Leonie Cooper

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

Looking for the best restaurants in Mayfair? You’re spoilt for choice in this swanky central London neighbourhood. There are enough Michelin stars to feed a village here and prices are fittingly fierce. But if you’re after some indulgence or looking for the perfect celebration spot, then this is where you could be taking your hard-earned cash, with hotel joints such as The Ritz and Claridge’s in-house eateries some of the area’s finest. The best Mayfair restaurants at a glance: 🍛 Best for Indian food: Bibi 🍔 Best for posh burgers: Dover Street Counter 🎨 Best for gazing at art: Mount St Restaurant 🇪🇸 Best for Spanish cuisine: Sabor A tip: look out for set lunch menus, which many Mayfair fine-dining restaurants such Pavyllon, Murano and Ambassadors Clubhouse offer, and make the whole experience that much more affordable. Go forth and feast: these are Mayfair’s most impressive food spots. RECOMMENDED: The 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.

There are some seriously delightful pubs to discover in Holborn and nearby Bloomsbury. From towering taverns hidden down the backstreets to Victorian gin palaces, there’s plenty to please history-seeking tourists as well as pint-thirsty folk on their way home from work. Some of the city’s prettiest pubs are hiding out in this neighbourhood, you just have to know where to look. With this guide, we let you know the places you have to head to. If it’s bars you’re after, then check out our list of the best places to get a cocktail in Holborn instead.  RECOMMENDED: The best restaurants in Holborn. 

The first Turkish settlers in the UK arrived in the 16th century, after Queen Elizabeth I built an allyship with the Ottoman Empire. Since then, London has embraced Turkish cuisine with open arms. From elegant restaurants and Michelin-recommended eateries to humbler grill spots, the essence of Türkiye’s culinary heritage thrives in the capital. Our favourites stand out thanks to their thoughtful sourcing of fresh ingredients, dedication to constructing dishes from scratch, and commitment to what sits at the very heart of Turkish culture: generous hospitality. The history of modern-day Türkiye is a captivating saga that has witnessed the rise and fall of many civilisations, including the Byzantines, Seljuks, and Ottomans. Given the centuries of culinary exchange it witnessed, it’s no surprise that Turkish cuisine mirrors the nation’s diverse heritage. As a foodie who has spent half of her life in Türkiye and the other in London, here are the very best Turkish restaurants in the capital, ranging from Green Lanes heroes and Soho gems to east London powerhouses. RECOMMENDED: The 50 Best Restaurants in London.  Beril Naz Hassan is a British journalist with Turkish and Cypriot heritage. After living in Türkiye for over a decade, Beril returned to London, where she writes about food, travel and lifestyle.

Updated September 2026: Welcome to our ranking of the Top 50 restaurants in London for the year. Every summer we announce a brand new Number 1 and give this legendary list a full makeover. This is a snapshot of where London dining is at right now; a city of global flavours, hilariously varying budgets and the best food you’ve ever eaten. We’re extremely proud of what this city has to offer and especially pleased to crown gutsy French bistro Camille in Borough Market as the Best London Restaurant of 2026. The most recent entries into the list are both in Soho: Impala a north African restaurant from Meedu Saad, the former head chef at Kiln, which was Time Out's Best London Restaurant of 2019, and Kid, the new restaurant from former Mangal 2 chef Sertaç Dirik.  Best Restaurants in London: Our Critics’ Picks: ⭐ Best Michelin-star restaurant: St John, Clerkenwell - a London institution and inspiration for pretty much every great modern restaurant you’ve ever eaten at. 👛 Best affordable restaurant: Lanzhou Lamian Noodle Bar, Covent Garden - late-night noodles at a great price. 🥦 Best vegetarian restaurant: Holy Carrot, Spitalfields - a lively bistro with inventive plant-based dishes.  🍻 Best gastropub: The Golden Tooth, Green Lanes - a proper pub with proper food. Order the stargazy pie.  💘 Best new restaurant: Impala, Soho - north African heat in the heart of Soho. London doesn’t stand still and neither do we. We’re constantly adding new restaurants to the list and taking aw

September 2026: There's a brand new Number 1, with the frankly exceptional Impala in Soho taking the top spot as our favourite new restaurant in London. Other fresh additions include Kid in Soho, Kismet in Borough Market, Cafe Clement by the Thames in Temple, Hon's BBQ in Hackney Wick, Cue Point in Notting Hill, Vesper in Clerkenwell and Kinz in Notting Hill. 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 September 2026. London's best new restaurants at a glance: 🥩 Central: Impala, Soho 🍷 North: The Golden Tooth, Newington Green 🦐 South: The Victory, East Dulwich 🍝 East: Hon's BBQ, Hackney Wick 🥗 West: Maai by Nikita, Fulham 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

September 2026: We're constantly keeping an eye on this Top 50 list to make sure it's up to scratch, and with so many new restaurant openings in and around Soho, that means regularly adding new places and removing those that might have failed to deliver on our last visit. Recent additions include great Turkish grillhouse Kid, gastropub The Shaston Arms, the exceptional Impala, rowdy Osteria Vibrato and the third outing for Peckham-born small plates spot Forza Wine, as well as a new branch of YeYe's Noodle & Dumpling in what was once legendary goth pub The Intrepid Fox, and London's third branch of Padella.  The best restaurants in Soho at a glance: 🥧 Best for British classics: Quo Vadis 💅 Best for the fashion crowd: Rita’s  🫚 Best for Thai heat: Kiln 🥕 Best for vegetarians: Bubala 🌞 Best for an al fresco feast: Forza Wine There’s honestly nowhere in the world like Soho. The haunt of poets, gangsters, trendsetters and many a louche genius, the seedy, sleazy and impossibly romantic heart of London’s West End is also home to loads of great independent shops, cafés, bars and, most importantly, restaurants. Its culinary diversity has been fuelled by centuries of immigration and cultural cross-pollination. From rustic French fare to iconic Italian dishes and tasty tapas, here is Time Out’s list of our absolute favourite Soho restaurants. Whether you fancy a slap-up meal or are just in the market for a mid-town pitstop, we have you covered.  RECOMMENDED: Here are London’s bes

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

So you like ice cream? You’re not alone. We’re all just big children waiting for a little bit of sweet, cold milk to numb the pain of navigating adulthood (even if, for some of us, it does have to be dairy-free milk). It’s no wonder there are often massive queues for our city’s best ices, especially when a heatwave hits.  Want to make sure the cone you’re standing in line for is worth the 30-minute wait ahead of you? Look no further. These are Time Out’s favourite places to get a cone (or cup) of premium gelato or soft serve, as well as chomp on ice cream sarnies, and feast on sundaes. Go forth and get cool.  RECOMMENDED: The best brunches 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.

For centuries, French cuisine has been considered the world’s very best. Although that golden crown might have slipped somewhat, French-accented cuisine is having a real resurgance in popularity. London’s best french restaurants at a glance: 🐽 Best for experimental offal: Camille, Borough 🍷 Best for cosy vibes: Casse-Croûte, Bermondsey 💕 Best for romance: Bouchon Racine, Farringdon  🇫🇷 Best for Lyonnaise cuisine: Josephine, Chelsea 🥐 Best for cool Parisian energy: Bistro Freddie, Shoreditch Its emphasis on technique and ingredients-first approach make it hard to beat when you fancy feasting on something rich, complex, and unimpeachably lavish. So whether you want an old-school onion soup or an elaborate, immaculately conceived dish served with undeniable je ne sais quoi, we’ve got you covered. Here’s our pick of the best bistros, brasseries and fine-dining spots in London spanning every budget, with everything from Michelin-star restaurants to petit back-alley bistros and chic cafes. RECOMMENDED: Here are 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.

These days, it’s not just the specialty wine bars and caves that are putting together the best lists in London. A burgeoning interest in wine across all regions, colours and styles has encouraged many restaurants to up their game to meet the curiosity. So, the 20 suggestions here encompass wine bars, pubs and restaurants where you can order a glass without needing to buy food (although I strongly advise you do so, as each place recommended has an excellent menu that informs each venue’s drinks offering). Everything here has passed the vibe check and will hold a special place in my heart, and liver, for life. RECOMMENDED: These are London’s best bars.  Hannah Crosbie is a London-based wine writer for The Guardian, GQ, and the FT. She hosts regular wine clubs and has appeared on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch. She published her debut book, Corker: A Deeply Unserious Wine Book, in 2024

September 2026: Sunday roast season has finally returned to London. A boozey, end-of-the-weekend lunch is what we're all about in this city, and as well as more unique takes on the roast from the likes of the Macbeth in Hoxton, Buster Mantis in Deptford and Rice Paddy in Peckham, we're all about celebrating the classic meat-spuds-and-gravy variety of Sunday lunch. Enjoy masterful takes on the roast at The Golden Tooth on Green Lanes, The Duke Organic in Islington, and The Camberwell Arms in south London. And watch out for later in the month, when two of our favourite roasts return to London; the all-vegan slap-up roast at LD's Kitchen at the Imperial Palace of Big Red in Camden and Ling Ling's Chinese-inspired roast at Godet in Islington.  London’s best Sunday roasts at a glance: 🥩 Central: Quality Chop House, Clerkenwell 😇 North: The Golden Tooth, Newington Green ⛪ South: Old Nun’s Head, Nunhead 🌈 East: The Nelson’s, Hackney 🍻 West: The Mall Tavern, Notting Hill Sunday lunch. There’s nothing quite like it. An elemental meal, one that Londoners take incredibly seriously. Debates about what constitutes the ‘perfect’ Sunday roast have been known to last for hours. There is no shortage of top roasts and Sunday lunch options in London. We’ve rounded up the city’s best Sunday meals from a host of pubs, restaurants and breweries all around town. What makes a good roast? For us, it’s simple; a welcoming room is a good start, maybe in a pub with an open fire during the winter

Rarely has an opening been as thirsted for as the long-awaited new restaurant from Sertaç Dirik. For those who haven’t been paying close attention to nitty gritty of the London dining scene, Sertaç is the twinkling boy wonder who resuscitated his dad’s Dalston kebab joint with ultra-cheffy, Copenhagen-honed technique, all done while sporting a commendable range of 1990s metal and punk t-shirts. It’s now been almost three years since Sertaç left Mangal 2, presumably taking his sweet time to ensure his solo debut was just-so. Named after the menu’s headline act of slow-cooked goat, Kid could easily refer to Sertaç himself; still only 30, but generally accepted as one of the UK’s greatest young chefs. Wisely, he hasn’t gone it alone, joining forces with hospo big gun David Carter, founder of fire-fed heavy hitters Manteca, Oma and Agora. Much like Carter’s acclaimed roll-call, Kid is all about smokey, flame-licked food. In fact, entering the brooding restaurant, with its dark brick walls and back-lit collection of urns, feels a lot like we’ve stepped inside an actual kiln.  Where Mangal 2 was a workaday canteen, Kid offers a more sensual backdrop, with a charcoal grill as its mission control. There's an earthy main dining area, an intimate, clubbier room facing Frith Street and a handful of counter seats for a direct view of the action. But you don’t need to see the grill to taste its power; deeply juicy and rudely thick slices of sucuk sausage come with grilled peach, which tur

Don’t be fooled by the Holy Tavern’s 18th century affectations. This side street boozer might look the part, what with its scuffed wooden floor, peeling paint and tatty Delftware-style tiles, but it’s actually only been a pub since 1996. But none of that stops it from being utterly charming. First known as the Jerusalem Tavern, it’s been the Holy Tavern since 2022 and the building does actually date back to 1720, so it’s far from ersatz, feeling like a historic coffee house from the era.  Outside might look a little gothic, but inside is cosy as anything, complete with a roaming cat and assorted nooks and crannies. During the summer you’ll find local office workers supping pints by al fresco beer barrels, but as soon as the clocks go back the pub truly comes into its own; lit by candles and with the strange feeling that William Hogarth might tumble through the doors at any moment. Beer comes from St Peter’s Brewery in Suffolk, adding to the olde worlde feel. Time Out tip Some of the best restaurants in London can be found in Clerkenwell. Why not follow your pint up with dinner at St John, Bouchon Racine or Quality Chop House.

There aren’t many London boozers like the incomprable Seven Stars, known not just for a resident cat who wears an Elizabethan ruff (currently The General, though regulars will remember its feline predessor, Clement Attlee), but their near-lethal martinis. Tucked away behind the Royal Courts of Justice, the tiny, charismatic pub - and long-standing Time Out favourite, named our Best Pub of 2003 - is where barristers bring their clients for celebratory champagne or commiseratory scotch after a big case. More importantly, it’s where in-the-know Londoners sequester themselves away for an all-night session under the watchful eye of legendary Aussie landlady and London hospitality hero Roxy Beaujolais. Known for its resident cat who wears an Elizabethan ruff  Dating back to 1602, a good 64 years before the Great Fire of London, the Seven Stars creaks with history, thanks to ancient, rickety floorboards, and terrifyingly steep steps to the loos, though the interiors are largely Victorian thanks to decades of refits. Walls are covered with vintage crime movie posters, as well as black and white photos of Roxy with the great and the good of Soho across the years, giving the place the feel of a rough and ready French wine bar.   Seats at the tables covered with green and white checked oilcloths are hard to come by, but considerate bar staff do their best to alert customers to vacancies, and if you’re peckish the blackboard bistro menu always delivers. 

Ynyshir isn’t simply a restaurant, it’s something to be conquered. As the final boss of British dining, much myth and fable has been built around this Welsh wonderland - a place where an epic all-nighter meets a 30 course tasting menu in a setting that does little to dispel the Viking lore, what with the numerous animal pelts, heavy hide curtains and the presence of an onsite blacksmith.  Located on the west coast of Wales (closest neighbour: an RSPB nature reserve), Ynyshir is remote, but getting there isn’t the hardest part. That would be saving up £450 plus VAT for the pleasure of eating there. With Gareth Ward at the helm, the restaurant won its first Michelin star in 2014, and its second in 2022. He’s a mountain of a man, presiding over the operation like Thor by way of Heston, his hammer replaced by a purpose-built underground Himalayan salt chamber. This is where we first encounter Ward, with each Ynyshir guest whisked into the chilly bunker to gaze upon dangling flesh and meet the maniac who’ll be cooking for them for the next five hours. Back inside the Camden-goth dining room, your test of stamina begins. Ward’s food is every bit as wild and whimsical as the building, arriving in handmade goblincore crockery via well-drilled staff in thick leather aprons. All 20 diners face the kitchen, with seats placed side-by-side for the best view of the action, which (as well as live fire cookery and knifework so skilled as to put Uma Thurman in Kill Bill to shame,) includes a

It’s rare that an 18-course dinner leaves you wanting more, but that’s what happened at Gwen. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but behind an ordinary wine-bar exterior on the high street of tiny Machynlleth, Wales (population 2,100), is the baby sister of culinary Valhalla, Ynyshir.  But if you thought Gwen would be any less intense than its mountain of a sibling, you’d be wrong. Sure, Gwen’s Mexican-Japanese tasting menu is a full 12 courses fewer than the one served by Gareth Ward down the road, but it’s still 18 dishes, though at £180 plus vat, less than half the price.  Former Ynyshir head chef Corrin Harrison launched the bijoux eight-seater in 2023, and when he left for Mor in Cornwall earlier this year, it was assumed Gwen would close. That was until Ward parachuted in his buddy Peter Iglesias Sanchez, who’d just left Decimo, the in-house Mexican restaurant at The Standard hotel in London. ‘I feel like I’ve signed Cristiano Ronaldo,’ Gareth reportedly commented. Sanchez’s cooking is beautifully non-denominational Sanchez’s first move was to get rid of Gwen’s counter seating. Before, meals in the miniature space were reminiscent of a group therapy session, with diners breaking sourdough bread over one shared table. Now the set up is more agile - guests sit side saddle on two-tops in a black-brick front room for a host of fish dishes, before heading through a dungeon-eqsue leather curtain into the fire-powered back kitchen for a bunch of barbecue, then finall

Serving stately home realness in the middle of Stoke Newington, Clissold House is one of the few London cafes where you might accidentally run into a wedding party while you’re ordering your oat milk flat white. Built in 1793, the Grade II-listed grand building has been home to various public cafes over the years (as well as being a popular wedding venue), but none have spruced the place up like the playful Fink’s. On the move? Swing by the lower level hatch in Clissold Park’s rose garden for coffee and soft serve, or settle down in the spacious boldly-painted rooms in the main house, or take a table on the outdoor terrace. Fink’s - who run a host of other cafes in the local area - serve an all-day breakfast from 8am, which includes a California-style breakfast burrito fully-loaded with crispy bacon, fries, eggs and avocado as well as cute and spongy house-made crumpets and sausage baps. On the lighter end of the spectrum you’ll find yogurt with granola and poached fruit. The lunch-adjacent likes of frittata, salads, sandwiches and stuffed pitas arrive at 11am, and the counter serves up deli bits and bold bakes such as blackcurrant, almond and polenta cakes, banana bread, cinnamon brioche buns and jalapeno cheese scones.  Time Out tip Fink’s don’t mind you using the cafe as a workspace, but there’s a no laptops after 11am rule.

There are many wonderful Turkish restaurants in London. There’s FM Mangal holding down the juicy meat-bread scene in Camberwell, Gokyuzu doing serious mixed grill business on Green Lanes and Durak Tantuni shifting heroic beef wraps on West Green Road. And that’s just the tip of the pide. Tarama is whipped into a fluffy frenzy Styled as a ‘meyhane’ - the raki-soaked Turkish equivalent of a provincial British gastropub with good food, good drinks, and the strong likelihood of banter - Kismet is the latest in a long line of impressive residencies upstairs at Borough Market’s Globe pub. Deftly, it bridges the gap between London’s old school Turkish institutions and the chichi Euro small-plates scene. Which makes sense, as it’s run by Dom Hamdy of the Bistro Freddie and Crispin coterie of restaurants alongside former Bibi and Harwood Arms chef Keiran Mustafa, who was recently cooking at nearby Oma, the UK's first Michelin-starred Greek restaurant. If you want, you can gaze directly into Oma through the first floor balconies of Kismet, extremely handy if you’re plotting a tarama-slathered remake of Rear Window. So what does Kismet do differently from the rest of the London Turkish cohort? Well, not much, but that’s a good thing. If anything, the menu leans more Cypriot than most mangals (Mustafa’s family moved here from Cyprus in 1964 and the year is imprinted on neat branded plates) with fresh and herby, Levantine flavours and a little less bready stuff (the brimming basket of fl

For a long time the Shaston Arms was a leftfield Soho pub choice. Not one of the big hitters, (Coach & Horses, French House, Blue Posts etc), but certainly not one of the abject shitholes (of which we’ll refrain from naming to protect their modesty). A decent choice nonetheless, the Shaston wasn’t as historic as the rest. It’d actually been a regular shopfront until Dorset brewery Hall & Woodhouse took it over in 1999, named it after a Thomas Hardy town and turned it into an ersatz Victorian boozer.  Lamb chops couldn’t be cooked better  In 2025, the space was picked up by the same team behind Barnes’ bucolic Waterman Arms gastropub, of which we have previously sung the praises. They gussied up the tatty wooden booths, gave it a moody red ceiling and one of those vintage-styled fairground signs that looks like it was hand-painted by a biker who doesn't actually own a bike. Situated in the pedestrianised Carnaby quarter, it quickly became home to Soho’s biggest vertical drinking squad.   But as well as jubilant street boozing, a very small space has been carved out for dinner. It’s a bit of a squeeze, what with the dining area made up of five tables sunk into a mahogany-lined moat against the back wall of the pub. But somehow it works, with plush velvet curtains tied open and separating it from the main bar, making diners feel like they’re watching a 19th century music hall performance. Champagne Charlie has, however, been replaced by IPA Ian.   It’s quite a mad little menu,

Spring has quietly, gracefully, been one of London’s best restaurants since Skye Gyngell decided to spruce up these former Inland Revenue offices in 2014. (A warning: it’s also one of the priciest). An Aussie earth mother who knew her way around a greengrocer, Gyngell made her name as head chef at Petersham Nurseries Café, delivering seasonal fare so fantastically finessed that the blousy Richmond teahouse scored a Michelin star under her guidance. Before she died in 2025, Gynell spawned a legion of devoted imitators, from Cafe Cecila’s Max Rocha to Wachaha’s Thomasina Miers. The continued excellence of Spring makes for a fitting tribute to her legacy. Dill is everywhere, whether you asked for it or not The grand and airy room in the 19th century New Wing of Somerset House feels like a Home Counties spa hotel; somewhere you might take the girlies to recuperate after a particularly feral night at ABBA Voyage. There’s lots of muted grey, a bonkers porcelain petal sculpture, fresh snapdragons on every table and staff float about in trad-wife adjacent smocks. But don’t be distracted by such whimsy. Spring floats like a butterfly, and stings like the proverbial bee. Food here is hearty by stealth; an elegant crab bruschetta is weighty with white meat, hiding a heft of citrus-spiked flavour under decorative purple flowers and pops of green foliage. A creamy risotto of fleshy, copper-coloured girolles is solidly sensual, as are fleshy lumps of tuna tartare, which mingle with crisp

Café Clement knows its angles. Situated on the most stylish block in central London, this glitzy all-day bistro’s highbrow neighbours are artsy 180 Strand, bougie and phenomenally pricey deli Corner Shop, double Michelin star champ Ikoyi and Frieze’s bakery and artsy restaurant Toklas. Quite frankly, Cafe Clement wouldn’t be seen dead anywhere else. A molten volcano masquerading as a cheese souffle chuckles in the face of Mounjaro It’s on the ground floor of St Clement, the glammy new hotel from hospitality kingpin and founder of the Soho House empire, Nick Jones. With St Clement, Jones means business - of the regular and show variety. Before the hotel’s official opening there are penthouse parties thrown for the Rolling Stones, and, three weeks in, Café Clement has already seen a rotating door of A-listers hoofing up souffle. In part, that’s due to the lure of Jones, whose inbox is a who’s-who of the past 30 years of the global entertainment industry, but also thanks to the pull of former River Cafe head chef Danny Bohan, who’s hit the ground running with a menu of flair-packed French and Italian classics. From the outside, the brusque building gives ‘glum office block’, but inside a contemporary take on art-deco shimmer puts the nearby Savoy to shame. You enter Cafe Clement through the hotel’s fragrant lobby (the bespoke scent is a nod to the ‘oranges and lemons’ in the St Clement’s nursery rhyme) and up a curvy green-carpetted staircase that feels not unlike you’re negoti

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

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

The team behind Sune – a Broadway Market bistro we once branded ‘practically perfect’ – is opening a pub and restaurant in Smithfield Market. The historic meat market, which is currently in the middle of a huge redevelopment programme, will see The Poet opening this November.   The Poet will be in the Victorian-era curved corner space once partially occupied by Bubb’s Le Restaurant Français, which closed in the early 2000s. The team, made up of Charlie Sims, Honey Spencer and Spencer Large, will launch The Poet with exec chef Charlie Tayler, who was most recently cooking at the Michelin-starred Aulis in Soho, reports the Standard.  There will be separate pub and restaurant areas, with food available in both. Expect elevated pub grub like prawn Scotch eggs coated with scampi fries, smoked eel caesar salad and a fallow deer and juniper suet pudding.  Photograph: ©giuliasavorelliThe Poet team The large space will see more rooms opening up next year, with an onsite cocktail bar called Shambles and a chef’s table dining area on a mezzanine.  The Poet will open around the same time as the new London Museum, which launches in Smithfield Market on November 28, after closing down its Museum of London site at the nearby Barbican. The £437m revamp project, a partnership between the City of London Corporation and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, marks the culmination of a decade-long transformation of Smithfield’s historic General Market, which is returning to public use for the first time in

The future of Covent Garden’s Café Pacifico – which opened in 1982, making it one of the UK’s oldest Mexican restaurants – is in doubt. Restaurant Online reports that liquidators have been appointed to Laverlathe Limited, which was Café Pacifico’s last known operating company, and remains named on the Langley Street restaurant’s website. Laverlathe was ‘compulsorily wound up in March following a petition filed last November’, writes Restaurant Online. The publication adds: ‘It is not currently clear whether the business has been sold to a new operator or is continuing to trade under the control of the liquidators.’  Café Pacifico calls itself ‘a fixture of the London Mexican restaurant scene. Being the first of its kind, it first introduced Mexican food, tequila and culture to the UK.’ The ‘homemade’ menu includes nachos, quesadillas, crispy empanadas, burritos, tacos and fajitas, as well as sweet adobo pork ribs with pineapple honey glaze.  Café Pacifico, which remains open, used to have a sister restaurant La Perla on nearby Maiden Lane. According to Restaurant Online, it continues to be linked to Primos Mexican Cantina on Blackstock Road in Finsbury Park. However, this is operated via a different holding company to Laverlathe, so we reckon they’ll be safe. Now got a craving for chimichangas? Check out our expert-curated list of the top 20 Mexican restaurants in London. Did you see that Newington Green is the coolest neighbourhood in London in 2026, according to Time Out?

If you enjoy a spot of creamy cassoulet, then we have the east London pub pop-up for you.  Islington’s Bistro Sablé is one of the newest additions to Time Out’s list of 20 best French restaurants in London. It opened last year in Canonbury and the team behind it are now about to launch Bistro Sablé 2:0, with a three-month takeover of gastropub The Princess of Shoreditch. From October 1, Bistro Sablé will be in residence at the pub’s first floor dining room until the end of the year. The 32-cover pop-up will see a full makeover of the space, with the room splashed with vintage posters from French flea markets and a full menu of Parisian bistro classics, from rotisserie chicken to pâté en croûte. The ground floor of the pub will also see Sablé in residence, but with a shorter blackboard menu of small plates on offer.  Photograph: Bistro SabléBistro Sablé Our recent review of the original Bistro Sablé praised the restaurant, calling it ‘concerned solely with presenting a menu of Gallic classics, served in an unpretentious yet perfectly charming environment.’  Time Out London editor Joe Mackertich added: ‘This isn’t one of those new-fangled ‘spots’ you’ve been hearing about, with monoverbal dish descriptions, disaffected stick-and-poked servers and NTS-approved soundbeds. It’s a French restaurant, of the kind you’d be delighted to encounter while holidaying in provincial Occitania.’  Find the Princess of Shoreditch at 76-78 Paul Street, EC2A 4NE and the OG Bistro Sablé at 63-69

How do you like to choose an Italian restaurant for dinner? Quality of the pasta? Strength of the negronis? Or simply… the size of the dining room? If you’re on Team Huge Room, then you’re in luck, because a place purporting to be Britain’s largest Italian restaurant is set to open later this year. Juno, named in honour of the Roman queen of the gods, is the next dining space to open over at the revamped Olympia exhibition centre. The iconic structure’s lavish £1.3 billion relaunch has come complete with a 3,800 capacity live music venue and rooftop space full of drinking and dining options.  These are the 20 best Italian restaurants in London. With space for 265 diners (as well as 500 overall, presumably with the rest loitering at the bar?), it’ll launch on October 16, so we’ll be able to see then just what Juno has in store. There’ll be live music at the weekends and when it comes to food, the menu includes crab linguine, osso buco alla milanese and tiramisu. There will also be a special pizza counter where you can watch the chefs in action, with space for 10 diners. They promise: ‘this is a house of celebration. Big tables. Flowing wine. Food made for sharing’. Image: JunoJuno neapolitan pizza counter As well as Juno, Olympia has recently launched Mexican-styled Bar Arriba, Japanese cocktail bar Wolves of Tokyo and an English small plates restaurant called Lillie’s. Their rooftop is also home to a food court called Arbour, with Fry Baby, which will serve gourmet fried ch

The return of roast season brings with it the reappearance of two of Time Out’s favourite Sunday lunches.  On Sunday September 27 – evidently the first official day of Roastmas 2026 – not only will LD’s Kitchen vegan roast be served once more, but so will Ling Ling’s Chinese-inspired Sunday lunch, which was previously our number one roast in London.  LD’s Kitchen (which was previously available at The Black Heart in Camden) will now be served around the corner at the Imperial Palace of Big Red on Chalk Farm Road. Their ‘new improved roast menu that’s gonna blow your mind’ is fully plant-based. The previous menu included ‘pork’ tofu belly, beef-style steak and a chicken-ish main served either classic or Southern corn fried alongside roasted sweet potato, swede and basil puree, creamy mustard leeks and spinach, maple and fennel glazed carrots and collard greens with garlic, a crispy yorkshire pud and garlic and rosemary roasties. Black HeartLD's Kitchen Sunday Roast After residencies at The Gun in Hackney and the Bluecoats in Tottenham, Ling Ling’s has been based at ‘wine pub’ Godet in Islington since last October, but have only just announced the return of their roast. Chef duo Jenny Phung and James Shepherd’s Chinese-inspired take on Sunday lunch features beef short rib and five spiced pork belly as well as five spiced seabass, glass skin chicken with ginger and spring onions, and miso aubergine for the vegetarians. All of these come festooned with roast potatoes, seasona

Around this time every year we give our list of the 20 best restaurants in the UK a proper update and we’re happy to announce there’s a brand new number one on the list. The latest list topped is a bijoux eight-seat spot in Machynlleth, Wales (population 2,100), and is the baby sister of double Michelin starred culinary Valhalla, Ynyshir.  Gwen, which opened in 2023, has recently been overhauled by chef Peter Iglesias Sanchez, who left Decimo, the in-house Mexican restaurant at The Standard hotel in London earlier this year. ‘I feel like I’ve signed Cristiano Ronaldo,’ Gareth Ward, who runs Ynyshir reportedly commented. Mike SimGwen, Machynlleth Like Ynyshir, Gwen offers a no-choice tasting menu, with 20 small courses inspired by Mexican and Japanese technique. Read our full review of Gwen here. ‘Skilful, scrumptious and a little bit naughty, this is how tasting menus should be done,’ states the glowing five star assessment.  The tasting menu at Gwen costs £180 a head plus VAT, which isn’t cheap, but dinner runs for three and half hours, and it’s seriously some of the best cooking Time Out’s had the pleasure of shoving in our mouths. The small restaurant is hidden behind an ordinary high street wine bar exterior and is made up of two rooms; the first seven courses are eaten in the front, then diners move to the kitchen for the next courses, before returning to the front room for dessert. The rest of the top 20 spans England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a stro

Everything is bigger in the US; including their sandwiches. And you’ll now get to see for yourself as much-loved American chain Jersey Mike’s is about to launch its debut UK outlet. After slinging subs for 70 years, Jersey Mike’s will be coming to Soho later this year (they’re saying late autumn), setting up shop on Argyll Street before three other branches launch in central London. Could this be what becomes of the old Angus Steakhouse building by Oxford Street station? They’ve already got over 3,000 branches in the US, so this sub takeover has been a long time coming. Jersey Mike’s are known for their Italian-leaning submarine rolls which come filled with sliced meats and cheeses such as provolone, ham, swiss cheese, turkey and cappacuolo, then sloshed with ‘the juice’: an in-house dressing of  red wine vinegar and oil. You can also choose to have your sub ‘Mike’s Way’ - with onions, lettuce and tomatoes. Subway, who? Photograph: James ScherziSandwiches at Jersey Mike’s The first branch of Jersey Mike’s was called Mike’s Subs and opened in 1956 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Current chairman Peter Cancro started working there when he was 14 years old, and in 1975 when he was 17, he bought the business for $125,000 after borrowing the cash from his high school football coach. He changed the name to Jersey Mike’s in the 1980s. Speaking about the London openings Peter Cancro has commented: ‘Jersey Mike’s has always been about making a great sub, taking care of our customers

Rake – AKA chefs Jay Claus and Syrus Pickhaver – has been leading the kitchen of the Compton Arms since the start of 2025, but all good things must come to an end. The duo have announced they’ll be leaving the Islington gastropub at the end of year, which also means the end of one of Time Out’s favourite Sunday roasts. But all is not lost. They’re working on a new independent project and if we know anything about the Compton Arms, it’s that they’ll have a worthy successor in the pipeline.  The Compton Arms was previously home to Four Legs, who went on to open The Plimsoll and Tollington’s, as well as chef Dara Klein, who now runs one of the best Italian restaurants in London, Tiella in Bethnal Green.  You’ve still got a fair bit of time to enjoy Rake’s old school British cookery, which includes the fishy likes of ray wing tenders on crumpets, stargazy pie and beer-battered cockles and clams. Last service is on December 19.  ‘Rake’s ethos, in its current and future form, has always been about hospitality without pretension as much as it is about cooking. Our time at the Compton Arms has provided us the opportunity to finesse exactly what that means, cooking generously, drinking well and creating a place where people can relax and spend time with friends,’ says Jay Claus, who we recently named one of London’s best young chefs. ‘The end of the residency is an evolution rather than an ending for Rake.’ Speaking about their next project, Syrus Pickhaver added: ‘We’re excited to be

Most of the UK restaurant industry took their August 9 to 5 off, and who can blame them? But the summer lull is now over and we’re heading into autumn with a bumper month of terribly exciting new openings for seekers of the best London restos.  We hope you’re feeling hungry, because not only does September herald the return of the king (aka Mangal II’s Sertaç Dirik), but a brand new gastropub from Public House Group – the hotshot squad behind Notting Hill’s bougie Fat Badger and Maida Vale’s The Hero.  There’s also a fresh kitchen residency at one of east London’s best pubs, The Adam & Eve, as well as the arrival of a Soho location for one of the best smashburgers around, Dumbo, and a new temporary home for Malaysian pop-up Duda Diner.    The best new London restaurants opening in September 2026 Photograph: KidChef Sertaç Dirik and restaurateur David Carter of Kid 1. The big one KID, Soho It’s hard to argue with the kitchen clout of Mangal II’s saviour aka chef Sertaç Dirik and Oma kingpin David Carter. Since Sertaç left the family business a couple of years ago, baby we’ve been burning for the announcement of his very own restaurant and it’s finally here. The dashing duo are opening Turkish restaurant Kid in the middle of town, promising magnificent meze and serious salatas, as well as the titular braised kid goat and köfte of many colours.   Opens: September 1 Address: 53-55 Frith Street, Soho, W1D 4SJ Photograph: CasetteCasette 2. The French Peckham transplant  Cassett

One of our favourite fast and easy restaurants in London has announced it’s closing down at the end of next month. Sonora Taquería in Stoke Newington will be shutting up shop on October 31, for what they call an ‘indefinite break’.  The taco shop, which has been one of our favourite Mexican restaurants in London, started life as a street food stall and was Netil Market’s most in-demand trader until it pulled down the shutters in 2022. It’s known for its quite frankly excellent barbacoa and carne asada tacos, as well as quality quesadillas.  SonoraSonora Taqueria Sonora Taquería is run by husband-and-wife team Michelle Salazar de la Rocha and Sam Napier. The couple released a statement about the closure of the restaurant, which opened in 2023: ‘Throughout these years we’ve also gone through an immense amount of hardship in our personal lives, while simultaneously trying to run this business to the best of our abilities.’ They continued: ‘We feel very proud to have been very successful at it but it has also given us a new perspective on what we want for our lives as a couple. We feel ready to move on and try something new. This has always been a tool to showcase Sonora, Mx, and we’re really proud to have done so. So now it’s time for us to go back home and touch base.’ View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sonora Taquería 🌵 (@sonora.ldn) Sonora Taquería, 208 Stoke Newington High Street, N16 7HU The best Mexican restaurants in London. Get the late

Europe is full of great bars. And we should know, the Time Out team has drunk in a fair few of them.  The European Bar Guide has been releasing rankings of the best boozers in Europe since 2017, collating reviews of independent and quirky bars and pubs across the continent. This year, only one London bar made the cut, but it’s a classic.   Coming in hot at number 47 is Gordon’s Wine Bar by Charing Cross station in central London. The historic basement bar has been around since 1890 and – if you can face the often farcical queue to get in – is a real vibe inside. Kind of damp and kind of creepy, but also kind of romantic at the same time, it’s (probably) London’s oldest wine bar and a great place to share a platter of crackers and stinky cheese with a date. ‘A true one-off – which for London is saying something,’ says the European Bar Guide, which we think is a compliment.  Alas, Gordon’s has actually dipped in the top 100 ranking, as it was placed at number 44 last year. Maybe those queues have something to do with it. The people behind the guide have scoured the continent for the very best watering holes offering the perfect balance of character, atmosphere, events, value for money, good food and, of course, good drinks. The highest ranking UK entry was the Holly Bush Inn in the village of Makeney, Derbyshire, which ranked at 17. And at number 1? Well, that was in Budapest. The best bars in London, according to Time Out. Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from

From the classic fry-up to the millennial favourite avocado on toast, we love a good breakfast at Time Out. You can score sublime morning meals across the city, but there’s one that’s recently taken our fancy and shot straight to the top of the very best brekkies in London list.  The new number one breakfast in London comes courtesy of… The Angel in Highgate. The Angel, which relaunched in 2024 under new management, is now run by the same team as the nearby Red Lion & Sun gastropub, but there’s been a pub on the same site for around 400 years. Though we doubt they were serving vegan sausage baps in 1687.  Our glowing review of their breakfast was written by Ella Doyle, who commented: ‘It’s rare to find a breakfast in London that doesn’t secretly make you think “I could’ve made this at home”. But trust me, none of you are getting anywhere close to this kind of finesse on a hangover.’ She added: ‘The Angel breakfast menu has got it all, from expertly crafted brunch classics – full English, avo toast and the likes – to a wonderfully thick Croque Madame, Thai sausage bap with lime mayo and crispy prawn chilli oil, and a whopping great kipper glistening with parsley butter.’ Angel Highgate The Angel opens at 8am and breakfasts run, quite brilliantly, until 4pm every day – apart from on Sundays, when they make way for roasts at 11.45am. The breakfast also includes mushrooms on toasted sourdough and Greek yoghurt with blueberries, banana and granola.   Our list of the best breakf