Leonie Cooper

March 2026: Our latest update includes everything from an early morning Michelin-starred tasting menu to udon noodle bowls, South Indian platters and Hong Kong-style toasted buns. Of course, it wouldn't be a list of the best breakfasts in London without an appearance from Dishoom and their iconic-for-a-reason bacon naan, so that's here too, as is old school East End hangout E Pellicci - one of the best classic caffs in London.  The best breakfasts in London at a glance: 🌯 Best for a burrito: Bad Manners, Shoreditch 😎 Best for celeb-spotting: The Wolseley, Mayfair 🥓 Best for a fry-up: E Pellicci, Bethnal Green 🍛 Best for a South Indian feast: The Tamil Prince, Islington 🍞 Best for Hong Kong French toast: Hoko Cafe, Brick Lane 🍱 Best for Japanese brekkie: Ikoi, Kings Cross Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and luckily for London, the city caters to every possible morning whim. These days, London isn’t just home to the fry-up, but the ubiquitous smashed avocado on toast, bowls of shakshuka and many more besides. In fact, London genuinely might be the best place to eat breakfast in the world. Whether you’re the kind of person who favours a posh restaurant over a greasy spoon, or who champions a caff over a swanky hotel, we’ve rounded up the ultimate list.  RECOMMENDED: Breakfast’s a little too early for you? Try one of London’s best brunches instead. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial gu

April 2026: Finally, it's almost time to eat outdoors and on rooftops again. The latest update to this list features not one, but two Forza Wines - there's the Peckham original, but also the sensational spot at the top of the National Theatre. We've also included seafood spot Seabird in Southwark, Shoreditch favourite the Culpeper with its woodland rooftop terrace, and a need-to-know Camberwell kebab spot.  Want views with your food? Then eat at altitude. London’s best rooftop restaurants offer the elevation you need to gaze upon our actually quite beautiful city, and seriously good menus to enjoy while you do. Our list includes great gastropubs, top floor hotel terraces, a thriving herb garden and some city secrets. Although dining in the clouds is best in the summer – shout out to this country's unpredictable 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. Or if stratospheric spots make you feel all funny, try something closer to the ground and enjoy 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.

The smog and stress of London can really take its toll on your skin. That’s why there’s nothing better than a regular facial (or a one-off treat) to give you that much-needed top-up, leaving you feeling glowing, fresh-faced and dewy.  Just thinking about what we put our skin through is enough to give you frown lines. That’s thanks to the combined efforts of pollution and air-conditioned offices, as well as the added bonuses of harsh weather, booze, sun exposure, dehydration and – our least favourite – the inevitable passing of time. Happily, there are loads of great spas, treatment rooms and estheticians in London who can give your face a break and a much-needed zhuzh. Whether you’re after a relaxing, soothing facial massage, some instant radiance, a total skincare overhaul or something a little more intense such as microneedling or laser treatment, read our pick of facials in London.  RECOMMENDED: The best spas in London. 

April 2026: There's a brand new Number 1, with Holy Carrot's Spitalfields opening taking the top spot thanks to some seriously creative vegetarian cookery. Other fresh additions include Guirong Wei’s latest joint The Wei in Fulham, Cafe Kowloon in London Fields, the new Forza Wine and the super fun Osteria Vibrato (both in Soho), numbing Chongqing spice at Jiāonest in Hoxton, perfect produce at Dockley Road Kitchen in Bermondsey, perfect pasta at Burro in Covent Garden, Georgian classics at DakaDaka in Mayfair, veggie-friendly Thai at Kruk in Peckham and Mexican seafood at Cometa in Fitzrovia. Hungry yet? Every week, a frankly silly amount of brilliant new restaurants, cafés and street food joints arrive in London. Which makes whittling down a shortlist of the best newbies a serious challenge. But here it is. The 20 very best new restaurants in the capital, ranked in order of greatness and deliciousness. All of them have opened over the past 12 months and been visited by our hungry critics. So go forth and take inspo from this list, which is updated regularly. Check in often to find out what we really rate on the London restaurant scene. And look here for all the info about the best new openings in April 2026. London's best new restaurants at a glance: 🍝 Central: Osteria Vibrato, Soho 🍠 North: Ling Ling’s, Islington 🇹🇭 South: Kruk, Peckham 🍝 East: Holy Carrot, Spitalfields 🥗 West: The Wei, Fulham Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about

Covent Garden is so rammed with restaurants that decision fatigue can easily threaten the quality of your dinner. Weave through the tourists and theatregoing crowds and you'll discover that this area hosts many of the best restaurants in London, as well as the French-styled Story Cellar, The Portrait by Richard Corrigan and mega trattoria Burro, as well as old faves The Savoy Grill and J Sheekey. We’ve compiled a list of the best in the area, from cutting-edge eateries and classy counter joints to party-ready and casual hangouts, with pre-theatre favourites and cheap eats among them. Think of it as your Covent Garden bucket list. The best restaurants in Covent Garden at a glance: 🍸 Best for old school glamour: J Sheekey 🥦 Best for modern British cookery: Town 🥘 Best for Spanish tapas: Barrafina, Drury Lane and Adelaide Street 🍝 Best for perfect pasta: Bancone ⌛ Best for a fast feed: Adoh! RECOMMENDED: The 50 best restaurants in Soho. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Ever since Padella opened in Borough Market, and queues started to snake outside for its simple, affordable pasta small plates, London has become a city of pasta-fiends, lusting after linguine and Instagramming anelli. More and more hip Italian restaurants have opened across the capital serving up stylish, saucy, cheesy and downright-delicious strands of dough and we're also stocking up on perfect fresh pasta from delis like Lina Stores and diving into plates of trad pasta at Ciao Bella in Bloomsbury, as well as bottomless lasagna at Senza Fondo. Here are the finest pasta places in town.  RECOMMENDED: London's best Italian restaurants. 

April 2026: Our latest update includes tasty new openings such as Tiella in Bethnal Green and Casa Felicia in Queen's Park, as well as much-loved neighbourhood joints like Peckham's Artusi and legendary Ciao Bella in Bloomsbury. Try also the well-worth-seeking-out Polentina in Bow and walk-ins only Canteen in Notting Hill. If you've got the cash to spare, there are super plush spots such as Luca and Murano, which both have Michelin stars. If you're on budget, then one-stop pasta shop Padella is a good shout, and if you're really, really skint, then a simple coffee and cannoli at Bar Italia is the move. Wherever you end up, London’s Italian dining scene is irreproachable.  London’s best Italian restaurants at a glance:  🇮🇹 Best for an old school vibe: Ciao Bella, Bloomsbury 💅 Best for the fashion crowd: Dalla, Hackney 🍕 Best for pub pizza: Elephant, Clapton 🍝 Best for pasta: Artusi, Peckham 🍷 Best for date night: Brutto, Farringdon Pasta and pizza are way more than just fast-food comfort carbs at these exceptional London restaurants and trattorias, which excel in properly good and authentic Italian cuisine. The basics – a creamy carbonara, say, or a simple margherita – are all present and correct, but the capital’s repertoire extends to stylish antipasti, sourdough pizzas, richly sauced pasta and beyond. You can also find finely crafted specialities drawn from the traditional trattorias of the rustic south and fashion-conscious north of the country at London’s best Ita

And we’re off. In most years, it takes a few months to assemble a list of the best movies of the year so far where the bar for quality isn’t lowered into the Earth’s core. The first quarter of the release calendar is typically where studios toss their tax writeoffs, but to this point, 2026 has outstripped expectations. In how many other years have we gotten a killer horror sequel like 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, a sharp, gross Sam Raimi return-to-form, a Gus Van Sant thriller and one of the best actor-to-director transitions in recent memory, all before April? And that’s to mention some of the smaller gems that have already popped up. As usual, this post will be updated throughout the year as highlights arrive – and there is bound to be a lot of them, between Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and Toy Story 5 all arriving in the first half of 2026 alone. As you’ll see below, though, we’re already off to a good start. May we say that movies are… so back? 📺 The best TV and streaming shows of 2026 (so far)📕 15 book-to-movie adaptations to get excited about in 2026🔥 The 40 best movies of 2025

London is an expensive city. We know it. You know it. But there are some hacks to make this incredible place a little less hard on your wallet. These tried-and-tested pubs (many of which feature on our list of the 50 best pubs in London) offer somewhat cheaper pints than many boozers in the city. Sadly, the £8 pint is real, but there are some places on this list where you can get one for less than a fiver. Incredible scenes. RECOMMENDED: These are the best pubs in Soho. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Sandwiched between the City of London and Shoreditch, Liverpool Street – and its main thoroughfare, Bishopsgate – is packed with high-end dining spots. Lots of them have breathtaking views due to being halfway up skyscrapers such as the Heron Tower, while you’ll find more casual eateries if you head over to Spitalfields and the iconic St John Bread and Wine. Stroll down in the general direction of Monument and you find The Wolseley City. Whether you’re splashing your bonus or just killing time before your a train at Liverpool Street station, here’s a solid selection of the area’s incredible eateries. The latest inclusions to this list are the really rather spectacular Japanese-Italian fusion spot Osteria Angelina and vegetarian hot-spot Holy Carrot. RECOMMENDED: The 50 best restaurants in London.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Updated April 2026: We’ve refreshed our list of 50 best restaurants in London following the latest Michelin Star announcements as well as our visits to a bunch of great new openings. Recent additions include vegetarian wonder Holy Carrot in Spitalfields, the cosy Tiella in Bethnal Green, cool customer Martino's in Chelsea, super affordable Lebanese food at Finsbury Park fave Palmyra's Kitchen, and glammy Italian Osteria Vibrato in Soho. We've also added central London's Ikoyi back into the Top 50 after a revisit found the double Michelin starred spot as awesome as ever.  Best Restaurants in London: Our Critic’s Picks: 🍸 Best Michelin-star restaurant: Cycene, Shoreditch - intimate fine dining with foraged finds and superb seasonal ingredients. 🔥 Best Thai restaurant: Singburi, Shoreditch - cult favourite known for fiery dishes. 🥩 Best Middle Eastern restaurant: Berenjak, Soho - buzzy Persian grillhouse with counter seating and charcoal-smoked kebabs. 🍜 Best affordable restaurant: Lanzhou Lamian Noodle Bar, Covent Garden - late-night noodles at a great price. 🥧 Best British restaurant: St John, Clerkenwell - trad British dishes in a former smokehouse. 🍝 Best Italian restaurant: Tiella, Bethnal Green - a new school trattoria with old school energy. 🍻 Best gastropub: Rake at The Compton Arms, Islington - great pub food in lowkey surroundings. London doesn’t stand still and neither do we. We’re constantly adding new restaurants to the list and taking away ones that no lo

April 2026: There's a brand new Number 1 on this tasty list of plant and dairy-based goodness, with the new branch of Holy Carrot in Spitalfields easily scooping the top spot. It’s a treat to be veggie in London, and there are plenty of fantastic vegetarian restaurants, cafés and street-food stalls that cater to those who want to feast without the flesh, but still scoff butter, cheese and eggs. Read on and you'll find down-to-earth veggie cafés, meat-free curry houses, healthy restaurants and swish spots that’ll convince even hardened carnivores to give peas a chance. We've even included a few places that aren't fully veggie, but offer a great vegetarian menu, like Dalston BBQ spot Acme Fire Cult, Slowburn in Walthamstow, and global comfort food bistro Jikoni in Marylebone, which has just opened a cafe version inside the brand new V&A East in Stratford. RECOMMENDED: Go fully plant-based with the best vegan restaurants in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

We honestly can’t think of a better location for a London hotel than the site of the newly-opened Zetter Bloomsbury. One of the city’s chicest mini-chains has expanded its small roster of boutique pads in the most cutesy and village-like areas of central London (they have hotels in both Marylebone and Clerkenwell) to dreamy Bloomsbury. Right next door to the British Museum, and with Russell Square moments away, this surprisingly large hotel boasts 68 rooms spread across six Georgian townhouses on the grand, but certainly not intimidating, Montague Street. Imagine yourself a fully fledged member of the area’s historic literary set as you stroll to the far more hectic likes of Soho and Covent Garden, then return to the comparative solace of Bloomsbury.  What are the rooms like at The Zetter Bloomsbury? Rooms range from cosy, through superior and deluxe, and there are eight suites. We stay in a junior suite on the first floor, which has super high ceilings, a freestanding bath, three curved bay windows which look out onto the garden and the back of the British Museum, and a grand, four poster bed that’s certainly big enough for any Bloomsbury Group-inspired romantic assignations. The room’s modern design pays tribute to those Arts and Crafts-adjacent creatives of the early 20th century, but doesn’t make you feel like you’re tucked away in an elderly relative’s spare room. Fabric wallpaper is in a comforting shade of rust, there are global nick-nacks inspired by the British Museu

Looking for the most mum-friendly restaurant in central London? Polished Italian mega-trattoria Burro is the answer to your panicked family-dinner prayers. We aren’t shy when it comes to singing the praises of perfect little Highbury restaurant and perennial Time Out favourite Trullo, and Burro is its big ticket, ultra-accessible off-shoot. Taking the original Trullo concept (handmade pasta, charming service, salty snacky bits, actual tablecloths), Belfast-born founder Conor Gadd has super-scaled it for the West End masses with a 100-cover restaurant that comes on like a culinary Goldilocks. It’s not too flashy but not too basic, not too pricey but not too cheap, not too experimental but not too cautious. Burro is just right. The most mum-friendly restaurant in central London Reminiscent of a nice hotel lobby, the vast room is thick with the sweet smell of Parmesan. It’s not quite as charming and intimate as Trullo, but what is? There are high ceilings, a huge oil painting of Speedo-sporting Italian bathers, sleek mid-century chairs sourced from a convent (very chic), and velvet banquettes in a geometric pattern not dissimilar to tube moquette. If the Orient Express mated with a Victoria line train, Burro would be the result.  The Trullo link isn’t the only reason we expect great things. In a moment of noble transparency, Burro is named after the Italian word for butter. The true reason restaurant food tastes so good is because of chefs’ extremely liberal use of this element

Less a ‘listening bar’ and more of a ‘dancing restaurant’, the disco diva dining hall that is London Fields’ Bambi only opened a couple of years back, but such is the popularity of its eats-plus-beats concept, they’ve knocked into the abandoned tattoo parlour next door and doubled the space’s capacity.  A mighty gochujang squash is served like a shamaninc offering With a mirror ball, new mezzanine, bold artworks from in-demand illustrator Alec Doherty and absolutely roaring smoking area, Bambi 2:0 feels more like a club than ever before, with tables pushed aside at 11pm to create a dancefloor as the place morphs into Netil House’s approxmiation of Paradise Garage. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the food must have suffered in the face of such dedication to the sesh. How wrong you would be.  Head chef Jamie Thorneycroft honed his flair for fire and ferments over at Lagom, the BBQ kitchen once in residence at Hackney Church Brew Co that’s now dishing out burgers at Dalston Lane’s Three Compasses. His menu is potent stuff, with flavours more than capable of making themselves heard over nightly vinyl-only DJs.  Fluffy sourdough comes from nearby bakery Forno (an off-shoot of beloved local restaurant, Ombra), and is truly divine when dipped into gossamer-light whipped ricotta, swirled with lashings of hot honey (I’m not bored of hot honey yet, and you shouldn’t be either). After something a little more butch? Try the velvety butterbean hummus studded with crispy fava beans. 

Soho feels hectic as of late. The streets are crammed, and pubs pour out mercilessly onto already cluttered pavements. Of course, it’s lovely to see central London thriving, but such overstimulation can lead to the urge to stay at home, rather than tackle the human gauntlet that is Old Compton Street on a Thursday night.  The menu brims with fresh and flirty ceviches But instead of bedrotting, have you ever thought of trying… Fitzrovia? Essentially Soho without the faff, there are many excellent things that might draw you to this comparatively peaceful neighbourhood on the calmer side of Oxford Street. Cometa is the latest. If it looks familiar, that’s because it is. Inside the former wine bar space at Carousel, this Mexican-inspired seafood restaurant is about the lighter, less carb-conscious side of Latinx cuisine, with nary a taco in sight. This is Tulum for the Mounjaro masses, and the menu brims with fresh and flirty ceviches, tart fish crudos, and other things you might want to eat by a breezy beach while considering skipping your flight home in favour of reading tarot at a surf shack.  First, come oysters. Large and fleshy, they’re served with a funky, fermented petróleo that hums with a potent bloody mary kick, as well as a suspicious brown pipette that contains a gentle hot sauce. They are a signpost for a meal that’s all about freshness underlayed with a creeping confidence. The prawn, burnt mandarin and ginger ceviche is served far soupier than ceviches normally a

Open since 1967, Scotti’s is legendary in London’s Italian caff game. There isn’t a menu, but there are favourites; the chicken escalope ciabatta sandwich with the works (tomato, lettuce, and mayo) being the main draw at lunchtime, swiftly followed by the cappelletti pasta in brodo (known as the soup), as well as sausage and bacon rolls for breakfast. There’s usually a host of other sandwiches (roast chicken, tuna, beef, cotoletta veal chop) too, but you basically ask for anything you feel like having and then the friendly guys who run the place will see what they can do. A quite unhinged system, but it works a treat.  Family-run, Scotti’s is in what was once the Italian heartland of London, and there remain a few neighbouring spots that share their hertiage; Terroni’s of Clerkenwell (which dates back to 1878) and Casa Italiana social club, which opened in 1960. The deeply old-school decor is a delight; Formica tables, mosaic tiles, a vintage Coca-Cola fridge, pot plants, and a glass cabinet declaring Hot Snacks on offer, as well as various photos of Mother Teresa. Sitting inside is a joy in itself, but on a sunny day the plastic tables outside overlooking Clerkenwell Green and in front of the shop’s Wes Anderson-worthy primrose yellow frontage are, unsuprisingly, in high demand.  Time Out tip Scotti’s is only open Tuesdays to Fridays (not on Mondays or weekends), from 7am-3pm.

Primeur has long been a fixture of this residential swathe of north-east London, opening well over a decade ago at the vanguard of the small-plates trend. Tucked into what was once a double-fronted 1930s commercial garage on the wide, tree-lined boulevard of Petherton Road (surely Canonbury’s answer to the Champs-Élysées), Primeur has built up some serious independent restaurant clout. Not just a grand dame of the natty wine and seasonal snack scene, Primeur went on to birth chic seafood spot Western’s Laundry and the many branches of Jolene, which is now less of a bakery and more of a sentient ‘North London pastry girlie in an alice band’ meme.  Toulouse sausage comes on top of mash smoother than a Frank Sinatra chorus It’s easy to ignore places you know are good in the search of somewhere newer, someplace different. But a recent revisit proved Primeur to be as exceptional as it ever was – and now that the hype has died down and left the place to get on with being a charming neighbourhood bistro  – maybe even better. It looks the same as it did when it first opened, aside from a recent addition of sturdy zinc tops on the tables, which sweetly reflect the glow from candles, helping to bathe the room in a toasty, orange light. Romantic? Very. Comely fresh flowers spill out of painted jugs, and couples (it only seems to be couples) are placed kitty-corner around a large square table, or tucked against a counter that lines the wall.  Primeur has proudly stayed committed to the

Arriving at the glassy double front doors of Canteen, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’ve been artfully transported to the streets of Brooklyn. From the bold corner location to the well-put-together crowd of beautiful people, there’s something about this sleek pasta-plus bar that seems far more New York than Notting Hill. The food too, screams Williamsburg Girls-era date night (much more so than New Jersey Sopranos red sauce Italian), with a sassy ‘Name of Chef’ printed at the top of the menu, rather than, y’know, the actual name of the chefs (former River Cafe cooks Jessica Filbey and Harry Hills). This in-joke is the sort of acceptable gatekeeping that’s also present in Canteen’s no-booking policy, which often results in queues around the building. Which is all to say that a visit to Canteen seems like a holiday, or at the very least, a spicy city break. God-tier secondi of chicken is cooked in lemon, milk and sage This deft vibes curation should come as no surprise when you discover Canteen is run by the same team as the Cotswoldian fever dream that is the Fat Badger (which you’ll find upstairs in the same building), as well as glammy gastros The Pelican, The Hero in Maida Vale, The Bull in Charlbury, and the newly opened Hart in Marylebone. While they share a similar putty-palate and monied cottage-core aesthetic, Canteen does things differently. Here, the interior is a friendly jumble of high tables, booths and counter seating, with two roaring open pizza ovens which

While culture vultures flock to the Southbank for its arty attractions, fans of world food circle around its Food Market beside the Royal Festival Hall seeking their weekly fix of street nosh, booze, coffee and artisan produce. Current traders include Kanji for katsu and teriyaki chicken, My Kids are Hungry for Vietnamese banh mi and rice bowls, Pabellon for Venezuelan arepas, Taco Bros for Mexican street food and Honestfolk cocktail bar. The market is normally open at the weekends (Friday, noon-8pm; Saturday, 11am-8pm; Sunday, noon-6pm), and it also operates on bank holiday Mondays.

What’s the vibe? Let’s be honest; some gastropubs can be a little bit wanky. The Gunton Arms is not one of those pubs. It might be home to the finest collection of modern art in a 100-mile radius and have one of the UK’s best chefs (Stuart Tattersall, the ex-head chef with Mark Hix) cooking up local meat and fish on an open fire in the medieval banqueting hall-adjacent dining room underneath a supersized set of elk antlers, but the pub remains uniquely down to earth.  Art dealer Ivor Braka opened The Gunton Arms in 2011, bringing hearty cooking to a former country house hotel near the north Norfolk coast. Rustic and rugged, but romantic too, there are 16 bedrooms for the DFLs (down from Londoners) to crawl into after an epic feed, but there’s also a traditional pub space complete with pool table, dart board and thirsty locals that make it feel like a boozer for everyone, not just those with a Tate membership who’ve travelled via vintage Land Rover. There’s a roaring fireplace and cosy armchairs as soon as you enter, and welcoming staff serve reasonably priced pints for you to sink in various spaces across the maze-like pub, including a perfect William Morris-wallpapered nook. World-beating works by Damien Hirst, Lucian Freud, Paula Rego and Frank Auerbach lay in casual wait behind various corners, and though the imposing Elk Room is the main dining space, there’s also a side room dedicated to the work of Tracey Emin. Awesome stuff.  What should I order? Situated in a sprawlin

Baghdad-born and London-raised writer and chef Suzie Bakos is throwing a Middle Eastern supper party to celebrate Easter at Mother in Shoreditch. Expect a stacked, family-style sharing menu that begins with crisps and hot sauce before some kubbah haleb (beef or mushroom fried dumplings), labneh with fennel, apple, hot honey, nuts, herbs and chilli oil, then the main event of roast lamb with saffron rice, toasted pine nuts and sultanas, served alongside a fattoush salad, with kunafe to finish. DJs from the region will be playing SWANA sounds throughout the night.

Forgive us for being so superficial, but Cafe Kowloon is an extremely good-looking restaurant. You’ll find such a vision of beauty by walking through the empty Wonton Charlie’s (a lunchtime noodle bar next door to London Fields station) and into the two roomy railway arches behind it. The first boasts a leggy stainless steel counter facing an open kitchen which is regularly lit up by flaming woks, and the second comes with curvy tan booths and towering neon-lit bar that resembles a Blade Runner cityscape. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure situation, and we opt for the more intimate-feeling room two, though those cosy padded alcoves work for both romantic dates and groups of rowdy mates.  Cafe Kowloon feels more like a club than a restaurant Without a single window (apart from in the Wong Kar-wai worthy scarlet red bathroom), Cafe Kowloon feels more like a club than a restaurant. Here, the spirit of recently closed Elephant & Castle sweatbox Corsica Studios lives on, not just in those curved railway ceilings, but in the fact that a DJ has casually propped up a mixer at a corner table and seems to be deep into his own one man Boiler Room session.  Such interior comeliness would mean nothing if the food wasn’t equally beguiling, and happily, it is. In the kitchen is acclaimed chef Budgie Montoya, who kicks out Cantonese classics with aplomb, starting with a soupy bowl of beef tendons and a platter of soft and squishy yun cheong sausage, which is fragrant with five spice and boas

Is Osteria Vibratio flirting with me? There’s the dreamy candlelight, the fish bowl glasses of red wine, and the distinct feeling of amore in the air. And that’s all before our white-jacketed waiter stylishly scrapes pangrattato crumbs from the starched tablecloth then begins bashing out a little light jazz on an upright piano. Frankly, I feel a little flushed.  Like Noble Rot with a bawdier sense of humour, Osteria Vibrato might just be your new favourite restaurant. Though this riotous Italian has only been open for a few weeks, I already feel like I’ve been here a million times, thanks to an old-school appeal that matches the studied vintage buzz of Trisha’s across the road and Bar Italia a few streets over.  Osteria Vibrato might just be your new favourite restaurant This pre-Lizzy Line energy is surely down to the restaurant’s driving force, Charlie Mellor, who, a decade ago, opened Hackney Road’s Laughing Heart, a small plates wine bar named after a rousing Charles Bukowski poem, with a 2am licence and a deeply devious energy. Of course, Hackney is now overrun with small plates wine bars, so Charlie’s done the only thing he could; bring his uproarious brand of hospitality to Soho.  Minimal but elegant, Osteria Vibrato looks like it’s been airlifted from the back streets of Milan, with a tiled mosaic floor, half-panelled wood walls, shiny pewter candlesticks and a covert little bar at the back for sinister assignations. As we enter on Greek Street, a pair of happy and w

There are more openings than we can shake a very large stick at this month, with some of our favourite London kitchens launching spin-offs (Acme Fire Cult’s new Acme Taco venue, Jikoni’s Café Jikoni, and Padella’s third pasta joint) or finally getting their own permanent sites (hello to Cue Point’s excellent Afghan BBQ). Which is great news as there’s been a run of closures over the past few weeks, with Flat Earth Pizza in Bethnal Green, Marceline in Canary Wharf and The Silver Birch in Chiswick all shutting up shop, alongside chicken and caviar bumps joint Bébé Bob in Soho. Pour one out for the London’s fallen foodie soldiers, but raise a glass to the dozen amazing openings below.  The best new London restaurants that will open in April 2026 Photograph: Ed McIlroy 1. The new school pizza bar Bar Etna, Newington Green Four Legs’ quiet domination of north London continues apace with Bar Etna, a pizza bar from The Plimsoll and Tollington’s main man Ed McIlroy alongside Joe Beddia of the Bib Gourmand-rated Pizzeria Beddia in Philadelphia (which was also once named the Best Pizza in America by Bon Appétit). As well as pizza there’ll be red sauce Italian restaurant classics, including aubergine parmigiana, caponata, and meatballs.  Address: 47 Newington Green, Newington Green, N16 9PX Opens: Late April Steve Ryan 2. The taco spin-off Acme Taco, Walthamstow Dalston’s Acme Fire Cult is branching out. Head chef Andrew Clarke is heading to 40ft Brewery off Blackhorse Road with a C

We’ve just had an overhaul of our list of the very best French restaurants in London… and there’s a new number one in town.  Camille in Borough Market is officially the best French restaurant in London, according to us here at Time Out. Congrats, Camille! It’s a relative newcomer on the London cuisine scene, only opening at the start of 2024, but Camille quickly made a name for itself thanks to exceptional cookery from head chef Elliot Hashtroudi. 🇫🇷 These are the 20 best French restaurants in London. We’ve praised the restaurant for ‘classic French dishes using local British produce, lots of wine and a packed chalkboard of daily specials.’ But it’s also known for its fondness for offal and the more rustic side of French cuisine, with trotters and pig’s cheek making regular appearances on the menu. Currently on offer at Camille are calves' brains with broad beans and mint, snout cassoulet and lamb sweetbreads with nettle and asparagus. The restaurant is from the same team behind Ducksoup in Soho and Little Duck The Picklery in Hackney. Other French spots to make the grade include Bouchon Racine in Farringdon and Casse-Croûte in Bermondsey, as well as Brassiere Zedel by Piccadilly and the deeply old school Mon Plaisir in Covent Garden. Find Camille at 2-3 Stoney St, SE1 9AA. Check out the best new restaurants of the past 12 months in London.  ICYMI: A useful new London map shows which pubs have dartboards. Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and revie

The Islington pub known as The Angelic has returned to its former glory and will once again be known as the George IV. The Liverpool Road pub, which dates back to 1817, has been given a proper boozer makeover, complete with a swirly Victorian-style carpet, dark wood-paneled walls and red velvet-topped bar stools. It now looks more like a classic gin palace than a millennial north London gastropub, and we’re extremely here for it. It’s been taken over by the same team behind The Blue Posts on Berwick Street in Soho (aka the best Blue Posts of the four in the surrounding area), who also now run the Londesborough and Red Lion in Stoke Newington. ‘Proper pub, proper pints, proper food,’ says the George IV’s new Instagram account.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Saving London Pubs (@pubssaving) The pub was renamed The Angelic in tribute to the queer arthouse film director Derek Jarman, who lived opposite the pub at 60 Liverpool Road from 1967 to 1969 and directed 1985’s The Angelic Conversation. A green ‘Islington People’s Plaque’ can be found on his former home.    The George IV is at 57 Liverpool Road, N1 0RJ. Check out our list of the best pubs in Islington and nearby Highbury and Canonbury. The 50 best pubs in London. Plus: a great north London pub is set to reopen after two years’ closure. 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

The north London girlie’s bakery of choice is set to open its first central London location. Jolene will launch in Soho on April 23 inside the Aries flagship store on Bridle Lane, taking over from Hackney’s Dark Arts who previously ran the streetwear shop’s in-house coffee bar.  Jolene will also launch a range of collaboration clothing and merch, meaning you can fully lean into Jolene as a lifestyle.  Opening seven days a week, from 8am to 4pm, Jolene Bridle Lane will offer coffee, sandwiches, and pastries, with the likes of rhubarb, frangipane and almond Danishes, and jalapeño and cream cheese buns available for breakfast. For lunch it will sell sandwiches of bacon and leek tortilla with aioli and rocket; braised fennel with goats cheese, pickled onions, dill and orange dressing; and herbed egg mayo, leeks, capers, chives and cornichons. Doughnuts will be available throughout the day.  Jolene has a series of Insta-famous bakeries and restaurants across north and east London, including Newington Green, Redchurch Street, Colebrooke Row and Hornsey Road. The team also run the restaurant Westerns Laundry and Primeur, which Time Out recently re-reviewed, over a decade after it launched.  Jolene Bridle Lane is at 13 Bridle Lane, Soho, W1F 9BT. These are the best coffee shops in London, according to Time Out. Plus: three London bakeries are the best in Britain, according to the Telegraph. Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends.

The annual National Pub & Bar Awards nominees have just been announced, and eight London pubs have made the list of 252 pubs and bars across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland vying for pub supremacy.  The County and Regional Winners will be announced on June 10 at an event in London, as well as the overall big dog, AKA the National Pub & Bar of the Year. The National Pub & Bar Awards are run by Pub & Bar magazine and they’re intended, as you may have guessed from the name, to celebrate the best of Britain’s boozers. The London offering is a varied bag of boozers and bars, with nominees split into two ‘regions’, with three drinking establishments in the City of London and five in Greater London making the grade. In the City of London we have Liverpool Street Chop House & Tavern, Roxy Ball Room St Mary Axe and The Star by Liverpool Street. All of the City shortlisted bars are relatively new, with Liverpool Street Chop House & Tavern and Roxy Ball Room St Mary Axe only opening last year, and The Star by Liverpool Street launching in 2022.   The Greater London finalists are revamped Victorian pub The Lord Northbrook in Lee, gastropub The George in Fitzrovia, The Orange in Belgravia, and posh Notting Hill gastros The Pelican and Walmer Castle.  The ceremony will also include an Industry’s Choice Award, a top 10 of pubs voted for separately by 400 judges from the world of hospitality, as well as a consumer-voted Pub Group of the Year and Bar Group of the Year award. Lo

Angus Steakhouse has closed its Oxford Circus location. The red-leather booth and neon-sign friendly branch, right next to the tube station at 243 Argyll Street, has been shut as of last month, with a sign on the door reading: ‘Sorry we are closed’ that directs diners to the nearest open location at 10 Woodstock Street, near Bond Street tube.  There are now only three London locations remaining of the once-thriving, omnipresent and oft-mocked Angus Steakhouse chain, including their Leicester Square and Paddington branches. In 2021, the chain was seen as being on the brink of collapse, trying to find support while negotiating rent agreements. At its peak, in 2002, it had 21 locations. Photograph: AVM Images / Shutterstock.com A couple of years ago, crafty Londoners were allegedly using nefarious means online to make sure their fave central London restaurants didn’t get overrun by tourists and out-of-towners.    How so? By spamming Reddit with overly positive reviews of the chain, in the hope that tourists would book a table there rather than at one of London’s best restaurants. The ruse seemed to be working, with Reddit threads posting pictures of apparent queues outside the Cranbourn Street branch of Angus Steakhouse. Established in London’s West End in 1963, Angus Steakhouse took its lead from American grills, offering various cuts of steak in a ludicrous number of sizes, as well as fish, lamb, chicken and veggie options. 🥩 The best restaurants in London for steak, acco

Dough Hands make, hands-down, some of the best pizzas in London. If you don’t believe us, believe the epic waits for a pie that you’ll find at London Fields’ Spurstowe Arms and – until April 25 – at The Old Nun’s Head in Nunhead. You can also look at our ranking of the best pizzas in London and find it extremely high on the list. Though these primo pizza purveyors’ south London pub residency is coming to an end, there will once again be two places to find chef and Dough Hands founder Hannah Drye’s much-loved kitchen takeover next month. As well as at the Spurstowe Arms, Dough Hands pizza will soon be available at one of the best bars in London; Hackney Wick’s All My Friends bar, starting on May 7. They’ll be doing something a little different here, because as well as whole 20” pies, you’ll also be able to score super-sized slices at this new residency, which promises a ‘fresh new menu’. This is the first time Dough Hands has ever sold single slices.  The current Dough Hands menu includes a classic margherita, spicy tuna, and our fave, the Jode with nduja and hot honey. Dough Hands is also known for its rotating specials. Recent speshes include tequila sauce with fennel, chilli sausage and pickled jalapeños, as well as pistachio pesto and sausage. Find All My Friends at Unit 1, Hamlet Estate, 96 White Post Lane, Hackney Wick, E9 5EN. 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. 

The sun is out. Kind of. Almost. It’s peeking through the clouds at any rate, which means there’s no better time for you to ditch pubs with ceilings and opt for a bar that’s open to the elements. We recently revealed our list of the best, non-naff rooftop bars in London. To make it easier for you to work your way through them, we’ve now popped them all onto a map. Use it to traverse your way through the Peckham rooftop spots, from Frank’s and Forza Wine (the National Theatre edition of which came top of the list) to Bussey Rooftop Bar, or let it guide you through Hackney’s high-up establishments, including Netil360 and Dalston Roofpark.  Image: Google Maps There’s a newbie on the map too – Setlist, which is the rebranded terrace space at Somerset House. It launches for the summer season on May 8, and James Dye of Bambi, and Frank’s as well as Clement Ogbonnaya of the Prince of Peckham are behind the custom soundsystem as well as a full-throttle events programme. Food also promises to be a strong point, with chefs Opeoluwa Odutayo, Sophie Wyburd, and Terri Mercieca of Happy Endings holding court in the kitchen.  You can find the map in full here. And you can read more about Time Out’s top 15 London rooftop bars here. ICYMI: a game-changing new London pub map shows which boozers are currently in the sunshine. 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: sig

A new list of the very best bakeries in Britain has been published, and three London-based bakehouses have made the list. The Telegraph’s ranking spans England, Scotland and Wales, and focuses on independent and artisan bakeries. ‘Some are noteworthy for their ethical practices and imaginative flavours, others for their unexpected locations,’ says the piece. ‘... they are all friendly and welcoming, imparting a genuine passion for their craft.’ The trio of London bakeries are made up of one in central London and two in south London. The central London spot is Miel on Warren Street in Fitzrovia. The bakery is run by pastry chef Shaheen Peerbhai. Most of Miel’s ingredients are sourced with care from France (Normandy flour, Charentes butter, Valrhona chocolate), and all the pastries and breads are baked small-batch throughout the day. The newspaper praised the bakery’s striped hazelnut gianduja croissant.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Miel Bakery (@mielbakery) In south London, the ‘sleek’ Mahali & Co on Battersea Park Road was included. Opened in 2024 by Ru-Yan Foong and Miguel Jocson, The Telegraph explained that here ‘Viennoiserie takes its cues from the owners’ Chinese and Filipino heritage’, with the writer recommending getting your hands on their miso and white chocolate cookies, and pineapple and lime Danish pastry.    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mahali & Co (@mahaliandco) The other south London spot is

World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants has unveiled its latest prestigious list, and several London steakhouses make the cut. Meat lovers, your time is now, as eight London steakhouses have been named in the new and appropriately blood-thirsty list of the 101 Best Steak Restaurants in the World for 2026. This list of the finest steakhouses known to humanity includes top rated London location; Ibai in Farringdon.  Ranking at number seven overall, the list singled out Ibai for being one of the most ‘distinctive grill-led restaurants in London, not because it tries to reinvent Basque tradition, but because it takes it seriously and applies it with judgement.’ High praise indeed. ‘Ibai knows exactly what it’s doing – if you take your meat seriously (and have the cash to spare), you’ll be booking a table now,’ said our own review.  The second highest ranking London steak restaurant was the brand new branch of Hawksmoor in St Pancras, which opened at the end of 2025, and we reviewed here. The new Hawksmoor can be found in the grand dining room at what is now the St Pancras Hotel, designed in 1873 by the daddy of gothic revival architects, Sir George Gilbert Scott. ‘The room is dramatic, but the cooking is not trying to match it with theatre. Classic cuts are treated seriously and served with the kind of accuracy that separates a good steak restaurant from a great one,’ said the 101 steak restaurants folk. Photograph: Zoilo Other London restaurants in the 101 ranking included Brat in

So it might not be a scorcher quite yet, but we have high hopes that this summer will be an all-time great. In preparation, we’ve picked London’s best sky-high spots for sipping drinks during the sunny season.  With a new number one rooftop bar for 2026, we’ve returned to an old favourite; Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden. This South Bank classic is a brutalist rooftop beauty, with views of the Thames as well as a lovely lawn, and over 200 different kinds of plants, flowers and fruit trees. The bar itself is pretty unobtrusive, set in an old shipping container, and serving wine, botany-inspired cocktails and craft beers, as well as a couple of snacky bits, but it’s the sprawling green space that really makes this spot stand out. Photograph: Cesare De Giglio First launched in 2011, Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden was a joint project between The Eden Project and Grounded Ecotherapy, who help people experiencing homelessness and addiction recovery via gardening. The place re-opens for spring/summer 2026 on April 1.  In second place comes another classic London rooftop bar; Frank’s Cafe in Peckham. This stalwart of London’s rooftop scene doesn’t need much in the way of an introduction – neither does their infamous pink staircase. We love this bar perched on the top of a multi-storey car park for its stunning views, interesting art installations and casual energy. It re-opens for 2026 on May 15.  Coming in third is Forza Wine at The National Theatre. There are now three Forza W

The founders of recently-closed Hackney restaurant Papi will be opening a brand new pub and dining room on Green Lanes this spring. The Golden Tooth will be opening in the space formerly known as The Leconfield, at the Newington Green end of north London’s epic Green Lanes. The opening menu will include Sunday roasts, as well as bar snacks of currywurst, fried ox tongue or Bedfordshire clanger with a Thai-style gooseberry jam, mussels Toast with house lardo and endless oysters. The restaurant will offer veal sweetbread saltimbocca, Montgomery cheese puffs with sungold tomato ketchup and steak tartare with lacto cep and mushroom crackers, as well as turbot tranche with raw crème fraîche and grilled peas, old spot pork chop with quince, and kid goat chop with ezme salad. The pub will open on April 24, and be split into a 55-cover dining room and pub space for more casual drinking and the scoffing of bar snacks. Food will be served Wed-Sun.  Matthew Scott and Charlie Carr previously ran Papi by London Fields, which closed down earlier this year. The former Papi site at 373 Mentmore Terrace is now in the capable hands of chef Michael Bagnall, who is also in charge of the Elm pop-up at Peckham’s Montpelier pub. Known as Auguste, dishes here are inspired by Bagnall’s time living in Abruzzo, with skewers of cull yaw, liver and wild boar on offer, as well as stuffed cappelletti pasta in lamb brodo. Speaking about the new opening, Matthew Scott said: ‘My journey started in East End p