Leonie Cooper

People are obsessed with Kent for a reason, and to be honest, the biggest reason is probably Margate. This humble seaside town blew up a few years ago (mostly with day-trippers), and since then its seen a string of fantastic restaurants, bars and more open on its seafront.  Put simply, Margate is the perfect day out, from its quaint vintage shops to its old-school arcades, as well as its thriving contemporary art scene (shout out to the Turner Contemporary, one of the best in the business). We’ve curated the perfect day in this delightful seaside town: here are the best things to do in Margate right now.  🚆 RECOMMENDED: The best day trips from London At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This article includes affiliate links. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines.

*]:pointer-events-auto scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" tabindex="-1" data-turn-id="request-699f0f00-ba5c-8386-ab21-02dd04d31656-3" data-testid="conversation-turn-20" data-scroll-anchor="true" data-turn="assistant"> Starry-eyed romantics have been flocking to Florence for centuries in search of artistic inspiration (and, yes, romance). It’s a city of world-class art, knockout restaurants and an almost overwhelming list of things to see and do – but eventually, you’ll need somewhere suitably fabulous to lay your head. Choosing the right hotel matters here. This is Florence, after all – your base should feel as considered and characterful as the city itself. The best hotels in Florence span boutique beauties, homely hideaways and full-blown five-star titans. Location-wise, you’ve got options. Stay in the historic centre (Centro Storico) if you want the Duomo, Uffizi and Piazza della Signoria on your doorstep. Oltrarno, across the river, offers a more local, artisan feel, with cool wine bars. Around Santa Maria Novella you’ll find handy transport links and elegant piazzas, while the leafier edges of the city offer retreats away from the thickest tourist crowds. For 2026, our top spot goes to Four Seasons Hotel Firenze – but every stay on this list guarantees sweet dreams and a stylish launchpad for exploring one of Italy’s most magical cities. 💎 Most luxurious: Four Seasons Hotel Firenze ✨ Most iconic: Hotel Savoy 🏛️

February 2026: It's still cold, and it's still grey - which means we're still in peak Sunday roast season. Not simply just a decent hangover cure, Sunday lunch is one of the most winter-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 (check out French resto Bistro Sable for a great one), as well as nooks and crannies where you can hunker down until spring returns. Try also the Macbeth in Hoxton, which offers a great Portuguese-style Sunday sesh. There are a couple of posh restaurants in the mix too, with a Nordic roast at the plush Ekstedt at the Yard near Westminster, and a serious meat feast at Quality Chop House in Clerkenwell. Our worthy Number 1 is the simple, spectacular roast at London’s OG organic pub, The Duke of Cambridge in Islington.  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

Peckham locals have always been proud of the area’s brand: a melting pot of cultural vibrancy, eccentric individuals, and an artsy, young DIY crowd thanks to nearby Goldsmiths University and Camberwell College of Arts. It rivals Dalston and all those other East End upstarts as the place to hang out, and it’s the perfect spot for new restaurants to find their feet. Here are some of the best in the area, as well as a host of notable places to eat just down the road in Camberwell, too.  RECOMMENDED: The best 50 restaurants in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

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.

The yearly unveiling of the Michelin Guide’s ‘Great Britain and Ireland’ edition is always big news in the UK food-nerd world. For very good reason, too – London is one of the top-ranked cities in the world for fine dining. And it’s got plenty of those coveted stars. Newcomers on 2026’s list include the excellent Legado in Shoreditch, as well as Ambassadors Clubhouse in Mayfair, gastropub The Kerfield Arms in Camberwell, and 12-seater Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High, which is on the 60th floor of 22 Bishopsgate in the City. They join plenty more places that also appear in our meticulously compiled list of the best restaurants in London. Newly minted two star restaurants for 2026 include Bonheur by Matt Abé in Mayfair, which takes over the site previously occupied by the legendary Le Gavroche, and only launched at the end of 2025. Row on 5 on Savile Row was also awarded a second star, after winning its debut star last year. No new London restaurant was awarded three stars in 2026. While Michelin’s expertise on expensive, upmarket restaurants is well known, the Michelin Guide has been criticised for its lack of relevance to ordinary diners. Conspicuous by their absence yet again are London’s more affordable places to eat. Still, if you’re feeling flush, read on to find all London restaurants with a Michelin star (or two, or three). London’s best Michelin star restaurants at a glance:  👛 Best value: Casa Fofò, Hackney 💰 Best for a blow-out: The Ritz Restaurant, Mayfair 🫚 Best

February 2026: Our latest update to this list sees the addition of new Fitzrovia bistro, Khao So-i, which impressed with its Northern Thai coconut curry noodles, as well as Michelin Bib Gourmand-rated Kruk, which you'll find in a railway arch in Peckham. Som Saa has also been added back into the Top 20 after reopening following a kitchen fire. London’s best Thai restaurants at a glance:  🍴 Best for Michelin star cuisine: AngloThai, Marylebone 🔥 Best for fiery flavour: Kiln, Soho  🍹 Best for a boozy dinner: Speedboat Bar, Chinatown + Notting Hill 🍺 Best for a pub meal: Khun Pakin Thai, Hammersmith 🇹🇭 Best for southern Thai cuisine: Kolae, Borough  Thai cuisine is one of the world’s most complex. It can deliver relentless, tongue-chest-and-stomach-busting fireworks for serious chilli-chasers, but harmoniously balance these formidable levels of heat with sweet, salty, umami, sour, and bitter tones. It does all of this whilst showing off a vast repertoire of zesty, herbal, and pungent aromatics. With its blend of fresh, grilled and richly stewed dishes and palate-journeying energy, a Thai meal is a thrilling game of contrasts.  For Londoners, chasing the ecstatic heights Thai food can offer has never been a more viable pursuit, with London’s Thai-obsessed British chefs behind the acclaimed likes of Begging Bowl, Som Saa, Farang, and Smoking Goat. The increasing diversification of Thai food has also meant greater attention to hyper-regional cooking. Northern Thai spots ha

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 February 2026. London's best new restaurants at a glance: 🍛 Central: DakaDaka, Mayfair 🍠 North: Ling Ling’s, Islington 🇹🇭 South: Kruk, Peckham 🍝 East: Tiella, Bethnal Green 🥗 West: Martino’s, Chelsea February 2026: We have a new Number 1! The newly-opened Tiella in Bethnal Green has scooped the top spot thanks to knockout regional Italian dishes from chef Dara Klein. Other fresh additions include the slinky Martino's in Chelsea, Cambodian residency Barang at The Globe in Borough Market, foodie wine bar in a one-time Clerkenwell tattoo parlour Passione Vino, perfect produce at Dockley Road Kitchen in Bermondsey, Korean fusion spot Calong in Stoke Newington, Hunanese heat at Fiery Flavors in Surrey Quays, Ukrainian elegance at Sino in Notting Hill, cool diner energy at Dover Street Counter in Mayfair, Georgian classics at DakaDaka in Mayfair, and veggie-friendly Thai at Kruk i

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

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

Have you noticed that everyone seems to be doing Pilates right now? Well, there’s good reason. Developed by German trainer Joseph Pilates in the 1920s, the exercise regime is low-impact but does absolute wonders for your muscles (including your core) – and it’ll sort out a load of other issues form bad posture to balance, too. Celebs, dancers and elite athletes swear by it and now all sorts of new studios are popping up over the city. If you wanna get a bit more bendy, toned and powerful, look no further than one of these expert pilates classes. What’s more, it doesn’t matter whether they’re mat-based, inspired by ballet or take place on a reformer machine (they’re not as scary as they look, we promise), these fun and fancy studios won’t leave you bent out of shape. Here are the best pilates classes in London. Fancy testing that new-found flexibility? Try one of these yoga classes in London next.  London’s best pilates classes at a glance Best for barre: Paola’s Body Barre Best for beginners: Frame Best for traditionalists: Kinetic Pilates Best for a budget: The Refinery RECOMMENDED: The best sport and fitness in London

Squid Game, Parasite, and BTS – the rising influence and popularity of Korean culture has taken the world by storm in the last few years, and that very much includes food. When it comes to Korean cuisine in London it’s all about the three Bs: banchan (small side dishes), bibimbap (mixed rice) and barbecue. From bibimbap in unassuming takeaways to sizzling bulgogi on table-top grills and a dizzying array of banchan on fine dining set-menus, you’re spoilt for choice for Korean food in London. Here are the 21 best Korean restaurants in London, many of which you'll find in south west London's New Malden neighbourhood, which has been home to the largest Korean community in the UK since the 1970s.  RECOMMENDED: London’s 20 Best Japanese Restaurants. Angela Hui is an award-winning journalist reporting on the intersection of food and culture, hospitality industry and food justice. She is the author of 'Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter'. 

There’s been an effective Thai cookery feedback loop operating in London for the past decade, with chefs bounding off a training ground that normally starts at Spitalfields’ Som Saa or Peckham’s Begging Bowl. And so it goes with Kruk, with Rob Willcox and Josh Lyons embarking on their own take on fresh and fiery southeast Asian flavours after back-and-front-of-house stints at both, as well as at Farang and Plaza Khao Gaeng.  Fried venison wontons with water chestnut are tidy bombs of meaty majick   Kruk is in a railway arch under Peckham Rye station. It feels not unlike a spruced-up air raid shelter, complete with whitewashed brick roof and a gravel-floored outdoor terrace which at the moment is deserted, but by summer will no doubt heave. What separates Kruk from the glut of other Thai-inspired restaurants across Zone 2? Pleasingly unpolished location aside, not much. But that’s no bad thing. Years after the initial nu-Thai boom, there’s still a ravenous market for punchy papaya salads – a recent midweek trip to Som Saa saw the place as heaving as it ever was, and the opening of Kruk (as well as a second Plaza Khao Gaeng in Borough Market) will only help lighten the load when it comes to the still-rammed scene OGs. What Kruk does bring to the table is a veggie-friendly take on Thai, with every dish having a vegetarian counterpart. A valiant cause, but we’re faithful to fish and meat tonight, starting with a flawless round of oysters dressed with green nam jim and teeny tiny

A new-school gem in an old school location, La Serena brings the beachy Italian resort of Forte dei Marmi bang up to date. The 20-room La Serena opened in July 2023, and does the chic and artsy boutique hotel thing extremely well. It’s somewhat removed from the main hustle and bustle of Forte, but don’t think of this as a negative. La Serena might not have a beachside view or immediate access to sand, but it has something else – it’s own little world, and it feels much more contemporary than some of the rather more Soviet-looking hotels nearer the beach.  Why stay at La Serena? This seaside Tuscan spot is only open during spring and summer or from the middle of April until the end of September. We arrive right towards the end of the season, and find a super peaceful and still marvellously warm and sunny escape at our disposal. In fact, it feels like we have the entire place to ourselves, and it’s hard to decide who has the better room, me or my friend - her side of the hotel looks over the stunning Tuscan mountains, and mine is in the direction of the sea, via the majestic umbrella pine trees in the hotel’s stylish garden. No view is subpar. The modern landscaped garden feels like an open air art gallery, and everything is tasteful without being overblown or gaudy. There’s also a pool table just off the main lobby, making the place feel like a terribly chic youth club. Also check out the atrium room where local artists’ work is displayed on easels, while the corridor walls ar

Dating all the way back to 1736, The Bath Arms mixes ye olde English charm with contemporary cosiness. A historic country pub that manages to fit 16 bedrooms upstairs (and in an old stable block out back), think of it as a Tardis as written by Jane Austen. The Bath Arms is the bustling focal point of a tiny village called Horningsham in the sprawling Longleat Estate in Wiltshire. Just by the Somerset borders, this picture-perfect boozer is packed with diners and drinkers on the weekends, with some of the best pub grub in the county served in numerous nooks and crannies of a grand Georgian era-boozer. The fact that you can stay upstairs after stuffing yourself silly only adds to the charm.  What are the rooms like at The Bath Arms? The pub’s 16 bedrooms come in small, medium and large doubles. Clean, crisp and ultra-welcoming, rooms at the Bath Arms are stylish without being overblown. There are traditional beams, stone-coloured soft furnishings, Siberian goose down duvets on big, comfy beds, and quaint village views. Essentially, it’s classic cottage-core but without the chintz. Our large double is fabulously expansive, and comes with a roll-top bath in a spacious marble bathroom, as well as (pleasingly) wonky fixtures, as befitting of a building that’s almost 300 years old. Despite being above the main room of the pub, the sound from downstairs is barely audible. We slept like veritable logs.  What are the facilities like at The Bath Arms? Rooms come with decent wi-fi, big t

Joo Young Won used to be head chef at the Michelin-starred Galvin at Windows, which looked out, Mary Poppins-style, over the oligarchian rooftops of Belgravia and Hyde Park from the 28th floor of the Park Lane Hilton. His new restaurant, Calong, has a slightly different view.  Directly opposite a branch of Whole Foods, it’s right on the Buggy Mile (aka Stoke Newington Church Street). But who needs to gaze upon the middle classes clutching their sourdough loaves when the scenery inside is so nice. Cosy and simple, the front room-esque space features wall-mounted coat hooks a la St John, a chalkboard menu, an exposed brick fire surround and so many two-tops that you feel like you’re an extra on First Dates. Calong’s mythic BBQ onglet is the kind of steak a non steak lover could love  Calong is a date spot and no mistake, with food made for sharing and fork fights over who gets to scoff the last kimchi fritter. Chef Joo was raised in South Korea, but began his cookery career in the UK, and for a long time focused on French technique. It shows. Calong sees him cooking dishes inspired by his native cuisine in a masterful light-touch fusion fashion. Those kimchi fritters are a mighty opener, an even-more addictive take on the classic kimchi pancake, leaning into those crispy edges by making it all crispy edges. It’s a bit like if roast potatoes were just the skins. In other words: elite snackery. A warm pumpkin and crisp pear salad is delicately dressed with gochujang and, what we

Emily Brontë’s only published novel has always been utterly batshit, and director Emerald Fennell’s take on the gothic ‘romance’ of Wuthering Heights follows suit, as peculiarly cold as it is visually decadent. The destructive aspect of Cathy and Heathcliff’s obsessive love is front and centre, yet it’s hard to care about Margot Robbie’s bratty Catherine Earnshaw – who seems too old to be acting this teenage – and Jacob Elordi’s boring, one-note Heathcliff. In the book he is ‘wild’ and deeply charismatic. In the film, he is… tall?  For those unfamiliar with the unhinged masterpiece, Cathy has been infatuated with Heathcliff since her widowed father brought this mysterious boy to their Yorkshire home. Fast forward to adulthood and Heathcliff has buggered off, while Cathy has married their neighbour, Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif), who in Fennell’s delirious vision lives in a kaleidoscopic Rococo palace. Heathcliff then returns, stonkingly rich. She wants him, and he wants her, but they cannot be together as Cathy is now pregnant with Edgar’s child.  In the book, this leads to much unconsummated yearning, but Fennell – who infamously made Barry Keogan stick his dick in a freshly dug grave in Saltburn – gets the pair romping with impunity. This is, naturally, after Cathy experiences her sexual awakening while spying on household servants having a kinky stable-based encounter. But despite all this shagging, Wuthering Heights is not even Fennell’s horniest film. It’s hard to care abo

My misty-eyed infatuation with this new wave, old school-indebted trattoria dates back to the heady days of 2023, when chef-founder Dara Klein began doing alchemical things with pasta and breadcrumbs at alt-gastropub The Compton Arms in Islington. From a tiny kitchen the Brawn and Sager and Wilde-trained chef fired out heroic plates of deceptively simple but deeply satisfying Italian food inspired by her Pugliese heritage. Dipping into rarer regional cracks of Italian cuisine Like every decent crush, there was a moment of jeopardy when Dara hung up her apron at the end of 2024. But there was a plan. Of course there was a plan. Such was the effusive reaction to her residency, the Italian-born, New Zealand-raised chef was off to open a restaurant of her own. And here it is, inside a gorgeously gabled Victorian boozer on the eastern fringes of Colombia Road that was once known as The Globe, and, as elder millennials may remember, Stringray Cafe, the perfect place for a comedown pizza after you’d tumbled out of a Whitechapel warehouse party hours previously.   The building has been done up, but not too done up. It still feels pubby, with a handpainted Tiella sign, 1930s-styled stained glass windows, mahogany wood-pannelling and, inexplicably, a giant portrait of Cher above the bar. As Dara sagely points out, a true trattoria is the Italian equivalent of a British pub; a welcoming hub where the community comes together over food and booze. Tiella is that to the highest degree.  Un

The not-that-little sister of one of central London’s most important restaurant launches of the past few years, Dover Street Counter sits two doors down from its glossy sibling, The Dover. Just as elegant, but with a naughty glint in its eye, it’s almost enough to make Mayfair cool for the first time since the Beatles played on that roof.  McDonald’s for oligarchs Unlike The Dover, Dover Street Counter is an all-day affair (and, equally, a great place to have an all-day affair). With a shorter menu and a more casual set-up, food is important here – of course it is – but this place is about much more than what you’re eating. It’s about vibes, and DSC has a surfeit of them. The experience starts before you get inside, with a sleek curved glass frontage, that’s all 1930s shopfront by way of a Parisian Fin de Siècle knocking shop. Push open the door to find a thick, floor-to-ceiling curtain, which not only keeps out both winter drafts and summer sunshine, but separates two worlds from each other: dreary, workaday real life from a glamorous, wonderland of martinis and controlled mayhem. The soundtrack is largely ‘90s hip-hop that it’s impossible not to like. They probably want you to think of it as a mere diner, but it’s so much more.  The first room of many is lined by a chrome counter dotted with domed rattan lights, seemingly pinched from the set of Emmanuelle. The kitchen is in full view, but there are a couple of small tables on the floor if watching someone flip cheeseburge

Exmouth Market is an exceptional street. On a wet and blustery winter evening, there are still scores of people spilling out of Cafe Kick, Berber & Q’s Shawarma Bar and Morito et al, clinking beers, chugging wines and puffing on crafty cigs all down this pedestrianised strip of year-round urban hedonism.  It’s the perfect scene for the second outing from eccentric wine guy Luca Dusi, whose Shoreditch bar, with its ‘no list, purely vibes’ approach to serving customers has been enchanting Londoners since 2015.  Exmouth Market just got even more exciting The new Passione Vino offers the same intrepid method. Rather than a chalkboard or menu, intuitive staff will ask what you’re into and, after a kind of sommelier-adjacent cold reading, will return with a couple of bottles for you to try, before you’re poured a glass of your favourite. Wine here is exclusively Italian (Passione Vino started life as an import company), but you’re allowed to throw out names of global grapes and knowledgeable staff will suggest their Italian equivalent. Not sure what you like? That works too, with recommendations coming thick and fast, alongside brief but impassioned explanations of various vines.  If the space looks familiar, that’s because they’ve taken over the original home of long-running Clerkenwell tattoo parlour, the Family Business (don’t worry they’ve not closed, just moved next door). The gold foil ‘Electric Tattooing’ lettering remains emblazoned on the steamy windows, and the buzz of t

Conceptually, Poon’s has a lot going for it. First, there’s the location; a stunning, high-ceilinged antechamber in the west wing of Somerset House, all dolled up with hand-painted willows weeping down pastel pink walls. Then there’s the deep, storied lore. This is the latest incarnation of a London institution, with the first Poon’s Restaurant opening in 1973 and bringing Cantonese food to the tatty streets south of Soho and helping give Chinatown its name. Next came the flashier Poon’s of Covent Garden, which welcomed the likes of Frank Sinatra and Mick Jagger (not to mention a Michelin Star), in 1980.  There’s liver so enticing that even offal-phobes might lap it up Founders William and Cecilia Poon retired in the mid-2000s, but their daughter Amy has been keeping the family business alive, through what the marketing team are at pains to point out is a ‘food and lifestyle brand’, as well as various wonton-related pop-ups. This marks her first stand-alone restaurant, and a lot of thought has gone into the elegant space, which is as long, skinny and splendid as any 1990s-era supermodel.  Food isn’t quite as ornate. Although prawn toast, which is dubbed ‘The hill that Amy didn’t die on’ for reasons unexplained, looks the part, all chubby and deep-fried in sesame seeds, it doesn't taste of much. One of those famous Poon’s dipping sauces would be nice, but alas, it is served nude. Luckily, a bowl of slippery wontons are served with a helping of Poon’s branded Chilli Vinegar Dre

You have to hand it to Hanbaagaasuuteeki for its supremely confident choice of location. This Asian-inspired burger joint has opened up within patty-spitting distance of Shake Shack and Bleecker Burger, making this London’s prime hamburger nexus. Need meat sandwiched between buns? Victoria’s hectic transport hub is calling.  It feels a lot like hallowed West Coast burger joint In-N-Out with a K-pop twist  Happily, Hanbaagaasuuteeki pulls off its cocky move in a major way. A drop-in spot with high stools, counter-top tables and bright red splashes of colour, it feels a lot like hallowed West Coast burger joint In-N-Out with a K-pop twist.  As well as a few cursory sides, the menu features nine burgers, kicking off with a ‘1950s-style’ double cheeseburger, a tribute to the ultimate in trad fast food with a gentle Japanese lilt (its onions are rehydrated in dashi vinegar). It’s good, sure, but why not try something a little more exciting than the all-American classic. Hanbaagaasuuteeki’s more inventive burgers don’t seem like novelty additions, nor a panicked afterthought. On the freakier fringes of the menu is where the magic happens.  Take, for example, my favourite, the shrimp kong baga. Surf and turf if you happen to be surfing on the shores of Okinawa, this smashed, lacy beef patty comes topped with a cavalcade of crispy, deep fried shrimps, topped with sweet and tangy 1000 island-style dressing as well as melted cheese. There’s a scattering of seaweed strands on the top,

Ikoyi is a huge deal. Monumental, in fact. Arguably the most important British restaurant of the past decade, it’s also one of the only London locations to regularly find itself in official rankings of the world’s greatest places to eat. Michelin stars? You bet. Ikoyi has a casual two, and is shamelessly gunning for a third.  It is, of course, exceptional. At these prices it has to be. With the most expensive tasting menu we’ve ever come across (£380 a head, and that’s before drinks), food at Ikoyi can’t just be ‘good’. It has to be really fucking great.  Dishes that simultaneously make you think and make you feel held Jeremy Chan makes sure of it. Ikoyi’s steely and determined head chef has such a singular vision that people have come, night after night, since 2017 to spend the best part of an average weekly salary on a single meal.  A demi-brutalist space of warm walnut wood, and soft spotlights over each table, Ikoyi’s deeply chill dining room sits at the corner of the 180 Strand building. Also home to a branch of Soho House, elite deli 180 Corner, and the HQs of uber cool fashion brands Martine Rose and Harris Reed, as well as style mag Dazed and art fair dons Frieze, 180 Strand is where you’ll find the coolest creatives in London, and possibly everyone who ever bullied you in sixth form.  Named after the affluent suburb of Lagos where co-founder Iré Hassan-Odukale was born, Ikoyi has gently moved away from its original west African culinary concept. Now the focus is on

There’s something terribly trad about naming your restaurant Lilibet’s – a reference to the late Queen Elizabeth’s cutesy childhood nickname. A royalist flex can be blamed upon the location of this fancy new seafood spot, which is on the Bruton Street site of the 18th century townhouse where Lizzy II was born in 1926. Demolished in 1937, it made way for the vast office building which stands here today.  It is, essentially, the perfume counter at Selfridges with a bonus raw bar Inside this huge corner spot is where things get interesting. With its baby blue frilly swags, powder pink floral wallpaper, shiny silver candelabras and plump soft furnishings, Lilibet’s offers a rococo take on the OTT flamboyance displayed by its Mayfair neighbours Sexy Fish, Bacchanalia, Hakkasan and Park Chinois. It is, essentially, the perfume counter at Selfridges with a bonus raw bar, or the sugar plum fairy’s boudoir by way of Billingsgate, and although the frothy, frilly girlishness of the place should be too much, it is somehow just enough. Oddly enough, it’s from the same former Nobu exec chef who founded the ‘rock’n’roll’ ramen chain, Bone Daddies.   Wondrous wallpaper aside, starters are Lilibet’s strongest suit. Diminutive anchovy eclairs are as fabulous as the decor, offering a gruff creamy parfait tongue-slap but with a sweet and sour sauce that cuts, lazer-like, through the delicate honk of fish brine. Next comes a pretty, pretty crab tart with grapefruit, which is almost presumptuousl

When it comes to eating out in London, this March is set to be a biggie.  After a number of false starts, one of the city’s most iconic restaurants is finally set to reopen after closing six years ago during the pandemic. Simpson’s in the Strand will be back in action in mere weeks, according to restaurateur Jeremy King. ‘We’re not trying to make it trendier, or faster, or louder,’ he says of the storied spot. When it comes to reopenings, Simpson’s isn’t the only returning legend. Much-loved east London pub The Gun has also just re-opened under new management, and Camden LGBT+ institution The Black Cap is set to return very soon, too.  What else is London saying right now? Well, the capital’s pizza obsession shows absolutely no signs of slowing up, with a former Dough Hands chef launching their own pizza pop-up at Islington’s Old Queen’s Head. There’s also a new Irish pub in Clapton, and a new listening bar in Walthamstow, for all your drinking and chin-stroking needs.  RECOMMENDED: The best restaurants in London for 2026. The 7 best new London restaurants opening in March 2026 Photograph: Rosie Hewitson for Time Out 1. The historic institution  Simpson’s In The Strand, Strand Jeremy King – the hospitality brains behind the likes of Brasserie Zédel, The Wolseley and more recent Bayswater opening The Park – has been planning to reopen the legendary Simpson’s in the Strand for a while. Serving up traditional British fare since 1828, and beloved by literary luminaries Charles

In the market for some very expensive sushi? You’re in luck! Sushi Amamoto is opening in Mayfair this week, led by chef Shogo Amamoto, who runs the original Sushi Amamoto in Taipei, which boasts a waiting list of a year and a menu that would bankrupt most people.  The 16-seat omakase sushi restaurant is launching in the space once home to Michelin star Japanese restaurant Taku, on Albemarle Street. Taku retained its star in the recent awards, and head chef Jongho Park will remain at the restaurant alongside the Taku team, with Shogo Amamoto in the exec chef patron role. Taku’s founder Watanabe Taku left the restaurant last year to launch another sushi counter in Paris.  Sushi Amamoto will offer two omakase menus; £180 for 17 courses and £380 for 22 courses. Which is the same pricing structure that Taku held, and is a little bit cheaper than the $2,000 a head menu at the original Sushi Amamoto in Taipei, which holds two Michelin stars. The Mayfair opening is Shogo Amamoto’s first restaurant outside of Taiwan, where he moved from his native Japan 12 years ago. You can find it at 36 Albemarle Street, W1S 4JE. The best sushi restaurants in London, according to Time Out. Plus: our guide to the city’s top Japanese eateries. 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 to our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox. 

Our list of the best restaurants in Covent Garden has got a brand new number one. Following the closure of former list-topper Tandoor Chop House last month, Time Out’s London food experts have crowned a new primo destination in the land of tourists and theatregoers. And the winner is... Twenty8 Nomad.  See past the slightly annoying name and you’ll find one of the best places to eat in this buzzy central London neighbourhood. You’ll find it at the NoMad hotel, and the newly revamped in-house restaurant (previously known as Atrium) is a high-octane tribute to the big, ballsy American brasserie.  Our 2025 review said of the restaurant: ‘The aesthetic... is all Manhattan-by-way-of-the-Marais, an extravagant Yank take on the French brassiere, complete with excessively high ceilings, balustrades and balconies.’ The grand space offers a lavish ‘raw bar’, supersized-steak frites and an entire cocktail offering devoted to the martini. Crispy artichoke, prawn cocktail, mussels in green curry sauce, and lobster pasta also make the menu.  Nomad is also home to a great bar, Side Hustle, which specialises in tequila and mezcal, and was named the best international hotel bar in the world in 2025. Read our review of Side Hustle here.  Covent Garden is home to 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.  The best restaurants in Covent Garden, according to Time Out. Did

Huge news. The Gun is re-opening later this month. The much-loved Well Street pub closed down at the start of 2025, but the stalwart of Hackney’s eating and drinking scene will reopen on February 23. Under new ownership, the pub says: ‘Come for the Guinness. Stay for the wagyu.’ Hot Dinners reports that the man behind the relaunched boozer is Kotaro Ogawa of Mayfair’s fine dining Japanese steakhouse Aragawa.  That should mean that the pub, which has hosted several kitchen residencies over the years, such as the inimitable Ling Ling’s and Rake (which is now at The Gun’s former sister pub, The Compton Arms), will still be serving up serious food.  However, The Gun’s history as a rave pub, hosting DJs like Daniel Avery and Marie Davidson in its intimate 90-capacity space, might all be in the past. The Gun was forced to close its doors in March 2025 due to the ‘increasing costs of running a hospitality business in the current financial climate’. Nick Stephens, Hanna Sinclair-Stephens and Oliver Dixon opened the pub in June 2014, breathing new life into the building by polishing up its original Victorian features. The venue was saved from closure in 2020 thanks to a crowd funding campaign during the pandemic, which raised more than £30,000 in one day. The team still run Islington’s The Compton Arms.   The best pubs 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 WhatsAp

With London’s newest Michelin stars announced for 2026 this week, you might be considering making a trip to one of these very delicious award-winning restaurants. And you also might be pondering whether you’ve got enough dosh to afford it. Most Michelin star spots are pretty pricey. Prohibitively expensive, in fact. Take, for example, Sushi Kanesaka in Mayfair, which costs £420 a head for its omakase offering (and yes, that is before drinks). Or how about Ikoyi at 180 Strand with its (very delicious) £380 tasting menu of 14-ish courses?  But not every single Michelin star tasting menu will leave you destitute. We’ve collated a list of the top 10 most affordable Michelin star dinner tasting menus of at least four courses in London. It is possible to get a cheaper deal at lunchtime in many Michelin star restaurants (and some places offer shorter, three-course set menus, as well as a la carte options) but who wants a slap-up meal at midday on a Tuesday?  At the top of the list is Indian restaurant Amaya in Belgravia, with a £75 tasting menu at dinner, which includes the likes of tandoori black pepper chicken tikka and smoked chilli lamb chop. The vegetarian tasting menu is even better value, at £70. Amaya has had a Michelin star since 2006.  In second place is lovely little neighbourhood bistro Casa Fofo in Hackney, where you can dine on an eight-course tasting menu for £76, which might include the likes of pollock with bergamot and chanterelle mushrooms, and strawberry grapes w

Emily Brontën ainoa julkaistu romaani oli alun perinkin täysin pähkähullu, ja ohjaaja Emerald Fennellin elokuvaversio Humisevasta harjusta lisää kierroksia: se on yhtä oudon kylmä kuin visuaalisesti dekadenttikin.  Fennell laittaa Cathy ja Heathcliffin tuhoisan, pakkomielteisen rakkauden täysillä tarinan keskiöön, mutta katsojan on vaikea lämmetä sen päähenkilöille. Kolmekymppinen Margot Robbie tuntuu aivan liian vanhalta esittämään teini-ikäistä Catherine Earnshaw’ta, ja Jacob Elord on yksinkertaisesti tylsä yhden ilmeen Heathcliffinä. Kirjassa hän on villi ja karismaattinen hahmo. Elokuvassa hän on… pitkä? Niille, jotka eivät tunne Brontën holtitonta mestariteosta, Cathy on ollut Heathcliffin lumoissa siitä saakka, kun leskeksi jäänyt isä toi salaperäisen pojan heidän Yorkshiren-kotiinsa. Täysi-ikäistyttyään Heathcliff lähtee omille teilleen, ja Cathy päätyy naimisiin naapurin Edgar Lintonin kanssa (Shazad Latif), joka Fennellin houreisessa visiossa asuu kaleidoskooppimaisessa rokokoopalatsissa. Heathcliff palaa tietysti takaisin, älyttömän rikkaana. Hän haluaa Cathyn, ja Cathy haluaa hänet, mutta he eivät voi olla yhdessä, koska Cathy on raskaana Edgarin lapsesta. Fennell saa paljaat nummetkin ulvomaan intohimosta Kirjassa tämä johtaa pitkään, patoutuneeseen kaipuuseen, mutta Fennell – joka sai Saltburn-elokuvassaan Barry Keoganin tökkäämään miehuutensa vastakaivettuun hautaan – päästää parin toistensa kimppuun. Tämä tapahtuu, luonnollisesti, sen jälkeen, kun Cathy kokee s

Pour one out for the London restaurants that lost their stars in the recent update to the Michelin Guide. The 2026 awards for Great Britain & Ireland were held earlier this week in Dublin, and as well as 10 newly anointed London restaurants, a number of places were left sadly star-less. Humo in Mayfair was the only restaurant to officially lose its Michelin star, with the decision made after acclaimed chef Miller Prada left at the start of 2025. The live-fire restaurant gained its star under the direction of the Colombian-born chef, who had previously worked with Endo Kazutoshi at Endo at the Rotunda in White City.  Prada is currently looking to launch a new project of his own. Time Out’s five-star Humo review – written when the restaurant still had its star – praised the chef, saying: ‘Watching the skilled, admirably efficient Prada at work is also all part of the joy of Humo. His way with placing beetroot jus on a plate of lamb was hypnotic, the resulting red squiggles and shapes resembling a static Alexander Calder mobile.’  A host of one star restaurants have also closed since the last awards, including the two-Michelin-starred La Dame de Pic at Four Seasons Hotel London at Tower Bridge and the two-Michelin-starred Bibendum in South Ken. The one star Lyle’s in Shoreditch, Dosa at the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair (which was open less than a year), and The Five Fields in Chelsea have also shut down, with Club Gascon in Smithfield set to stop operating next month. As such, all

The Michelin Guide hosted its annual awards for Great Britain & Ireland last night in Dublin, and there are 10 newly anointed London restaurants. The restaurants to gain their first Michelin stars included one which features in Time Out’s own list of the best new restaurants in London: Spanish restaurant Legado in Shoreditch, which opened last summer. Legado is run by Nieves Barragán Mohacho, the visionary chef behind Mayfair’s Sabor, which was awarded a Michelin star in 2018. Other restaurants to receive their first star include Tom Brown at the Capital in Knightsbridge, which also opened in 2025. A fish-centric fine dining spot, it’s headed up by the boss of the now-shuttered Michelin star-scoring Cornerstone, which was in Hackney Wick.  RECOMMENDED: a full list of every Michelin star restaurant in London.  Ambassadors Clubhouse in Mayfair - which opened in 2024 – also received its first star. Ambassadors Clubhouse is known for its high-end Punjabi cuisine, and is part of the JKS group, which includes fellow Michelin star holders Trishna and Gymkhana (which has two).  Other new openings to win a star include the 12-seater Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High, which opened last year on the 60th floor of 22 Bishopsgate in the City. Labombe by Trivet on Park Lane – which is a spinoff of Bermondsey’s Trivet – also gained its first star, as did gastropub The Kerfield Arms in Camberwell, and Corenucopia by Clare Smyth in Pimlico, which is a bistro version of the three star Core by Clar

With a bunch of new Michelin stars dished out this month (and a few taken away), there are now a whopping 88 restaurants in London that have been deemed worthy of Michelin star status.  I’ve been lucky enough to eat at 34 of them and I’ve definitely got some favourites. What makes a good Michelin star restaurant? For me it’s a little bit of everything. Not just incredible flavours and special service (coming back to a folded napkin after you’ve nipped to the loo never gets old), but old-fashioned value for money – which is pretty important seeing as these are some of the most expensive restaurants in London, and possibly the world.  My all-time Michelin star restaurant in London is the don of British dining; St John. The celebrated, ever-chic Smithfield restaurant won its star in 2012 and has kept hold of it ever since. I love it not just because you can have a blow-out meal in the main dining room, but can also swing by without a booking and eat – or simply drink martinis – in the roomy bar area. One chunky, cheesy slice of rarebit and a glass of St John Rouge is the city’s finest Michelin star dinner for one and I won’t hear anyone say otherwise. RECOMMENDED: Every Michelin star restaurant in London for 2026. My second favourite Michelin star spot in London is Ikoyi. I went just last month (January 2026), and though it might be one of the most expensive places to eat in the UK (£380 a head! Before booze!), it was a truly spectacular meal from chef Jeremy Chan. Lasting four

Tandoor Chop House – which was previously included in Time Out’s ranking of the 20 best Indian restaurants in London – has closed down for good.. The restaurant, which opened on Adelaide Street a decade ago, was also on our list of the best restaurants in Covent Garden, alongside the likes of J Sheekey, Town and Frog. It offered an excellent twist on an old-fashioned British ‘chop house’, only using Indo-Punjabi spices and swapping the grill for the tandoor. Our four star review of the restaurant compared it to a ‘less hectic, more refined mini-me of the original (St Martin’s Lane) branch of Dishoom’. Our critic added: ‘There’s so much to love about TCH, I don’t really know where to start.’ Despite its many fans, the restaurant closed without warning last month. ‘We are now closed,’ states the Tandoor Chop House site. ‘Thank you to all of our customers over the years!’ No reason has been given as to why it has shut, but it’s not the only restaurant in London to close its doors recently, with vegan Club Mexicana in Soho recently shutting up shop. Club Gascon in Smithfield will also be serving its last meal next month, after 30 years in business.   Did you see that one of north London’s greatest pubs is closing? Plus: 10 London restaurants have just been awarded a new Michelin Star. 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 Londo

Notting Hill’s Holy Carrot is set to bring its excellent plant-based cookery to Spitalfields. But there’s a twist – the second Holy Carrot won’t be totally vegan. Don’t worry, they won’t be adding offal to the menu, but it will be vegetarian rather than vegan, with a smattering of cheese on some dishes. Not a total pivot from the west London’s restaurant's original ethos then, and vegans will still be more than welcome, with most dishes abiding by their dairy-free doctrine.  Holy Carrot started life as a supper club before a Knightsbridge residency, opening its first restaurant in 2024 on Portobello Road. It’s run by fashion journalist-turned-restaurateur Irina Linovich and chef Daniel Watkins, formerly of Acme Fire Cult in Dalston. When it opened, Time Out’s review gave it a glowing four stars. ‘Holy Carrot isn’t out to blow your mind – this is innovation of a dependable, not reckless, sort – but this gets close,’ said our writer of its crispy celeriac with pickle butter dish.  Holy Carrot prides itself on its fondness for ferments, and you’ll be able to find more pickled stuff at the new branch, which will open on March 13 at 61-63 Brushfield Street, E1 6AA. What else can we expect? ‘A new space shaped by the same principles; vegetables, fire and fermentation. Familiar dishes, cooked with care, alongside new plates made for the table,’ say the team behind Holy Carrot.  These are the best vegan restaurants in London - see where the original branch of Holy Carrot is on the l

Don’t like it when you’re in a restaurant and the next table suddenly starts an impromptu social media shoot, making you an unsuspecting star in someone else’s content? It seems legendary restaurateur Jeremy King doesn’t care for it either. The restaurateur behind The Wolseley – as well as the soon-set-to-relaunch Simpson’s in the Strand – has addressed the influx of influencers at The Park, which he opened in 2024 by Hyde Park. Writing in a newsletter (via the Standard) he commented: ‘In recent weeks, The Park has been subject to unexpected visits by camera-wielding influencers. This has taken us completely by surprise, probably because we do not spend a lick of time on TikTok. But some of our digitally-oriented team members have shared that The Park and its restrooms are trending.’ He added: ‘We take this very seriously, and have already addressed the matter… with the appropriate parties. In the meantime we have implemented protocols to minimise any potential disruption of your meal, and can assure you that you will not end up in the background of anyone’s Reel.’ Does this mean influencers have been banned from The Park? It’s not entirely clear, but it certainly sounds like words have been had. ‘We are not quite ready to declare The Park a mobile-free zone, but if another young lady shows up with a three-person camera crew, makeup artist and vanity mirror, we’ll have no choice but to reconsider our position,’ he added. Photograph: The Park Restaurant Jeremy King made his