massive hunk of wood into the kitchen no longer means a restaurant is instantly seen as host to a sort of edible Tough Mudder, where the bigger the fire – and the spicier and meatier the menu – the more boorishly blokey the clientele. Wood-firing the Mayfair way is methodical and calculated, with just a dash of dark ages energy Humo (‘smoke’ in Spanish) received its first Michelin star at the start of 2024, a little over a year since Colombian-born chef Miller Prada – who was sous chef at Endo at the Rotunda – opened the restaurant down a Mayfair backstreet. Of course, Mayfair backstreets are no less grand than Mayfair mainstreets, but any protege of sushi god Endo Kazutoshi is unlikely to set up shop in the far-flung likes of Tooting or Tottenham just yet.  Wood-firing the Mayfair way is methodical and calculated, with just a dash of dark ages energy; if you’re sitting at the counter seats you’ll be confronted head on with fish smoking over the four-metre-long grill, bringing back vivid memories of sch

Sometimes, almost everything about a restaurant works. Josephine is that restaurant – so pitch perfect and so on brand that it could be a movie set – preferably one with Catherine Deneuve flitting about while sweetly sloshing vino. Josephine is pretty and cute, but maintains an edge of robust Gallic urgency; all is in its right place, from the starched white tablecloths to the burgundy leather banquettes, elegant taper candles and walls plastered with far too many Toulouse Lautrec-esque prints. If Disneyland were to craft a ‘wine-sodden French bistro’ this would be the blueprint. If we could change anything? We’d simply get it the hell out of Fulham. We’re only a few months into 2024, but Josephine’s owner and founder Claude Bosi is already having quite the year. Brooklands, the storied chef’s very pricey and peculiarly Concorde-themed restaurant at the equally pricey Peninsula hotel – was just awarded two Michelin stars, despite only opening at the end of 2023. Josephine then, is his second new restaurant in six months, and you’ll find it 15-minutes walk away from Bibendum, his other two-star Michelin restaurant. There’s also the lavish Socca which he opened a year ago in Mayfair. When, we ask, does the man sit down? Flavours are as full-bodied as a ruddy-faced Serge Gainsbourg after a Syrah binge In comparison to the others, Bossi’s latest opening is low key. It’s a small – perhaps too small, going by the way I have to shift our tightly packed two-top table and almost wipe

There was a time when the Hollywood set couldn’t stop opening restaurants. From Dino’s Lodge in Hollywood (Dean Martin) to Langan’s in Mayfair (Michael Caine) and with an honourable mention for Mickey Rooney’s apocryphal Potato Fantasy, there was a hallowed, edible era in which getting kitchen with adjoining banquette seating was second only to scoring an Academy Award. Danny Trejo – everyone’s favourite B-movie mercenary/psychopath/assassin – picked up the baton in his native Los Angeles in 2016, when he opened the first branch of Trejo’s Tacos. Wildly successful, even Anthony Bourdain was a fan, it was followed by a handful of outlets across the city, including a donut shop and larger cantina space. Almost a decade later – and with Danny about to turn the grand old age of 80 – his concept has taken a leap across the pond, settling on Portobello Road.  Trejo’s Hollywood heritage is played upon lightly here. Sure, his beaming face decorates the hoarding and he gleefully brandishes a machete in a window-etching, but inside we’re in much more trad Mexican restaurant territory, complete with a mini cactus garden and southwestern scatter cushions.  At Trejo’s Tacos beverages are just as, if not more, important than the food. Despite the fact that Trejo himself has been sober for over half a century, this is a drinking spot, with a long tequila-stacked bar everyone has to pass before getting to the restaurant proper. The first page of the menu is dedicated as much to cocktails as

Situated in the grounds of the sprawling Coworth Park – famous for being the hotel where Prince Harry spent the night before his wedding, while Megan bedded down at Cliveden House –  this spa is almost as glowing as you ought to be when you leave. Tucked into a grassy hillock with lime hemp walls and herbs growing on its ‘living’ roof, inside you’ll find a peaceful, blue-lit swimming pool and steam room as well as eight treatment rooms where friendly professionals will pamper the hell out of you. Make that city grub a goner with a HydraFacial treatment, a strangely relaxing non-invasive skin resurfacing and rejuvenating treatment which sucks all the dirt out of your face and makes your skin sparkle. Double down on the self-care by doing dinner at Woven by Adam Smith, the hotel’s Michelin-star restaurant. 

Some restaurants are born lucky. Before the doors of Morchella even opened, it already had north London’s nibbling classes on side, thanks to links with Newington Green’s chi-chi neighbourhood eatery, Perilla. If you like Perilla (and many people do), it’s pretty much a given that you’ll be tripping over youself to visit Morchella, which marks the second outing for Perilla’s chef-owner Ben Marks and restaurateur Matthew Emmerson, who’ve teamed up with chef Daniel Fletcher for this astute, three-pronged attack on Clerkenwell’s dining scene.  Morchella is the proper name of the morel mushroom – the one with honeycomb-style fungal flesh so densely packed that if you stare at it long enough the logo for a Norwegian black metal band magically appears – and the space itself is broadly similar to Perilla. Both occupy prime corner real estate in desirable locales, but Morchella ramps up the aesthetic to XXL proportions. A divine blood orange portokalopita came with salty slithers of black olive tucked away inside the syrup spattered cake. Go big or go home seems to have been the designer’s brief. Situated in a former Victorian bank, there are sky-high ceilings, marble columns and large canvases of unobtrusive art, while huge street-facing windows put Morchella out of the running for both illicit affairs and preliminary job interviews with MI6. There’s a muted, olive-green, coat-style chore uniform for the staff (you can take the restaurant out of N16, but you can’t take the N16 out

To enter the kingdom of Juno, you must weave your way through what must be one of London’s most nerve-fraying assault courses.  First, traverse Notting Hill’s rom-com worthy backstreets without falling in love with a floppy haired gent from a posh bookshop and do your best to find Los Mochis. Granted, this bit isn’t too hard. Once you’ve spotted this elaborate garish Japanese-meets-Mexican restaurant, you must try and not be overly distracted by Dia De Los Muertos shrines to Yoda from Star Wars, humongous cartoon robot murals and the general feeling that Mr Brainwash might jump out at any moment brandishing a can of neon pink paint and imploring that you do a mezcal shot with him. This skilled duo delivered banger after banger of perfectly formed fish dishes, like back-to-back DJs at south London rave spot Venue MOT If you’ve managed to get this far then bliss – and a more muted colour palette – awaits. Make it to the back end of Los Mochis’ upstairs dining room and you’ll be guided into Juno; a supremely chill wood-panelled space that fits just six diners, making it either the smallest omakase counter in the UK or a strangely seductive panic room. Once inside we were greeted by Los Mochis’ congenial exec chef Leonard Tanyag (formerly of Zuma), and head sushi chef Han (Nobu, Roka). For the next two hours, this skilled duo delivered banger after banger of perfectly formed fish dishes, like back-to-back DJs at the culinary equivalent of intimate south London rave spot Venue M

It may be trite to say “you know where you are with a Four Seasons hotel,” but hey, you know where you are with a Four Seasons hotel. So sturdy is the luxury chain’s reputation, it’s unsurprising to find that their second Beverly Hills-area location offers comfort, style and—curveball—one of the best pizzas in Los Angeles. From a lobby seemingly made of nothing but marble, to the great big installations of fresh, fragrant lilies and a swanky, apothecary-style House of Krigler perfume outlet, entering the hotel is akin to walking into a tech billionaire’s wedding party. And, considering the number of high-end events hosted here, both during awards season and beyond, you might just accidentally find yourself rubbing shoulders with the mother of the bride. Not to be confused with the other nearby Four Seasons spot, the 1920s-built Beverly Wilshire, this hotel has been around since 1987, and not too long ago benefitted from a multimillion-dollar renovation. Taking up an entire city block, it’s a sizable affair, with 285 guest rooms, as well as two restaurants, two bars and a fourth-floor outdoor pool, as well as a landscaped drive where autograph hunters mill just outside, awaiting various sports, music and film stars who frequent the hotel. Aligning with Four Seasons hotels across the world, there’s lots of black and gold and gray, and there’s a comfort in knowing what you’re getting. Tasteful, monochrome prints of 1950s fashion shoots line the walls and the only thing that coul

Don’t be distracted by Kingly Court’s nu-Soho sheen. Scale this panopticon of a food court and you’ll discover a solid stack of proper restaurants (namely Imad’s Syrian Kitchen and Asma Khan’s Darjeeling Express) and now, the instant hit that is Donia.  A small ‘modern Filipino’ restaurant, it promises to recreate the sweet and sour flavours of the Philippines using the best British produce, and very much delivers. Donia – the Tagalog word used to (nicely) address someone as ‘madam’ – comes from the same group behind Kentish Town’s culty Panadera Bakery (they of the perfect pandesal loaf sandos with stratas like a geologist’s daydream), Bintang and Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream. Mamason’s Chinatown parlour aside, Donia marks their first central London dip into finer dining, and sits on the very top floor of Kingly Court in a space reminiscent of an upmarket country pub, complete with putty-coloured walls, high-beamed ceilings and impressive paper artwork that must be a nightmare to dust.  A cyclopsian eyeball of sauce gazed up at us from its crispy, sugared shell, well aware of its fate; total, unapologetic demolishment The menu is brief, but masterful. Chicken offal skewers, at £3.50 each, offered not just serious value for money – a string of six earthy hearts scattered with peanut dust and doused in lime – but opened the gateway to an evening of rousing gastronomy.  Next, a trio of prawn and pork dumplings with white crab, bobbing in a decadent brown butter and lime sauce, the

London loves a bakery. From Greggs to Gail’s, we are a city enraptured by wodges of flaky pastry, bouncy little buns and heroically laminated croissants. But high street staples aside, what we truly lose our collective minds over are the bakeries that seem as though they’ve been lifted directly from a Richard Curtis romcom. From the cobblestone Bloomsbury alley you have to walk down to discover it, to the artsy wooden butchers tables inside, an awning of Farrow & Ball’s bluest blue and a queue of good-looking customers with unnecessary hats stretching out of the door until closing time, Fortitude is a film set made flesh. Will you meet-cute the love of your life here? Perhaps not, but you will find yourself close and personal with some of the dreamiest looking bakes this side of Mary Berry’s personal larder. Sizable bear claws, infused with almond and orange flower water, come with a Scarface-worthy dusting of icing sugar on top With baker Dee Rettali heading up the kitchen since Fortitude opened in 2018, this pastry paradise sets itself apart from the rest of London’s craft bakeries thanks to Dee’s obsession with the flavour of Marrakech and her regular trips to Morocco for edible ideas. She’s not shy about sharing such inspiration in her refreshingly alt. bakes. On our visit, her way with yeasted innovation is there in the merguez roll with chunky chermoula and parmesan, the sausages poking suggestively from the croissant-ated hunk. For afters, why not chow down on sizable

The closure bell tolls once more, this time for Turnips in Borough Market. The restaurant launched as a pop-up from chef Tomas Lidakevicius (formerly of Jason Atherton’s City Social) in 2020, and became permanent the following year. It was connected to the Turnips greengrocers, a family-run fruit and veg wholesaler which has been part of Borough Market for over 30 years.  The al fresco restaurant was open for lunch and in the evenings, when Turnips had finished trading for the day, and served veg-forward small and sharing plates, with recent menus including cévennes onion with waffle and parmesan, candy beetroot with cured hake and mussel velouté and rhubarb with white chocolate. The Turnips team wrote about the closure on Instagram, saying: ‘It is with a great sadness that we write to you today. The Borough Market trustees have revoked the licence for restaurant use and as a result we will be forced to close our restaurant on the 25th of April.’ They added: ‘The journey has been incredible for us, we want you all to know that it has been our greatest pleasure to be able to look after you. We have felt the love and support at every turn. Our hope is we went some way to showing you what heights the humble vegetable truly can reach.’ In 2022 Turnips released a book, Turnips' Edible Almanac: The Week-by-week Guide to Cooking with Seasonal Ingredients, which featured recipes by Tomas Lidakevicius. So if you still want the taste of Turnips, it might be time to pick yourself up a c

The cost-of-living crisis clearly didn’t hit everyone in quite the same way, It seems as if regulars at the Revery Bar in Mayfair have still got more than a few pennies to rub together, as the bar has just launched a cocktail that costs a whopping £220.  Called Maven of Mayfair, you can now order the extremely expensive drink at the Park Lane establishment. It comes in a crystal flute (I mean, you would hope so too), and is made up of Clase Azul tequila, Grand Marnier, Lillet Rose and Italicus bergamot liqueur. So far, so standardly posh, but it’s the edition of Dom Perignon Rose and a sprinkle of edible gold which bumps this booze up to the same price as 220 corner-shop £1 tinnies, 88.8 mini bottles of Jamshed wine, or four and a half full-size bottles of Veuve Clicquot. Oof.  The Revery Bar can be found on the ground floor of the London Hilton on Park Lane and opened at the end of last year. Far be it from us to suggest that this very, very expensive drink is a PR stunt to draw more eyes to the new-ish opening, but, well, it makes you think, doesn’t it? The rest of the signature drinks menu isn’t quite as wallet-draining, with The Regent cocktail coming in at £16, and the Rockstar Rocks at £18, while house martinis are priced at £17 – which is pretty standard for the area, and not much more than one might set you back over in Soho. In fact, it’s a whole lot cheaper than the nearby Connaught Bar, where the classic martini is £28 and a Silver Jubilee Rob Roy – created with Ma

A new survey has proved what we knew already; the most popular food markets in the UK are (mostly) all in London! The winner, by a rather long way, was Borough Market, the jewel in London's foodie crown, with Broadway Market in east London and Seven Dials Market – a food court in Covent Garden – taking second and third spots. The info comes from business banking company Capital on Tap, who have done some research into 50 food markets across the UK and looked at the cold, hard data, from Google search volume to the amount of TikTok and Instagram posts about each location to find out which markets people were most interested in.  Boxpark Shoreditch, Brixton Village Market and Maltby Street Market in Southwark also made the Top 10. Borough Market's ranking was boosted by the likes of Humble Crumble, a pudding stall in the historic food market which has a massive 21.5 million TikTok views. With a massive 301,000 monthly Google searches, it easily topped the Google search rankings, with Broadway Market – the second in the list – scoring 33,100 views a month. Broadway Market's most viral stall is currently Emerald Eats, an Irish street food stand that serves up chicken fillet rolls and spice bags (salt and pepper chicken and chips with peppers, onions and curry sauce) and has 15.4 million TikTok views. Seven Dials Market got slightly more Google searches, with 60,500 keen eaters checking it out online every month, but lagged behind Broadway Market when it came to Instagram and Tik

Mystic Burek is one of our favourite places to eat in London. We love their Macedonian filo pies so much that we added the cosy cafe to our 2024 list of the Best Restaurants in London, and we’re very, very excited by the fact that chef and founder Spasia Dinkovski has written a book celebrating the brilliant Balkan food she serves there. ‘Doma’ is out now, and features trad-inspired recipes for everything from pickles and salads to the oozy pastries she serves at her sweet spot in south London. Here are the local Sydenham restaurants, caffs, pubs and bars Spasia rates for food, drink and an all-round excellent time in SE26. 1. Mr Kebabish Spasia: ‘A Pakistani-run kebab shop on Sydenham high street with one of the best names I’ve ever seen. As you walk past, the piles of baby chickens grilling in the window catches your eye, lamb and chicken doner meat glittering and spinning, fryers full of chips and litres of lassi in the fridge. Don’t come here for the kebabs, go for the Lamb Nihari (lamb shoulder curry) or Tandoori Chops Masala, Punjabi Salad, with extra mint sauce for everything. You can order to take-away or sit in one of their little leather booths.’ Must-order dish: ‘Chapli kebab.’ 107 Sydenham Rd, SE26 5EZ View this post on Instagram A post shared by 161 Food+Drink (@161kirk) 2. 161 Food + Drink ‘Nestled in a low-key building, this a perfect spot for those that love to bathe in natural wines but don’t like to take it too seriously. Ben is in

After 18 years serving food very high up in Mayfair, Galvin at Windows – the restaurant at top of the Hilton on Park Lane – will close at the end of this month. The restaurant opened on the 28th floor of the hotel in 2006, and was part of the Galvin brothers’ mini chain of restaurants, which also includes Galvin at La Chapelle and Bistrot & Bar, both in Spitalfields. It had a Michelin star for a bit, winning the title in 2010 and losing it in 2019, but it was best known for serious views across Hyde Park and the fact that First Dates’ ever-charming Fred Sirieix was general manager for 14 years.  Galvin at Windows announced the April 25 closure on Instagram, saying it was closing due to the multi-million-pound renovation of the Hilton. Chris and Jeff Galvin added: ‘We've cherished every moment of our highly successful 18 years on Park Lane from being awarded our Michelin Star to the ongoing success of both the restaurant and our award-winning team. The memories we've created will remain close to our hearts forever.’ It’s the latest in number of high profile London restaurant closures, following Monica Galetti’s Mere, which also shut this month, as well as Michel Roux Jr’s Le Gavroche, and Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social, which will be closing this summer, while Marcus Wareing’s restaurant at The Berkeley, Marcus, closed at the end of 2023.  The best restaurants in Mayfair right now Somerset House is getting a new vegan restaurant

Plant-first lovers of the arts, do we have some big news for you. As of next month, there’s going to be a brand new dining destination at top cultural destination Somerset House – and it’s vegan. Café Petiole is the project of chef Rishim Sachdeva, who runs the posh (mostly) vegan Tendril over in Mayfair, and has cooked everywhere from Chiltern Firehouse to The Fat Duck.  The all-day space will launch in May and have 27-covers. You’ll be able to dine-in or take-out dishes such as toasted banana bread with agave, baked courgette, feta & honey swirls, blue corn tostadas with smoked artichoke & lime puree and mushroom focaccia with daikon pickle.  Like Tendril, Petiole is billed as ‘mostly’ vegan, so expect a couple of non-vegan ingredients to sneak into the menu – like in the fennel, roasted orange, goat cheese & dill salad – but these will be avidly signposted and easily avoidable for those who take their plant-based lifestyle seriously. All drinks will be vegan, and include kombucha and low-intervention European wines. You'll be able to find Café Petiole off the Edmond J Safra Fountain Court at Somerset House, right by WatchHouse coffee and the long-standing Spring restaurant. Speaking about the new space, Rishim Sachdeva has said: ‘We hope our Tendril regulars, and new customers alike, will enjoy our more casual menu at Café Petiole, which takes the same plant-first approach and ethos of our restaurant menu, but offers a host of new dishes and baked goods to eat in or take o

It’s been a busy few months for sommelier Honey Spencer, who recently opened the acclaimed Sune in Hackney (which just so happens to feature in our brand new Top 50 Restaurants in London 2024 list). On top of running one of the hottest spots in town, she’s also just released her first book: ‘Natural Wine, No Drama: An Unpretentious Guide’. An informed look at the complex world of natty wine, it explains the knotty differences between organic, biodynamic and natural winemaking, as well as offering pairing suggestions and nuggets of impressive info that you can casually pass off as your own while enjoying a bottle of Pet Nat with pals. Honey tells Time Out about her favourite London wine bars and restaurants, and gives us the perfect snack-and-plonk pairing suggestion for each.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Naughty piglets (@naughtypiglets) Naughty Piglets, Brixton Honey: ‘It’s been a hot minute since Naughty Piglets opened their inaugural wine bar in an old jerk chicken shop in Brixton. But Lyon-born owner Margaux Aubry never stands still and, as a result, neither does Naughty Piglets. Now in its new era of quarterly rotating chefs who fall over themselves to cook on the venue’s famous grill, this bistro feels more alive and current than ever. Add one of the finest natural wine lists stacked with gems Margaux has been cellaring since the mid 2010s, and you have one of the best places to indulge in the holy trinity of wine, food and ser

Oh no, not another one. Yet another London restaurant is shutting up shop; this time it’s one run by a pretty famous name, Masterchef star Monica Galetti. Mere in Fitzrovia opened in 2017, but will be serving its last roasted seabass on April 16. Announcing the news on Instagram, Galetti thanked her team and patrons of the restaurant, which she named after her mother and served French dishes with a South Pacific influence.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Monica Galetti (@galettigram) ‘It is with heavy hearts that we announce the closure of Mere restaurant – but we feel this is the right time after 7yrs!,’ she wrote. Galetti ran Mere with her husband David, who was formerly sommelier at Le Gavroche – which also recently closed. Galetti also worked at Michel Roux’s iconic French restaurant until 2015. The Samoan-born New Zealand chef moved to London in 1999 and was Le Gavroche’s first ever female senior sous chef, finding telly fame when she joined the judges on MasterChef: The Professionals in 2009.  Mere and Le Gavroche aren’t the only celeb chef spots to call last orders lately. Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social will also be closing this summer, while Marcus Wareing's restaurant at The Berkeley, Marcus, closed at the end of 2023.  Read our feature celebrating London’s classic restaurants. And check out our brand new list of London's best restaurants for 2024. Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out London newsletter for

London, you’ll be happy to hear, is finally properly eating out again. Last year a whopping 253 new restaurants opened in the capital, the most since 2019, after which we saw the brutal gutting of hospitality in the wake of the pandemic. Over the past four years hundreds of long-standing London favourites, from iconic greasy spoons such as The Shepherdess Cafe in Hoxton to pioneering vegetarian restaurant Vanilla Black, have closed. So how nice it is that a host of new restaurants are giving it a go, letting loose a wave of young chefs on our palettes, all of whom keen to find out if they have what it takes to be a culinary success in the dicy, treacherous world of London food. These are the places that have qualities that outlive immersive disco toilets A prime example from the new school is Abby Lee and her magnificent Mambow, which has just topped our brand new 2024 list of the Best Restaurants in London despite only opening in Clapton at the end of last year. But lest we also forget the fabulous old timers, the storied London restaurants that, were they made of flesh and blood instead of chrome and ceramics, would be collecting their free bus passes. These are the places that have qualities that outlive immersive disco toilets. Places whose menus offer something more significant than teetering, reel-friendly burgers that look great on camera but taste of sod all. Was August Escoffier big on the ‘gram? Did MFK Fisher have serious social media clout? How often did Keith Fl

Here at Time Out we are thrilled to announce our brand-new best restaurants in London list for 2024. After 12 months of hard eating and deliberate degustation, we’ve whittled down our 50 absolute favourite restos from across the capital, featuring old school classics, modern marvels, Michelin star spots and neighbourhood treasures. There’s also a brand new number one topping the list – a restaurant that’s only been open for a matter of months, but has already blown us away with its heroic flavours; Clapton’s marvellous Mambow. The modern Malaysian restaurant is the project of chef/founder Abby Lee, who was cooking under the Mambow name at a food hall in Peckham before launching the first-ever bricks and mortar Mambow site in November 2023. The rest of top 50 takes you on a culinary tour of the capital, through centuries, boroughs and budgets, with the likes of Sydenham’s Macedonian cafe Mystic Burek, Victorian icon Quality Chop House, 1980s time warp Oslo Court and the original Smithfield branch of St John – which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary – all featuring. The brand-new top 10 is below – but you can read the top 50 in full here.  Mambow, Clapton Akoko, Fitzrovia Bouchon Racine, Farringdon Speedboat Bar, Chinatown Etles, Walthamstow St John, Clerkenwell Dim Sum Duck, King’s Cross Restaurant St Barts, Smithfield  Rochelle Canteen, Shoreditch Brasserie Zedel, Piccadilly  Eat up! Want more food?! Here are all the best new restaurant openings in London this Apri

April is a bumper month for brand new London restaurants and bars, with this lovely lot poking their heads above the parapet of a long, dull winter in order to serve you with everything from sausages to sushi. Not to mention there’s a brand new Yard Sale Pizza popping up in Tufnell Park as well as Lina Stores’ first ever west London restaurant, which comes to South Ken on April 19, and a new outpost of Mexican taco spot El Pastor at Battersea Power Station, opening April 26, as well as a Portobello road branch of Poppie's chippie Keen eyes might have seen the recent under-the-radar opening of Tower Hill’s Dream Xi’an too, the latest from Guirong Wei, chef and founder of biang biang noodle emporium Master Wei.  Oma 1. Fish and flesh; Greek style  Oma, Borough The pedigree on this one is strong. Oma comes from David Carter – the founder of Smokestak and co-founder of Manteca – and is inspired by Greek coastal flavours, with chefs from Kiln and Sabor behind the menu. There’ll be a crudo bar (‘Oma’ means ‘raw’ in Greek) and live fire cookery, and you can expect dishes such as hung sheep’s yoghurt with a salt cod XO sauce, hummus masabacha with tahini and green zhoug or squid skewers with garlic and za’tar. The raw bar could have anything from gilthead bream with jalapeño aguachile and datterini tomato, to yellowfin tuna with clementine and aged soy. Below Oma you’ll find the equally new Agora, a walk-ins only joint focussing on full-animal cookery with a nod to the food of Athe

Twenty restaurants across the UK and Ireland have just been awarded the culinary crown that is a Bib Gourmand nod in the Michelin Guide for Great Britain & Ireland 2024.  Two of them are in fair London town, with Crouch End’s Les 2 Garcons and Notting Hill’s Empire Empire joining the elite restaurants recommended by the gastronomic tastemakers. A Bib Gourmand isn’t quite a Michelin star, but it’s pretty damn close, offering a more value-led meal than budget-busting main Michelin star menus. It's “our best value for money restaurants offering a three-course meal at a reasonable price”, say Michelin. Those two new restos join 35 other London restaurants with the honour, including Trullo and Farang in Highbury, Kudu in Peckham, Primeur in Newington Green, Brasserie Zedel and Kiln in Soho, Brutto in Clerkenwell, Padella in London Bridge and Plaza Khao Gaeng in Arcade Food Hall by Tottenham Court Road.  Empire Empire only opened last year and is the latest project from the team behind the Gunpowder restaurant group. ‘Empire Empire focuses on the full throttle cuisine of the northwestern Punjab region, with biryanis, kebabs and tikka given top billing,’ we wrote in our review of the west London restaurant. Les 2 Garcons meanwhile is a French restaurant in north London run by Robert Reid and Jean-Christophe Slowik. Slowik previously ran L’Absinthe in Primrose Hill and Reid is the former head chef of Marco Pierre White’s Oak Room and has cooked at Home House in Mayfair and Balthazar