Leonie Cooper

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 in the past year 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 November. London's best new restaurants at a glance: 🍛 Central: Adoh!, Covent Garden 🍠 North: Belly Bistro, Kentish Town 🥟 South: Doma, Sydenham 🍝 East: Legado, Shoreditch 🥗 West: The Lavery, South Kensington November 2025: New additions include Sri Lankan fast food at Adoh! in Covent Garden, Chingford chophouse Gina, Filipino freshness at Belly Bistro in Kentish Town, indie disco turned gastropub the Macbeth in Shoreditch, Spanish smashers at Legado in Shoreditch and Balkan comfort food at Doma in Sydenham. Hungry yet? Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. RECOMMENDED: The 50 best restaurants in London. The hottest new openings, the tastiest tips, the spiciest reviews: we’re serving it all on our London restaurants WhatsApp channel. Follow us now to tuck in.

Fancy a little slap 'n' tickle in Soho or hanky panky in Hoxton? You’ve come to the right place. London is full of sultry, saucy places to stay, and some of the city’s best hotels have special features to make your night even more romantic – we’re talking sex toys on sale at reception, lavish breakfasts in bed and same-day, daytime-only bookings for you-know-what. Ready to get steamy? Here are the best naughty hotels in the capital. Thank us later, folks.  London’s naughtiest hotels at a glance 🏢 Best views: Shangri-La The Shard 💷 Best value for money: Sea Containers 🛏️ Best for a whirlwind romance: The Hoxton, Holborn 🎉 Best place to party: The Twenty Two 📌 Looking for more options? Check out London’s best Airbnbs, or scroll through the most romantic hotels in London How we curate our hotel lists Our team at Time Out London spend their time reviewing hotels all over the Capital – new openings, old classics and everything in between – to bring you fresh, honest recommendations, all year round. Along with our pool of trusted hotel experts, every hotel on this list has been individually reviewed and selected for a reason: we’ve been there, we think it’s great and we’d genuinely recommend it. By the way, this article includes affiliate links. These links have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines.

If any city in the world were oversaturated with hotels, it’d be Paris. So a list of the ‘best hotels in Paris’ is casting a pretty wide net. The city has over 1,600 hotels in total, ranging from tiny new boutiques to grand historic hotels charging £25,000 a night – and we wanted to make sure every kind of hotel was represented on this list: the luxurious, the downright cheap, and everything in between. Whatever your vibe in the City of Light, you’ll find a hotel for you here. In this guide What is the best area to stay in Paris? + − As will surprise no one, the ‘best’ area to stay in Paris is pretty subjective across its 20 arrondissements and 80 or so neighbourhoods. But we do have some pointers. If it’s your first time in the city, you’ll probably want to be as close to the city centre as possible to tick off those major attractions, so anywhere near the 1st arrondissement – Tuileries, the Marais, St-Germain – would be a good bet. If you’re on a budget, however, you’ll find that cheaper options are usually further out in the 15th, 18th, 19th, 20th – and even on the outskirts of the city. Don’t worry, you’ll still be in on the action – this is where the locals hang out, anyway. For the full rundown, here’s our ultimate guide to where to stay in Paris. Which hotels do celebrities stay in in Paris? + − There is absolutely no reason you should book a stay based on whether or not a famous person has stayed there, but hey, it’s fun to know anyway. It’s pretty fun t

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, including French-styled Story Cellar, and The Portrait by Richard Corrigan, 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 excellent Indian food: Tandoor Chop House ⌛ Best for a fast feed: Adoh! RECOMMENDED: The absolute 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.

North London is still a hotbed for Greek eateries, catering to Cypriot and Greek expats hungry for souvlaki, kleftiko and gigantes as good as they taste back home. But a new breed of restaurants doing modern Greek small plates also abound, including Marylebone's Ospo, as well as the Greek-ish Oma in Borough Market. Let's celebrate London’s best-loved Hellenic evergreens too; Andy’s Taverna (a Camden fixture for more than 50 years), Aphrodite Taverna, and Retsina in Belsize Park. RECOMMENDED: Discover London's best kebab restaurants. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Dalston is synonymous with the late-night lash in London. Head to the mighty Kingsland Road and its surrounding backstreets and you’re be sure to stumble upon a great place to get into some (totally legal) trouble. Here you'll find chic cocktail spots, hip jazz bars, iconic queer venues, craft ale taprooms, trendy natural wine joints and banging DJ bars. There's something for everyone in this legendary Hackney neighbourhood. The best bars in Dalston at a glance: 😘 Best for a classy date: Three Sheets 💃 Best for dancing: Ridley Road Market Bar 🌈 Best for unhinged chaos: Dalston Superstore 🍸 Best for creative cocktails: Bar Lotus 💅 Best for celebrity spotting: Ellie’s RECOMMENDED: Find more fun in the neighbourhood in our Dalston area guide. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. 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.)

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. Best karaoke in London at a glance: 🍻 Best for a pub session: Mannions Prince Arthur, Tottenham 💃 Best for a private party: Three Colts Tavern, Bethnal Green ⏰ Best for a last-minute booking: Lucky Voice, various locations 🎤 Best for getting messy: Rowans, Finsbury Park  RECOMMENDED: The 50 best karaoke songs. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor and she'll be singing the best of Meatloaf and Sheryl Crow. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Need a place to stay in London? We’re here to make it easy for you. Every year, a wealth of new hotels open in the capital – a testament to the fact that London remains one of the most desirable places to visit in the world. That can, however, make it rather tricky to decide which hotel to choose. But worry not: we have slept our way across the city and hand-picked our favourites, to bring you this ultimate list of London hotels, from Mayfair to Shoreditch, and from budget to blowout (butler included).  Newcomers to our list include the all-new July in Victoria, apartment-hotels which opened in July 2025, and eco-hotel 1 Hotel Mayfair, as well as a few old classics we’ve re-reviewed just for good measure (hint: The Dorchester is just about as great as we remembered). We’ve got a brand-new number one too, but we won’t give that one away just yet. For everything from genuine good value stays to all-out, Zone 1 luxury, you’ll find something on this list for every kind of trip. Superb bars, great architecture, world-class hospitality and the opportunity to have a home-from-home in the best city in the world await you – here are the best hotels in London.  🏘️ Looking for even more options? Check out our list of the best Airbnbs in London Which area is best to stay in London? It’s not just the range of hotels that’s so impressive – you’re also spoilt for choice when it comes to picking a neighbourhood to stay in London. The city is made up of a sprawling network of dynamic neighb

October 2025: The arrival of cool, crispy weather and increasingly less daylight can only mean one thing - Sunday roast season is finally here. Not simply just a decent hangover cure, Sunday lunch is one of the most autumn-y things a Londoner can possibly do. Our latest update to this list has prioritised the cosiest pubs in town, with extra points for roaring open fires, as well as nooks and crannies to hunker down in as the city gets darker, colder and way more snuggly. We also have a brand new Number 1; the simple, spectacular roast at London’s OG organic pub, The Duke of Cambridge.  London’s best Sunday roasts at a glance: 🥩 Central: Duke of Cambridge, Angel 😇 North: The Angel, Highgate ⛪ 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 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. 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 just lunch - it’s self-care. From snug neighbourhood staples t

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. Recent additions to the Top 20 include some nifty kitchen residencies; Dough Hands at the Spurstowe Arms and Old Nun’s Head, Bing Bong Pizza at You Call The Shots in Hackney, Little Earthquakes at the Railway Tavern in Dalston, Lenny’s Apizza at The Bedford Tavern in Finsbury Park 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 also opened their first standalone parlour in Victoria Park. Try also; Spring Street Pizza in Borough for pizza with a Michelin-starred chefs touch or Carmela’s on Upper Street for a cosy slice. RECOMMENDED: The finest fish and chips in London.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Updated November 2025: We’ve refreshed our list of best restaurants in London following the latest Michelin star announcements and a bunch of new openings. Recent additions include stunning Michelin star spot Cycene in Shoreditch and newly-opened Chingford chophouse, Gina.  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 London 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 for a great price. 🥧 Best British restaurant: St John, Clerkenwell - trad dishes in a former smokehouse. 🍝 Best Italian restaurant: Trullo, Highbury - perfect pasta in a cosy neighbourhood classic. 🍻 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 longer make the grade. From freshly starred fine-dining rooms and hidden gems to neighbourhood favourites, these are the 50 restaurants we think you need to be eating out at in London right now. More London restaurant guides 20 best new restaurants in London 2025 Every Michelin-star restaurant in London 12

November 2025: This the time of year when gastropubs come into their own, almost all of them serving up a seriously good Sunday roast (aka the cosiest meal of the season). Come to these foodie havens for an immaculate vibe as well as an incredible meal.   London's best gastropubs at a glance: 🇫🇷 Best in central London: Upstairs at the French House, Soho 🍻 Best in north London: The Compton Arms, Islington 🥧 Best in south London: Camberwell Arms, Camberwell  🤴 Best in east London: Prince Arthur, Dalston  🐄 Best in west London: The Cow, Notting Hill  What's better than an amazing meal? An amazing meal, served up alongside a delicious pint in a cosy pub, obviously. London is the gastropub capital of the world, full of boozers that can compete with our fantastic restaurants in the culinary stakes – but they just happen to come with cracking Victorian buildings, as well as roaring fires, and the occasional dog. So whether you’re after fish and chips, a roast, an oxtail ragù, or a desi pub serving up sublime South Indian cuisine, you’ve come to the right place.  RECOMMENDED: London's 50 Best Restaurants. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

I’ve always had a soft spot for this resolutely gorgeous Grade-II listed shopfront in the hectic stretch between Dalston K and Dalston J; the lands where Amazon Fresh comes to die, the pubs are of a distinctly flag-shaggy persuasion, and you’ll never go wanting for fast, fried food. Exale Brewery have boldly stepped into the fray, introducing new life into this old F Cooke pie and mash shop, formerly home to much-missed Chinese restaurant Shanghai, and – most recently – that preposterous thing, a board game cafe.  The exquisitely-tiled front room is a calling card for Art Nouveau ultras The Black Eel – a reference to its past as a cockney canteen – is what we hope will be this building’s final form; a convivial and surprisingly cavernous bar with so many rooms that you might get lost, especially if you’ve been sipping Exale’s 5.8% Oona Neipa. There’s the exquisitely-tiled and elegant front room – a calling card for Art Nouveau ultras – as well as a Victorian side den, a sprawling main lounge, an area for darts and shuffleboard, a huge beer garden (complete with a boat and pétanque court), and a leopard-print carpeted private karaoke room right at the top, complete with a sturdy safe into which you can bundle any substandard singers. It has more in common with Rowans at 10pm on a Friday than it does a quaint backstreet boozer, but come party season, this place will be packed.  Since opening their taproom on Blackhorse Lane, indie brewers Exale have been on a bit of a roll, la

Full disclosure: I can’t be entirely sure that Cycene isn’t a cult. But if it is, it’s a truly lovely one, a Michelin-star sect where they will take your money (£195 for nine-ish courses), but there won’t be any funny business and your family will probably be very happy for you. You won’t want to leave, and in fact, we almost don’t. I’m here for nearly four hours, and by the time I’m handed an oaty and malty Horlicks-adjacent cup of sourdough-infused milk – as if I’m an overstimulated toddler being tucked into bed – it’s an imposition to even consider leaving for the bus stop.  A veritable Berghain of enigmatic meats and victuals Some background. Cycene – named after the Old English word for kitchen – opened in 2022 inside the Blue Mountain School, a spurious but well-intentioned Shoreditch arts space that isn’t quite a museum, nor an archive, but, in its own words, somewhere that ‘nurtures engagements and interactions between diverse practices’. Sure, why not! Suffice to say, one of those practices is food, and my lordy, they do it extremely well.  Step inside this repurposed Georgian townhouse and each guest is immediately greeted by congenial head chef Taz Sarhane, a cook who loves to get a little bit weird. At a long pine bar he’ll proffer you a ‘picnic’ of blush-pink house-cured meats, a fluffy hillock of virgin butter, a platter of runny, mouth-coating chicken fat, a mini muffin, dense seeded bread, and a beefy beaker of collagen soup that is, in the best possible way,

In 2025, it’s not enough to be a wine bar that simply sells wine. How archaic! Some are wine ‘pubs’ (Islington’s Godet), others have adjoining ice cream parlours (De Beauvoir’s Goodbye Horses), and there are even one’s that self-identify as ‘listening restaurants’ (Peckham’s Hausu). Giacco’s is a tiny, friendly vino den on north London’s unofficial street of the sesh (Blackstock Road) that knows this all too well.   Instead of proffering a list that starts with fizzy, fabulous Lambrusco and finishes with a punchy Pinot, Giacco’s have made the wise decision to become an incubator for London’s brightest kitchen talent. So in addition to curated glasses and carafes of plonk alongside candles in old bottles dripping with wax (a wine bar staple since 1971), they now boast an ever-shifting food menu that impresses just as much as their mainly European, low-intervention wine list.   A friendly vino den on north London’s unofficial street of the sesh So far Giacco’s has had pop-ups from South Asian and Italian fusion dons Firangi, as well as the Time Out-approved young chef Millie Tsukagoshi Lagares. On the evening Time Out visits – securing our table after battling our way through a rowdy Arsenal home crowd – we find chef Jemma Harrison in the kitchen, mid-way through a three-month residency with her Kaunter concept, offering glammed-up New York deli staples that proudly show off their Eastern European Jewish roots.  The room – named after owner Leonardo Leoncini’s grandfather – is

The seriously good Soho flagship of this creative Filipino bakery (there’s a smaller outpost in Marylebone), is part of the 1996 Group, which also includes the acclaimed Donia restaurant. Their Manila-flavoured take on the humble bakery serves all manner of treats, including doughnuts pumped full of photogenic purple ube ooze and chocolate-slathered brown butter cookies, as well as iced ube matcha drinks for unbeatable TikTok clout. Their chicken adobo pocket is like Greggs gunning for a Michelin star But it’s their savoury goods that are particularly outstanding. Everything is made on-site, and the longanisa roll offers a giddy take on the sausage roll, its sweet, flaky pastry stuffed with succulent meat, while their chicken adobo pocket is like Greggs gunning for a Michelin star. Their fluffy brioche-like pandesal bread sits somewhere in between the two - enjoy it filled with garlic and cream cheese if you’re looking for something more adult lunch-appropriate. Sturdy and pleasingly square, Panadera’s pandesal sandos are also a must-nibble, from the classic Filipino flavours of a hearty corned beef hash offering to panko-crusted aubergine for the vegetarians. The space, all warm woods, busy working kitchen and a lowkey hip-hop soundtrack, is on one of Soho’s lesser known thoroughfares (Hopkins Street, which runs just off the altogether busier Broadwick Street), but that only adds to Panadera’s off-the-beaten-track charm. Coffee comes from excellent local roaster Catalyst.

Sweet, shy Colin is having a shit time. His mother is terminally ill (but still trying to set him up with inappropriate men), his only hobby is barbershop quartet singing with his father, and to top it all, he’s a parking attendant.  Played with wide-eyed bemusement by an outstanding Harry Melling, Colin’s dreary existence changes dramatically when he meets very tall, exceedingly handsome and inscrutable biker Ray in a Bromley boozer. Ray, a fittingly stern Alexander Skarsgård, propositions him over a bag of crisps, and before he knows it, Colin’s licking Ray’s boots (and rather a lot more) by the bins next to Primark. Pillion starts as it means to go on; aligning its oddly innocent nature with extreme, hardcore imagery, and managing to give screwball humour an emotional gravitas. Think, if you will, Kenneth Anger’s horny, leather-clad opus Scorpio Rising as directed by Richard Curtis.  Think Scorpio Rising as directed by Richard Curtis Based on Adam Mars-Jones’ 1970s-set novella Box Hill, and helmed by first-time director Harry Lighton, Pillion brings Ray and Colin’s unconventional relationship into the present day, with Colin happily (at first) taking on the role of Ray’s submissive, shaving his head, cooking him dinner and sleeping on a rug on the bedroom floor with a lock around his neck. Colin ingratiates himself with Ray’s gang – featuring real-life members of the historic Gay Bikers Motorcycle Club – which also includes fellow sub Kevin (a perky Jake Shears from Scisso

When chef Spasia Dinkovski closed Mystic Burek – her acclaimed British-Balkan bakehouse – we were gutted, not least because we had to remove it from our Top 50 restaurants in London list. Thank goodness then for her return. Doma has taken over a kebab shop space in Sydenham, just across the road from the original Mystic Burek location, but will be doing things differently.  Open only at weekends, during the day Doma will serve grab-and-go second-generation Macedonian cuisine (including legendary filo pies on the last Saturday of every month), while Saturday and Sunday evenings will be reserved for special dinners, for which you’ll have to buy tickets in advance. Expect everything from Balkan barbecue to fried doughnut-esque mekici served with jam and cheese, sausage baps, stuffed cabbage sarma, loads of burek and baklava buns. 

We have Rocketman and A Complete Unknown to blame for the idea that actors playing musicians can actually nail the gig. Gone are the days of dodgy impressions (apologies to Val Kilmer’s Jim Morrison and André 3000’s Jimi Hendrix) and in their place are films that replace the concept of rock stars as infallible Gods with messy human beings.  Whereas A Complete Unknown painted Bob Dylan as a grumpy fuckboy, Deliver Me from Nowhere digs into Bruce Springsteen’s bout with depression and the childhood trauma from which it stemmed, as well as his fastidious dedication to (arguably) his finest album, 1982’s moody Nebraska.   As a living, loving portrait of blue collar Americana, Deliver Me from Nowhere excels. The late-night diners, faded fairgrounds, and classic cars are gloriously, richly rendered while black-and-white flashbacks to Springsteen’s youth and original are shot with all the misery of Dorothea Lange’s Depression-era portraits.  Jeremy Allen White also slips into Springsteen’s Levi’s with ease. From his spot-on incidental grunts to the uncanny singing voice, it’s clear that White has put in the work, even if it’s sometimes hard to unsee Carmy from The Bear (not least because both characters are unrepentant fans of a James Dean-worthy white t-shirt and denim combo). Alas, Springsteen’s misery means that White never really stretches himself, his facial expression is either sad, brooding, or a glum combo of the two. If you want American gothic with a side of pancakes, you

It might be seen as peculiar to open a restaurant review with an in-depth rundown of the loos, but to hell with convention. Hausu lives in the grand, Grade II-listed, one-time ticket office of Peckham Rye train station, meaning its hilariously spacious bathroom dates back all the way to 1865. Bigger than any other room in the restaurant, the lavs are resplendent, covered with intricate Victorian tiling, and bearing wartime-era warnings against venereal disease. Not something you usually want served up alongside dinner, but for these we’ll make an exception. I would, were the correct bleach used in advance, willingly eat off these majestic floors.  Juicy prawn toast resembles a sea anemone on a diet of Huel and 100 pull-ups a day Alas, Hausu head chef Holly Middleton-Joseph insists that diners have their meals in one of the restaurant’s three rooms instead. There’s the walk-ins-only bar up front; a sit-down dining room in the back; and a strangely bear pit-like middle room, which consists of a shiny counter surrounding a sunken kitchen where you gaze upon chefs at work as if you were a Roman emperor.  Named after a cult 1970s Japanese horror film, Hausu launched in the autumn of 2024, taking over from Peckham institution the Coal Rooms, where Holly Middleton-Joseph (Frank’s, Camberwell Arms, Mountain) had previously staged a pop-up. Her first gig as head chef sees her showcasing a wilfully unique brand of cookery, which draws as much upon high-octane Asian cuisine as it does

What’s the vibe? A field-to-table, foragers paradise, it’s no stretch of the imagination to call Osip the best restaurant in the UK right now. Unsurprisingly for a place run by a chef called Merlin, there’s something magical happening here; dishes are surprising without being confusing, and folksy without being arcane. It’s the culinary equivalent of The Wicker Man, but with a fresh-from-his-Third Space-workout Paul Mescal cast in the Edward Woodward role.  The historic inn now resembles a 1970s Scandinavian art school In 2021, two years after opening, Osip was awarded a Michelin star. Then, in 2024, Merlin Labron-Johnson’s uber-acclaimed restaurant upped sticks from its cosy Bruton high street location to a 16th century inn about 10 minutes drive from The West Country’s Most Artsy VillageTM. As Bruton becomes more or less indistinguishable from north-east London’s lah-di-dah De Beauvoir neighbourhood, Osip’s plan to extract itself from the red-trousered rahs of Bruton makes it even more a place of pilgrimage. That’s now even more possible with the recent addition of four bedrooms above the restaurant, meaning you can devour Osip’s immaculate tasting menu then roll into an extremely comfy bed (or a rolltop bath), before waking up to a locally-plucked breakfast of figs, blackberries and pears, alongside sticky cardamom and pear rolls, pungent local cheeses, cured ham and trout, fresh eggs and Chemex coffee, while gazing out onto the misty fields though dreamy picture windows.

With its instantly recognisable white-washed aesthetic (complete with chalkboard menu, and army barracks coat-pegs as far as the eye can see) the newest, and by far the most lowkey, incarnation of St John looks as if it’s been there for decades, despite only launching a week before we slip inside for a swift luncheon. Taking over the London Review Bookshop cafe in the shadow of the British Museum, it’s an ideal place to enjoy one of their joyfully utilitarian doorstop sandwiches with fillings plucked straight out of a Stella Gibbons novel c.1932. There are just 10 small tables (perfect for two, but could seat three at a push), and the menu here offers all of the St John Bakery with all manner of pastries, Eccles cakes, madeleines, and doughnuts on offer, as well as warm savoury bakes (ham or courgette tart, pig cheek or potato and wigmore cheese pie) and a short but salutary wine list. A glass of claret might not be the first thing on your mind if you’re here early doors (it opens at 8am), so you’ll be happy to hear that coffee is also on hand. It shuts at 6pm (the same time as the bookshop), but for a place to enjoy an afternoon cinnamon bun next to a performative male reading Ursula Le Guin, we can think of nowhere more charming.  Time Out tip Want a St John feast post-6pm but have simply forgotten to book a table? The original Clerkenwell outpost has a walk-ins only bar which serves pretty much that same menu as the sit-down Michelin star dining room. 

This Soho institution may have mellowed somewhat since self-proclaimed ‘London’s rudest landlord’ Norman Balon finally hung up his polishing cloth in 2006, but there’s still plenty to make it stand out from the crowd, including a rotating cast of excellent independent ales and their own line of merch. Decor, meanwhile, is stuck firmly in the past, with carpets worn threadbare by decades of post-work sessions as well as wood-pannelled walls from the 1970s, and vintage logos of Double Diamond and Ind Coop displayed behind the bar. It all adds up to a curious mix of old-timey standards and progressive ideas which, crucially, work together like a charm.  Time Out tip They might not serve food, but they do have an impeccable array of crisps aka ‘London's greatest tuckshop’. Make ours a bag of pickled onion Monster Munch. 

There’s luxury, and then there’s the Hotel Bel-Air. Tucked away in one of Beverly Hills’ most exclusive hillside neighborhoods, this is the kind of hotel you’ll never want to leave, with sprawling verdant grounds, and airy, ultra private-feeling rooms. The main part of the estate was built back in the 1920s as the planning office for the newly-minted Bel-Air locale, and converted into a hotel in the 1940s. It remains a paragon of old Hollywood glamour, and you’ll feel like you’re in your own little world in this secluded retreat halfway up one of L.A.’s many hidden canyons. Grace Kelly loved it so much there’s a suite named after her, and it’s also where Marilyn Monore staged her last ever photoshoot. Warning: don’t book the Hotel Bel-Air if this is your first trip to L.A., as you’ll struggle to see anything else the city has to offer. Why stay at Hotel Bel-Air? If you ‘want to be alone’ you can do your best Greta Garbo here. A proper hideaway, the Bel-Air Hotel was made as a private sanctuary. The dusty pink-painted mission-style property features 60 acres of gorgeously landscaped gardens, with over 1,200 different types of plants, from jasmine to fruit trees as well as the stunning purple lonchocarpus tree that drapes itself wantonly over the hotel restaurant’s al fresco terrace. There’s also a hidden grotto with ducks, a lake with swans and a redwood grove, plus modern art—sculptures by Michael Wilding Jr (aka Elizabeth Taylor’s son) pepper the lobby and on the exterior pa

It’s official, the greatest pizza in the country is in London! Frankly, we are unsurprised, considering the quality of this city’s current slice scene.  The 2025 edition of the National Pizza Awards took place yesterday (Nov 4) at Big Penny Social in Walthamstow, with 16 independent and high street pizzerias getting stuck into a live cook-off for a panel of industry judges, including Time Out’s food and drink editor Leonie Cooper. This year’s well-deserved overall winner was Short Road Pizza, which you can find in residence at Three Colts Tavern in Bethnal Green and William The Fourth pub in Leyton, which are both run by Exale Brewing.   Inspired by crispy Romana-style pizza, Short Road Pizza won the signature round with their glammed-up marinara, which came topped with garlic purée, a dose of chimichurri, burrata cheese and anchovies.  Time Out is already a fan of Short Road Pizza. Our review from earlier this year says: ‘This thin crust, zero-flop pie acts as a canvas for Short Road’s Italian founder Ugo to paint all kinds of crazy flavours. Paying homage to his grandfather Gigi's ‘a bocca o forno’ (on the edge of the oven) technique, they pair the light crispy dough with exciting flavour combos.’ In second place was Bing Bong Pizza which operates out of You Call The Shots bar in Hackney, and third was London mini-chain Yard Sale Pizza. Other winners included Antonio Raspone of Mamma Dough in south London, who was named Pizza Chef of the Year. Pizza chef Riccardo Demuru of

Here at Time Out we recently revealed the super talented names we’re tipping for greatness as our Best Young Chefs in London.  Ella Williams of Peckham’s Hausu, Jay Claus of Rake at the Compton Arms in Islington, and author and pop-up chef Millie Tsukagoshi Lagares were our chosen chefs and we asked them for their food recommendations. Last week they named the city’s top bakeries, and their favourite Sunday roasts in London. Now it’s time for the trio to lift the lid on their favourite cheap eats, and what they consider to be the best value restaurants in London. Here are their top four picks.  Tay Do, Kingsland Road Pop-up chef and author Millie Tsukagoshi Lagares chose Vietnamese canteen Tay Do on Kingsland Road. ‘It’s one of my favourite restaurants in London. They have two branches, but it’s the white one - no-one is ever there but in a good way!’ she said of the restaurant, which has two locations right next to each other. ‘The pho is amazing, the bun noodle is amazing with marinated pork grilled to perfection with crispy bits. The fried spring rolls with carrots, daikon, lettuce. Tay Do is just the best. It’s delicious comfort food and the perfect place to chat with your friends for hours. And it’s bring your own booze.’ Tay Do, 60-64 Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, E2 8DP Bun House, Chinatown and Regency Cafe, Pimlico   Ella Williams of Hausu in Peckham had two recommendations. ‘Bun House do very good buns, specifically the beef one and the chicken one, which is kind of l

For some reason, this November is a bumper month for new openings. If you’re a pizza-head then there are new branches of Ria’s and Napoli On The Road set for Foubert’s Place and Wardour Street in Soho, while old school Knightsbridge Italian Sale e Pepe is opening a second seafood-forward site, Sale e Pepe Mare, at The Langham hotel by Oxford Circus. Ivan Orkin from Netflix’s Chef’s Table also opens Ivan Ramen, his first London restaurant, this month in Farringdon, while Maset, a classy coastal French restaurant, launches in Marylebone. Want something even more glam? Then Belmond’s festive lunch kicks off this month, offering a five-course meal served on a vintage train that pootles around the most scenic parts of Kent. Here’s the best of the rest.  The best new London restaurant openings in November 2025 Hawksmoor St Pancras 1. The serious steakhouse Hawksmoor St Pancras, King’s Cross  The extremely attractive, Grade I-listed dining room at the St Pancras London Hotel will be re-launching as the eighth London outpost of Hawksmoor. It will seat 95, and have a private dining room and chef’s table, while the adjoining bar will change its name from the Gothic Bar to the Martini Bar. So be it. Opens: Late November.  Address: St Pancras, Euston Road, King’s Cross, NW1 2AR. Vincenzo's 2. The grab-and-go pizza parlour  Vincenzo’s Slice Shop, Shoreditch Vincenzo’s is finally making the leap from Bushey to the big city, opening up his New York/Neapolitan joint in east London. Fou

Notting Hill’s The Pelican has been named London’s best pub by the Good Food Guide.  Relaunched as a gastropub in 2022 by the The Public House Group (which also runs foodie pubs The Hero in Maida Vale, The Fat Badger in Notting Hill and The Bull in Charlbury, Oxfordshire), the pub came in at seventh place in a list of the 100 best pubs in the UK, making it the top ranking London pub in the list. This being the Good Food Guide, regular boozers have been overlooked in favour of gastropubs with slick menus and spruced up interiors. You will categorically not find any sticky carpets on this list.  The Pelican, which is on All Saints Road, offers a high-end chop house menu with dishes such as the St John-inspired bone marrow and parsley, as well as beef and Guinness pie. Bar snacks include mince on toast and welsh rarebit. It’s all very swish inside, with cream coloured walls, exposed brick and country-core wooden finishes worthy of the Cotswolds.  Other London gastropubs to make the grade include Farringdon’s The Eagle (at number 11), Camberwell’s newly-opened The Kerfield Arms (14), Kentish Town’s The Parakeet (22), Soho’s The Devonshire (28), Barnes’ The Waterman’s Arms (30), Stockwell’s The Canton Arms (43), Camberwell’s The Camberwell Arms (46), Hammersmith’s The Anglesea Arms in Hammersmith, Waterloo’s the Anchor and Hope, Islington’s The Tamil Crown (69) and Chelsea’s The Surprise (90).  The overall winner was The Highland Laddie in Leeds, which reopened as a gastropub in A

Here at Time Out we recently revealed the super talented names we’re tipping for greatness as our Best Young Chefs in London.  Ella Williams of Peckham’s Hausu, Jay Claus of Rake at the Compton Arms in Islington, and author and pop-up chef Millie Tsukagoshi Lagares were our chosen chefs and we’ve asked them for their food recommendations. Earlier this week they named the city’s top bakeries, and now, just in time for the weekend, here are two of their favourite Sunday roasts in London. Chris Bethell The Raglan Jay Claus chose a recently relaunched pub in Walthamstow, The Raglan, which is run by the same team as Irish-Indian fusion restaurant Shankeys in Hackney and features in our newly-announced list of the 50 best pubs in London. ‘It will come as no surprise to anybody that the Shankeys boys can throw down,’ said Jay. ‘The food is beautiful and the pub is annoyingly cool. It’s cool in a way that’s not trying to be cool. We feel very strongly about our roasts at Rake, because a roast can be the most disappointing restaurant visit you can do. You’re usually in a vulnerable, hungover state, too!’ Danika Magdelena NattyCanCook Ella Williams’ choice is the roast made by chef Nathaniel Mortley aka NattyCanCook, who is just about to open 2210, a new restaurant in Herne Hill, and has previously hosted pop-ups at The Greyhound in Peckham. ‘NattyCanCook has just opened a new place, and his roasts are famous,’ says Ella. ‘They’re Caribbean roasts, so not your average roasts. Ther

Pour one out for Sesta, a relatively new – and extremely great – London Fields restaurant which has just announced it’ll be closing at the end of the year.  Sesta opened on Wilton Way in September 2024, in a space previously occupied by Michelin-star tasting menu restaurant Pidgin. It immediately made the leap to Time Out’s 50 Best Restaurants in London list. Our five-star review praised head chef Drew Snaith’s imaginative menu, which included such dishes as nduja-scotched olives, coastal cheddar and cider scones, and prawn and stone bass dolma with ouzo butter.  ‘Every dish is simultaneously maximalist and minimalist; a triumph of having a laugh in the kitchen, and keeping that energy alive on the plate without it verging into parody. Pidgin is dead – long live Sesta,’ we wrote.  Sesta revealed plans to close on Instagram, writing: ‘It’s with a heavy heart that we announce Sesta will not be reopening in the new year. While we’ve loved every minute of bringing this little restaurant to life, sadly times are just too hard to make ends meet.’ Sesta isn’t the only new London restaurant to announce its closure in recent days. Hello JoJo in Camberwell shut its doors after only six months in business.  The final service at Sesta will be on December 20. The best restaurants in London. 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: sign up for our free Time Out London n

Earlier this month Time Out revealed the three super talented names we’re tipping for greatness as our Best Young Chefs in London.  Ella Williams of Peckham’s Hausu, Jay Claus of Rake at the Compton Arms in Islington, and author and pop-up chef Millie Tsukagoshi Lagares were our chosen trio and we’ve asked them for their foodie favourites in London, starting with their favourite bakeries.  Panadera Ella Williams picked Panadera in Soho, a Filipino bakehouse and coffee shop which also makes Time Out’s own list of the very best bakeries in London. ‘I know Flo (Florence Mae Maglanoc) who runs it, and when you go somewhere like that and the food’s amazing as it is, it’s really nice to know that the person who runs it is equally amazing!,’ says Ella. ‘I don’t want to eat food from someone who’s an arsehole. I get the ube matcha, or they have a mango layered drink that’s very good. They do Filipino pandesal bread rolls, the cookies are delicious and they do very good sandwiches and a kind of sausage roll called longanisa.’ Young Chefs London 2025 Ararat Bread Jay Claus recommended Ararat Bread on Ridley Road in Dalston, which specialises in naan-style flatbreads. ‘It’s so good. We used them when I worked at Acme Fire Cult, we’d get 200 in a bag and the chefs would rip them open and they’d still be steaming. I got 300 of them for my wedding, and served the food on them and it was incredible.’ Toad Finally, Millie Tsukagoshi Lagares recommended the hype-y Toad in London’s coolest

The extremely good Som Saa will reopen next month, after closing in May due to a kitchen fire. The much-loved Spitalfields-based Thai restaurant will open up again on November 11 with a revamped menu that includes a new selection of bar snacks such as pickled mango with fried shrimp paste relish, and rice crackers with grilled cockles and chilli jam. There will also be a brand new selection of specials, including glass noodle claypot with smoked duck and garlic chives, as well as red curry with grilled pork, holy basil and green banana, and a coconut palm heart, prawn and Thai peanut salad. They’ve also given the interiors a bit of a spruce.  Chefs Andy Oliver and Mark Dobbie opened Som Saa on Commercial Street in 2016, after meeting at the now-closed Michelin starred Nahm in Belgravia. Som Saa started life as a residency in London Fields and opened its bricks and mortar restaurant thanks to crowdfunding. They opened a second space, Kolae in Borough Market, in 2023, and we gave it a five star review, praising its southern Thai cuisine and calling it ‘an immensely thoughtful restaurant’. Eleanora Boscarelli Our original review of Som Saa was equally effusive. We wrote: ‘The cooking at Som Saa will blow you away: literally and metaphorically. This is not somewhere you come for a cheeky green curry and a plate of pad thai. It’s food from Thailand’s north-eastern provinces, where nothing gets dumbed down and your tastebuds will be held up at gunpoint.’  Som Saa, 43a Commercial

We here at Time Out were quite excited when Hello JoJo opened earlier this year in a south London space once occupied by the very good Forza Win. So imagine our shock to discover that after only six months of trading, Hello JoJo has closed its doors for good. News of the Camberwell Church Street restaurant’s closure was announced on Instagram.  ‘Camberwell, it’s been brief but beautiful,’ wrote the owners. ‘After six months of dinners, drinks, buns and breads, we are sad to say hello JoJo is closing its lipstick red doors for the last time. Every part of this wonderful team gave it their all but we just couldn’t make it work. We are devastated... We have no idea what is coming next, we are focused on finding our amazing team new jobs (thank you to the local businesses that have already messaged us with their open roles).’ Our glowing four-star review of Hello JoJo praised the restaurant when it opened, writing: ‘There’s something faintly medieval about the food here, with the feudalism and foraging-worthy likes of borage, lovage and ramsons dotted across the menu, as well as something called “pyghtle”. It sounds like it should be an ancient hallucinogen but is, in fact, cheese, and comes finely shaved and dusted onto a muscular lamb-and-nettle croquette.’  Camberwell was recently crowned Time Out’s coolest neighbourhood in London, and even though there’s now one less cool place in Camberwell, we stand by it. Here’s our guide to the best 20 things to do in Camberwell, includin

The team behind popular Soho pub and restaurant The Devonshire is set to open a new venue in Covent Garden. The grand, six-storey Georgian space on Bedford Street – which previously belonged to the wilfully archaic magazine The Lady – is thought to be reopening as a pub and restaurant in 2027, reports the Standard. The newspaper adds that the venue will be keeping the name of the magazine, which launched in 1885 and published its last magazine in April 2025. The magazine was best-known for classified adverts seeking nannies for posh kids and domestic help.  Westminster Council approved The Lady’s licence earlier this month. It will showcase food by acclaimed chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, while Devonshire landlord Oisín Rogers will also be involved in the new project. The building has been empty since 2019.  News of a new venue for the Devonshire team follows the forthcoming launch of The Marlborough on North Audley Street in Mayfair. The Marlborough, which has been closed since 2020 and was originally known as The Marlborough Head, is being relaunched by Crisp Pizza founder Carl McCluskey, alongside the Devonshire team: Charlie Carroll of Flat Iron, chef Palmer-Watts and publican Rogers.  Crisp is currently based in The Chancellors pub in Hammersmith, which has been run by McCluskey’s family for decades, but will now be moving its centre of operations to Mayfair. According to social media, the pub will be launching this autumn. Like The Devonshire, The Marlborough will pride itse

Supa Ya Ramen left a big, noodle-shaped hole in the London culinary landscape when its Peckham and Dalston restaurants closed, but this month the brand has made a Lazarus-like return. Chef Luke Findlay’s Supa Ya relaunches this week at Arcade in Tottenham Court Road, with the central London foodhall serving up their signature roast chicken and corn ramen, as well as a maple-glazed pumpkin and chilli crunch bowl, and small plates including heritage tomatoes with ponzu vinaigrette and fennel seed furikake, and fried chicken with apricot glaze and white sesame. Findlay has said of the Supa Ya residency: ‘After the difficult decision to close our doors in 2024, being able to return with a fresh start in such a vibrant setting feels incredibly special. Arcade brings together some of the most exciting food talent in London, and we can’t wait to share our dishes with both familiar faces and new guests in this buzzing space.’ Other residents at Arcade include acclaimed Thai restaurant Plaza Khao Gaeng, Middle Eastern eatery Shatta & Toum, which comes from the same team behind Soho’s Berenjak, smashburger stand Manna, and tacos from Mexa - by Michelle Salazar de la Rocha and Sam Napier of Sonora Taqueria. Supa Ya Ramen is open now at Arcade at 103-105 New Oxford Street, WC1A 1DB. The best Japanese restaurants in London, according to Time Out. 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 arrival of autumn means that not only is cosy pub season finally here: it’s also time to announce Time Out’s annual 50 best London pubs list. There’s a new number one for the 2025 list, with south London’s excellent The Old Nun’s Head named the best pub in London. Congratulations to the pub, which Time Out writer Rosie Hewitson praised as ‘southeast London’s favourite unofficial queer venue, thanks to an array of campy entertainment including speed-dating, drag king cabaret, and nights like Pop-Up Dyke Bar and the messy, cream-splattered and highly NSFW Cake Sit.’ The Old Nun’s Head – which has its very own Britney Spears shrine – can be found just around the corner from 2023’s Time Out Pub of the Year, Irish boozer Skehan’s. The Old Nun’s Head is also home to the best pizza in London, Dough Hands, a pop-up kitchen from chef Hannah Drye which you can also find at The Spurstowe in Hackney.  The Old Nun’s Head takes the number one slot from the Army & Navy in Dalston. Other pubs new to the list include the Prince Edward in Holloway, The Britannia in Shoreditch, The Old Coffee House in Soho and The Warrington Hotel in Maida Vale. The list was curated by Time Out Food & Drink editor Leonie Cooper with help from Jimmy McIntosh of London Dead Pubs.  ‘Old school boozers are the beating heart of this city, and the ones on this list are heavy with the powerful whiff of history – though that just might be the carpets – and throbbing with heart, soul and community charm,’ wrote Leo