Leonie Cooper

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.

Islington is no slouch when it comes to dining out. From Highbury and the fringes of Holloway Road to Angel via Canonbury, the gastronomical delights on offer in this north London neighbourhood almost put the best restuarants of Soho to shame. Whether you’re looking for perfect Italian pasta joints, sexy small plates or mouth-numbing platters of Chinese mapo tofu, you’ll find plenty to satisfy you in Islington. Ready for your restaurant crawl of Upper Street and beyond? Let’s get started. The best restaurants in Islington at a glance: 🥬 Best for vegans: Tofu Vegan 🦪 Best for slick small plates: Primeur 🍝 Best for date night pasta: Trullo 🍲 Best for tastebud-smashing Thai: Farang Going further afield? These are the 50 Best Restaurants in London.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

April 2026: We've recently given this list a reshuffle to make sure we're recommending you the finest burgers in town. Smash burgers still take up quite a lot of real estate and with good reason; they're a little bit more managable then the hefty burgers that were in style a few years ago. But one particularly big boy makes the grade; the burger at Dove in Notting Hill, of which there are only 10 made a day. Smaller, smashier offerings can be found at French import Dumbo in Shoreditch, Jupiter Burger in Hackney, and Chuck's in Fitzrovia. Want a bit of both in one burger? Try the offering at the Empire Tavern in Hackney. Our current No 1, Hanbaagaasuuteeki in Victoria, offers burgers with an Asian-twist. Fancy a burger? Of course you do. The simple meat-between-buns combo is always a winner, whether for a quick fast-food fix or a decadent, gourmet feast. We’ve selflessly toiled away, trying and tasting a vast range of patties to compile this list of London’s best burgers, including the inescapable smash burger. London’s finest are utter meaty marvels: juice-seeping, oozing with flavour and far more complex in creation than they’re ever given credit for. Roll up your sleeves and tuck in to the best burgers in London right now. RECOMMENDED: These are London's best pizza restaurants. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

May 2026: In a city where eating out seems to be getting pricier by the minute, this list remains one of Time Out London's handiest guides. We've given the list a seasonal spin and here you'll find some of the best meals for embracing London sunshine, such as Durak Tantuni's zingy Turkish meat wrap, Angel Dabang's excellent egg sarnie, and a visit to the Oyster Shack in Epping Forest - perfect to cap off a summer walk in the wilds of the suburbs.  London’s best cheap eats at a glance: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Best for Lebanese mankoushe: Edami, Hackney 🫓 Best for Kurdish bread and wraps: Baban’s Naan, Finsbury Park 🥧 Best for pie and mash: M Manze, Tower Bridge 🥙 Best for falafel: Falafel and Shawarma, Camberwell London might well be the world’s greatest food city, but thanks to a never-ending cost of living crisis, it’s not like any of us can eat out as much as we’d like to. So welcome to our list of London’s best cheap eats. You can eat a full meal everywhere here for £10 or less and variety is the name of the game. Expect London staples such as pie & mash, but also discover the best bargain places for naan, lahmacun, baps, roti and burgers. These places give you the kind of buzz only a bargain bite can deliver, while you can relish the fact that you’re supporting small independent London businesses. So hit the streets – feasting at some of London’s best restaurants needn’t empty your wallet. RECOMMENDED: The best vegan restaurants in London.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s

September 2025: Mexican food in London has never been better. What started in the 1990s as a Tex-Mex-leaning fascination with grainy cheese, hard taco shells, and oversalted tortilla chips, has got whole lot more authentic, blossoming into a bold community of cooks and chefs – Mexican, Brit and beyond – who seek outside the taco seasoning for more legitimate cuisine. Across London you can now find dishes from hyperlocal Mexican regions, as well as handmade tortillas, brilliant salsas and ceviches, fresh moles, fabulously mixed margaritas and even Michelin star rated spots. These are the finest 20 Mexican restaurants in London, where you can find all the above and more. Read more about the enviable current state of Mexican food in London here.  London's best Mexican restaurants at a glance: 🍹 Best for a blow-out brunch: Corrochio’s, Dalston 🌮 Best for traditional tacos: Proper Tacos, Holloway 💅 Best for a fancy night out: Cavita, Marylebone  🌽 Best for vegans: Tacos Padre, Borough Market RECOMMENDED: London's best street food. Daniela Toporek is a London-based, Mexican-American food and travel journalist with a passion for discovering and sharing Latin-American culture and cuisine in the UK. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Eating out in north-east London neighbourhood Stokey is always a good time. A perfect day in N16 would involve an all-out Indian veggie feast at Rasa or maybe Scottish-Spanish tapas at Escocesa. The best Stoke Newington restaurants at a glance: 🍟 Best for American diner food: Johnny Boys 🍛 Best for vegetarian Indian cuisine: Rasa 🍷 Best for gastropub greatness: The Clarence 🇪🇸 Best for Spanish tapas: Escocesa But we'll leave it up to you to make your own edible agenda; to help, here are the very best restaurants in Stoke Newington. And if you want to carry on the party, then why not check out the best pubs and bars in the area for a great after dinner pint or two. RECOMMENDED: The best restaurants in Hackney.  Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

London is full of perfect pizza. The finest of fast foods, this delicious staple has been elevated far beyond its humble roots by great Italian restaurants in London, pop-ups, street food vendors and pub residencies, and we know just where to find these world-class wonders, because we’ve been eating our way across London in order to discover the best. Whether it’s delivered in a cardboard box or served in a swish restaurant, excellent pizza is hard to beat. Browse our list of the best pizza places in town and try not to drool on your screen. London’s best pizza at a glance: 🍞 Best in central London: Breadstall, Soho 🌋 Best in north London: Bar Etna, Newington Green 🚗 Best in east London: Short Road Pizza, Leyton and Bethnal Green  🌸 Best in south London: Spring Street Pizza, Borough 🇮🇹 Best in west London: Napoli on the Road, Chiswick and Richmond Recent additions to the list include some nifty kitchen residencies; Dough Hands at the Spurstowe Arms and All My Friends in Hackney Wick, Hot Saint at the Old Queen’s Head in Angel, Little Earthquakes at the Railway Tavern in Dalston, and Short Road Pizza at the William The Fourth in Leyton and Three Colts in Bethnal Green. You can find Ace Pizza at the Pembury Tavern in Hackney Downs, but they have a standalone parlour in Victoria Park. Try also; Spring Street Pizza in Borough for pie with a Michelin-starred touch, Carmela’s on Upper Street for a cosy slice, Vincenzo’s in Shoreditch for no-flop pizza and Bar Etna in Newing

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 Cafe Clement by the Thames in Temple, Hon's BBQ in Hackney Wick, Cue Point in Notting Hill, Jackson Boxer's 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 channel. Follow us now

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 entry into the list is Impala in Soho, a north African restaurant from Meedu Saad, the former head chef at Kiln, which was Time Out's Best London Restaurant of 2019.  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 away ones that no longer make the grade. From freshly starred fine-dining room

July 2026: Al fresco weather is fully here, and here are the spots that spring into action when the sun is out. These places are ideal for visiting in your nice new sunglasses while snacking on a salt cod fritter. Grab a sarnie in the sunshine at Dusty Knuckle's Dalston location, trek to Epping Forest for seafood at the Oyster Shack, gorge on BBQ at Cue Point in their massive Notting Hill beer garden, lunch at Hackney hero Lardo, or trot down Regent's Canal to Towpath Cafe. Excellent Indian restaurant Kokum in Dulwich is also doing BBQs every weekend on their terrace until September. The best outdoor restaurants in London at a glance: 🍸 Best in central London: Forza Wine, Soho 🚣‍♂️ Best in east London: Towpath, Haggerston 🏡 Best in north London: Red Lion & Sun, Highgate  💦 Best in west London: Cue Point, Latimer Road 🍃 Best in south London: Italo, Vauxhall When it comes to outdoor dining there are some excellent – and hopefully sun-dappled - options at some of London’s best restaurants. These terraces, canal-side spots, gardens and al fresco restos should make you feel like you’re on a proper holiday in your hometown. Whether you’re in the mood to have spaghetti in the sun or snack on sushi by starlight, our list has you covered. If you don’t mind heights, then check out some of the finest rooftop restaurants with views in London as well. Not all of them are open in the colder months, so do check if you’re booking during a chillier time of year. RECOMMENDED: These are

Here at Time Out, we love all hotels equally: the flashy five-stars, the cool boutiques, the well-thought-out budget stays. But some are, undoubtedly, better looking than others. Whether ‘beautiful’ to you is a secluded jungle lodge or an eco-cool city stay, a kitschy motel or a reawakened royal residence, we’ve got them all on this list (and then some).  Now, it goes without saying that any list of the world’s most beautiful hotels is entirely subjective and by no means exhaustive. But what we can offer is real-life experience: every place on this list has been visited by one of Time Out’s editors, writers and hotel experts. From Punjab to Palermo, California to Costa Rica, we can guarantee that each hotel packs serious wow factor, and you’ll have an excellent stay at them all.  The world’s most beautiful hotels at a glance 🏰 Best heritage hotel: Ashford Castle  ⛰️ Best for show-stopping scenery: The Hiramatsu Karuizawa Miyota 🌺 Most beautiful gardens and grounds: Four Seasons Hotel Firenze 🎨 Best for avant-garde art and design: Jackalope Hotel 👑 Best for all-out maximalism: The Fifth Avenue Hotel 🏊 Most beautiful pool: The Phoenicia Malta 🏙️ Most beautiful city-centre hotel: Le Pavillon de la Reine How did we choose the world’s most beautiful hotels?  Our global team of editors, writers and hotel experts spend a lot of their time reviewing hotels in their corner of the world. Every hotel on this list has been selected for a reason: show-stopping scenery, beautiful i

Chains are underrated. Ordering your favourite dish and having it taste exactly the same, every time, is a weirdly beautiful thing. From upmarket steakhouses to ramen, we’ve rounded up our very favourite restaurants and cafés with three or more few branches in London and put them in order of deliciousness. These are the 20 best chains in London. Hoppers, Dishoom, Nando’s, Pizza Express, Bao, Flat Iron and all the rest – we salute you.  RECOMMENDED: The 50 best restaurants in London. Leonie Cooper is Time Out London’s Food and Drink Editor. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

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

With their all-are-welcome attitude, whack-it-on-a-plate comfort food and casual, pull-up-a-chair canteen spaces, diners are the American version of British caffs, albeit with more generous opening hours. They’re a community asset; independent and often family-run spots serving grub from the heart. Taquitos and tostadas come alongside chicken plates and patty melts  Johnny Boys is a good-natured attempt to bring the West Coast diner to the mean streets of Stoke Newington. Visually, it’s on point, with luminous orange tiles bringing to mind LA’s legendary Canter’s Deli and Norm’s diner, while Formica tables are tucked into cosy booths and a Coca-Cola branded sign hangs outside. If you remember the biker-adjacent Jim’s in Clapton (now a rather decent Italian restaurant called Leo’s), you’ll know this isn’t the first time an all-American eatery has opened in north-east London. But Johnny Boys is different, drawing not just on blue jeans and Bruce Springsteen, but the Mexican and Jewish immigrant communities of southern California. Which is why the short-but-sweet menu sees taquitos, tostadas and pastrami sandwiches alongside chicken plates, patty melts and cheeseburgers.  Johnny Boys is the project of LA native Julian Denis, who also runs nearby vegan Chinese restaurant Facing Heaven and the taco-slinging Easy 8 bar. What can you say, the man loves a theme. The attention to detail here is immaculate, as well as the perfect crockery, there’s the vintage Pizza Hut-worthy stained

For Londoners of a certain age - or those in possession of a Coutts bank account - the name Langan’s is synonymous with martini-fuelled long lunches and intoxicating celebrity glamour. Opened in 1976 by debauched restaurateur Peter Langan and actor Michael Caine, the Mayfair brassiere became a byword for a certain kind of decadence. A ritzy hangout for the likes of Jerry Hall, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando, Langan’s was it.   Langan’s French-leaning offering is made up of classics and crowd pleasers Half a century later, and proceedings are somewhat less headline-grabbing, but still as endearing camp. If ever a building could be described as ‘showbiz’, it would be Langan’s, which is also the only London restaurant with official tube signage directing you all the way from Green Park station towards the front door. Passing the iconic red neon, you’ll enter a contemporary take on the disco era; there’s a gleaming, mirrored bar, gold column lamps on green marble tables, fluted glass chandeliers and suited waitstaff with different colour blazers denoting rank greeting regulars with an easy charm. Though most of the restaurant’s original art collection was sold off at auction in 2012, the walls are lined with newer prints and paintings by a who’s-who of modern art, with appearances by everyone from one-time regular David Hockney through to Tracey Emin, Peter Doig and David Shrigley.  Langan’s French-leaning offering is made up of classics and crowd pleasers, with the likes of

Texas Joe’s is delightfully incongruous; an American BBQ smokehouse in the middle of the most Dickensian street in south London. The first sign that you’re not in Bermondsey anymore is the gleaming 1962 Cadillac Coupe DeVille parked on the Victorian cobbles outside. It’s the kind of classic motor you rarely see in the States, let alone London Bridge. The smokehouse itself is clad in coal-black clapper-board in tribute to true Texan roadside joints Kreuz’s, Snow’s and Black’s.  Our fiesta of BBQ starts with perfectly pink pork ribs Inside draws you deeper into the kind of old-school Americana that’ll have you humming honky tonk hits before your denim-clad hiney even hits the seat. The walls are covered in vintage Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic posters, proper Mexican sombreros and a giant painting of John Wayne. And that’s before we even mention the two-metre long dive bar diorama. It’s a hoarder's paradise, or, if you’d rather, an episode of American Pickers come to glorious life.  The master of ceremonies is Texas Joe himself, who walks around like he owns the place (probably because he does) in an embroidered, Nudie-style western get-up and Stetson. That’s his car outside. He opened the place a decade ago, and has weathered the temperamental dude-food storm by holding firm to his meaty manifesto. The restaurant has now been co-signed by the US’s current wave of outlaw country stars, with Margo Price and Charley Crockett both regulars, proving this is no parody but the

Cue Point has been one of London’s best-loved (and most nomadic) eateries for a decade. BBQ pros Mursal Saiq and Joshua Moroney have trucked all over town, from Walworth’s Orbit Brewery through to a recent stint off Brick Lane, but have seemingly now found their forever home at the heroically spacious Notting Hill boozer Garden Bar & Grill.  So good it almost makes you want to laugh Less a pub and potentially one of west London’s largest private parks, the sprawling outdoor space feels halfway between Frances Hodgson Burnett’s twee Secret Garden and Steptoe and Son’s chaotic salvage yard. In other words, it’s the ideal location in which to devour this acutely honed and brilliantly over-the-top Afghan-spiked and technically Texan feasting menu. This is food that needs room.  Outside of Meatopia’s annual flesh fest, perfect pitmastery still isn’t usually associated with London, and but Cue Point buck the trend, with Moroney bringing his skills from time as head chef at Smokestak and Saiq her Afghan heritage; she spent her childhood there before her family fled the wartorn country for Mumbai and then the UK. With their giant smoker casually resting in a corner and flames licking the side of an adjacent grill, serious BBQ business is Cue Point’s thing. Their small plates are anything but; fist-sized brisket burnt end skewers are super sturdy, soft meat trembling under a dark, crumbly bark, and bookended with thick pickles. Black lime pepper chicken bites are elite nuggets, with

We’re already huge fans of Hausu, the sassy restaurant inside the former waiting room of Peckham Rye station, with its Victorian tiled loos, complete with original wartime posters about venereal disease. Frankly, the lavs are worth the visit on their own. But now there’s yet another reason to check this place out. Venture up the enticing, mahogany-clad staircase and you’ll also find a beguiling cocktail bar, with inventive drinks, moreish bar snacks and giant vaulted windows from which to gaze upon the building of Peckham’s new public square. Inside it’s a simple but potent set-up; original brick walls are offset by flutteringly sexy red curtains, vintage 1970s classroom chairs, beige walls lined with vinyl and some largely unobtrusive decks in a corner. Yes, it’s another ‘listening bar’, but in this case, it just means you’ll likely hear some very good music (anything from Studio One reggae to winsome folk), which is what all bars should be aiming for, really. Salted daterini tomato martini is a light and elegantly savoury take on the most hyped cocktail around, while the fennel negroni is sweeter than you’d think, offering an ouzo-adjacent burst of aniseed and a pineapple sidecar hums with cognac and a fruity shrub.  Order this  The fennel negroni is barely a negroni at all (which is why I like it). Don’t forget the bar snacks, as these cocktails are potent. Oysters, topped with house hot sauce and lime leaf, are almost a meal in themselves, and on a warm day, sunsweet melo

Kumori is a classy place. A flimsy fabric sheet dances in the breeze of their (very good) aircon above a long granite counter, while the rest of this elegant dreamspace is bathed in a hazy purple light. It feels more like an expensive spa than a restaurant, but we’re quickly reminded it’s time for lunch rather than a facial as we’re handed a tick-box menu and a tiny pencil. Like Bao - and 1990s bookies - before it, you can indulge in Battleships-style menu marking before handing it over to your charming server. That’s when the true theatre begins.  There’s no denying the precision of this superior sushi joint Nominally a handroll bar (but there’s some torched nigiri and various sides, too), at Kumori you can opt for a set menu of three to five handrolls, or choose your own adventure with an a la carte option. Whatever you do, make sure you order what we’re boldly calling ‘the best of the handrolls’; spicy tuna wrapped in Kumori’s custom- made nori and placed on perfectly seasoned rice and laced with surprise crunchy bits. It is divine. The spiciness is more about hearty flavour than brainblasting heat, and were there not a whole range of other options to try, we would have totally ordered another one. The unagi and foie gras option is sweet and creamy, while yellowtail kosho offers a floral hit of fragrance. Baked crab in a pale soy wrapper might have been a little too sweet for us and the wrapper a little too beige, but there’s no denying the precision of this superior sush

Tavern has a lot going for it. There’s the marvellously warren-like dining room with airy, high ceilings, crisp clapperboard walls and stunning Victorian floor tiles that were already in place back when Tavern was Nest. Nest was a British restaurant with a reasonably priced tasting menu and a fixation on foraging. It was good, really good, but punters aren’t really doing tasting menus anymore, or at least they weren’t at Nest, so a fresh approach was needed.  Better still is a juicy pork and cuttlefish sausage A swift revamp and Tavern has appeared in Nest’s place. It’s still run by the same team (who are also behind the excellent Restaurant St Barts), but with the new name comes new branding, a stylistic revamp which suggests a kind of hard-edged, Dark Ages whimsy. The font that bears the restaurant’s name is aggressively gothic, their online presence is replete with chubby lairds drinking from bladders of mead, ragged sheepskins are casually tossed about the place and pewter tankards are used for serving shards of puffed pig skin to dip in a filthy little pot of moodily smoked cod’s roe. But this is where the medieval comparison ends, with Tavern’s menu less feudal chic and more contemporary global fusion with a side order of quirk. The best dishes at Tavern are impeccable. The ‘chunion puff’ is a tennis ball sized offering of choux pastry stuffed with creamy confit onion and cheesy custard before being showered in fluffy parmesan snow. It is a divine and decadent delight.

Zylia’s high ceilings and bashed brick walls belong to another time. Tacked onto the side of the shiny new Arcade food hall in Covent Garden, this Renaissance-style pile was built in the 1870s as a department store. The room retains its historic grandeur, even if attempts have been made to convert it into a low-key taverna, complete with white-washed walls, a rash of rafia, stoneware urns, dried flowers and a breezy Mediterranean energy, not to mention the buzzy clatter from a packed room of eager diners.  Kaimaki ice cream hums with earthy mastic Zylia is the latest from former Kiln head chef and current co-owner of Singburi Nick Molyviatis and restaurateur Barry Karacostas. The former was raised in Athens and the latter is of Cypriot heritage; Zylia is their attempt to marry the two cuisines in a splashy central London location. Both nations are present in the bread basket, with grilled and oiled Cypriot bread and Greek pita puckered with oregano. An enticingly textured (lumpy but good lumpy) spicy feta and yoghurt dip with an undercurrent of roasted chilli is perfect for piling onto both, as is smokey coal roasted aubergine with sweet peppers, which is so elegantly plated it resembles a posh ceviche. Bouncy fried balls of Greek metsovone cheese are crunchy and glistening on the outside and stringy and pliable on the inside. A drizzle of thyme honey adds a touch of elegance to what are essentially high-end party snacks. Next; wild prawn saganaki (referring to cooking in a

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

Time Out’s expert-curated list of the Top 20 Peruvian restaurants in London is out – and a Fitzrovia restaurant has taken the number one spot.  If you want a taste of the world’s culinary capital for 2026, then swing by our list-topper Lima, which opened in 2012. In 2014 the South American restaurant was given the nod by Michelin, making it the first Peruvian restaurant in Europe to receive a star. Lima no longer has that accolade, but it’s still a great spot in our book. Lima also has a restaurant in Shoreditch, which opened last year, but the OG is our favourite.  ‘This is Peruvian cuisine at its poshest. Lima’s fine-dining kitchen is headed by chef Diego Recarte, who brings technique and precision to Nikkei-based dishes,’ writes Daniela Toporek, a London-based, Mexican-American food and travel journalist with a passion for discovering and sharing Latin-American culture and cuisine in the UK.  Nikkei cuisine is a fusion of Japanese and Peruvian culinary practices, dating back to 19th century Japanese migration to Peru. 🇵🇪 The best Peruvian restaurants in London. Other restaurants to make the Time Out top 20 include Llama Inn, a colourful and modern Peruvian on The Hoxton Shoreditch hotel rooftop, as well as Darkest Peru, a Peruvian café in Hoxton, and long-running Tierra Peru on Essex Road in Islington, which began life as a food stall in Camden.  Try also Fulham-based Jarana, which opened at the end of 2025 and specialises in tequeño (fried wonton wraps filled with chic

American meat institutions InterStellar BBQ and La Barbecue are both coming to London next month for a serious BBQ collaboration. They’ll be popping up at The Ned in the City of London throughout September for a one-month residency in the hotel’s Electric Bar & Diner. Pitmasters John Bates from InterStellar BBQ and Ali Clem from La Barbecue will be prepping the ‘ultimate BBQ tray’ for the takeover. The £150 tray (based on two sharing at £75 a head) will feature signature dishes from both Austin-based restaurants, including InterStellar’s peach tea glazed pork belly, pulled lamb shoulder, chimichurri beef short rib, and La Barbecue’s pork ribs and chopped cheese sausage, alongside sides of Texas toast, La Barbecue queso shells & cheese, InterStellar beans and beetroot salad. Which should keep you going for a while. If that’s not enough, then La Barbecue USDA prime brisket sourced from Creekstone Farm can be added for two people at an extra £50. Still hungry? Go for InterStellar’s banana pudding with Jack Daniel’s caramel. Jack Daniel’s cocktails will also be on hand, including a Texan Sun with corn and honey and a hard shake with banana and raisin, as well as picklebacks.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Ned (@thenedlondon) Both InterStellar and La Barbecue received their Michelin stars in 2024. La Barbecue launched in 2012 and InterStellar opened in 2019.  The residency runs from September 4 until October 4 at The Ned’s Electric Bar & Din

We recently revealed Time Out’s brand new list of the 50 best bars in London for 2026, which contains all manner of boozy goodness. Exmouth Market’s Café Kick triumphed overall, Islington’s TRAMPS was ‘best new bar’, the top wine bar was Harringey’s Bonne Route and the city’s coolest bar was Ellie’s in Dalston. But what of the capital’s finest dive bar? Our top ranking dive in the list was a south London cult favourite, which, if we’ve honest, we’ve had a hard time not gatekeeping. Big John’s Biltong Bar can be found on Deptford High Street and not only serves cheap pints, but dishes up its own dried meat, as made by friendly proprietor Big John. ‘The diviest of dive bars, it appears to have collapsed into place or, perhaps, been excavated,’ wrote Dan Stubbs in his five star review of the bar. He added that Big John’s, though ramshackle, is full of heart and soul. ‘Whether it’s being among customers loudly singing along to a song you don’t recognise, the feeling of immediately being welcome or chatting to New Zealand native Big John himself, who might tell you about playing an Orc in the Lord of the Rings movies if you’re lucky.’ Big John’s opened in 2018. Other dive bars in Time Out’s top 50 bars list include Mascara Bar in Stamford Hill, the rocky Blondies in Clapton and Helgi’s in Hackney.   Big John’s Biltong Bar is at 29 Deptford High Street, SE8 4AD and open weekdays from 4pm and weekends from 2pm. Go and sink a pint and chew on some meat for us.  The best bars in Lo

An independent ‘micropub’ in deepest south London has just been named Greater London Pub of the Year 2026 by beer aficionados at the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA). The Cockpit opened in 2020 at the back of Roses Florist in Chislehurst, Bromley. The tiny boozer shares its space with the flower shop and deals in cask ale and fine cider. According to CAMRA, the boozer enforces a £1 fine for mobile phone usage and foul language. It also serves local gin and Neal’s Yard cheeses.  Speaking about the win, Adam Miller, who runs the pub with Paul Steadman, commented: ‘Flabbersmacked we are. Absolutely gobberghasted. Honoured to be rubbing shoulders with such a resplendent arsenal of boozers, let alone to be recognised by CAMRA as top of the pubs for Greater London this year. ‘A sea spanning embrace to everyone that has supported us since opening five years ago, so many of you have invested a titanic amount of enthusiasm into what we love to do, it makes every day a joy.’ View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Cockpit (@thecockpitmicropub) The best pubs in London 2026, according to CAMRA The winner was decided from the 12 Greater London regional winners for 2026, as listed below. Last year’s Greater London winner was The Hope in Carshalton.  Bexley – Long Haul Bromley – Cockpit Croydon & Sutton – Dark Horse East London & City – Cock Tavern Enfield & Barnet – Little Green Dragon Kingston & Leatherhead – Antelope North London – Wenlock Arms Richmond & Hounsl

When you’re offered the chance to follow in the fabled footsteps of The Rolling Stones by mooching around Jamaica while drinking the band’s very own rum, it would be wild to say anything but yes. Which is how I ended up on a beach near Keith Richards’ old house eating a bowl of mannish water while watching reggae legend Eric Donaldson sing an a cappella version of his 1971 hit ‘Cherry Oh! Baby’.  First, a little background. In 1972, the Rolling Stones wound up in Kingston to record the follow-up to Exile on Main St. As tax exiles who’d experienced various run-ins with the law, welcoming Jamaica was the perfect place for the Goat’s Head Soup sessions. Most of the band returned to the UK after recording, but Keith stayed on in Mammee Bay, a fishing village near Ocho Rios on the north coast of Jamaica. Which is where I found myself, thanks to a rather lavish launch party for Crossfire Hurricane, the rum brand recently launched by the band (named after the indelible opening line of ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’).  Photograph: Anderson PattersonEric Donaldson But before we get to the rum, a little more on the music. Keith connected deeply with the island, befriending a group of Rastafarian musicians who he met on the beach. Called Wingless Angels, Keith was besotted with their hypnotic drumming and chanting, and got them to Dynamic Sounds studio, and attempted to record an album. Things didn’t quite go to plan, but firm friendships were made. RECOMMENDED: The 20 best things to do in Jam

Time Out has just announced our brand new list of the best 50 bars in London for 2026 and it’s filled with our favourite places to drink in the capital. But which bar in the list is the greatest newcomer? Well, the highest ranking newly-opened business was Tramps Bar in Islington which opened earlier this year. Why do we like it so much? Let us count the ways. Firstly there’s the building itself. This semi-municipal white cube space can be found behind the 24-hour McDonald’s on City Road on the fringes of Islington. It’s a bit of a quest to find it, which makes it all the more intriguing. Situated at 15f Micawber Street, the front door has a handmade sign (seemingly written by a child in felt tip pen). Inside, there are a few splashy, modern canvases on the walls and a curvy, freestanding vintage bar. The paintings make sense – the bar is the project of acclaimed artist Peter Doig and his gallerist partner Parinaz Mogadassi, who runs a roaming gallery also called Tramps.    Leonie Cooper for Time OutTramps Bar, Islington     On a weekly-changing menu you’ll find gin martinis and a regularly changing short cocktail and aperitivo menu. ‘The drinks offering is deft, impressive and nonchalant,’ reads our five star review. There’s also a kitchen, with former River Cafe chef Harry McKenzie knocking out extremely decent weekday lunches. (The bar isn’t open on the weekends, which is quite a power move.)    Leonie Cooper for Time OutTramps Bar, Islington     In the evenings, ther

Drinkers, assemble.  Once a year we give our list of the best bars in London a massive overhaul. That time is now. We’ve just launched our brand new top 50 of the finest places to drink in London. The new list features places old and new, posh and divey, cheap and pricey, but all of them with great drinks and an unparalleled vibe. Our new list also has a brand new number one. Congratulations to Café Kick at Exmouth Market, which is Time Out’s best bar in London for 2026. The breezy Euro-chic sports bar currently seems to be more popular than ever, despite opening almost 30 years ago. It’s pretty much down to this unobtrusive spot that this pedestrianised Clerkenwell strip is as popular as it is, kicking off the area’s fresco wave of streetside delights way back in 1997.   ‘If the Spanish Riviera and old school east London had a baby, Café Kick would be it,’ writes Time Out drinks correspondent Eloise Feilden of the five-star bar.  🍸 Read the full top 50 best bars in London list here. The top 50 also features Waltz, Shoreditch, which we’ve crowned the best cocktail bar in London, as well Big John’s Biltong Bar in Deptford, which is our best dive bar. Our highest ranking wine bar is Bonne Route in Harringey, while the best neighbourhood bar is Ellie’s in Dalston. The honour of best new bar in London has gone to Tramps in Islington, which acclaimed artist Peter Doig and his gallerist partner Parinaz Mogadassi opened at the beginning of the year.  Take a look at our rankings o

Lenny’s – a brilliant pop-up in Finsbury Park pub The Bedford Tavern – was one of our favourite places in London to get pizza until it closed last year, so we’re super happy to hear that it’s returning in permanent form.  Lenny’s charred and chewy New Haven-style pizza will soon be found in a Covent Garden restaurant that’s set to open this autumn. Founder Max Lewis is teaming up with MJMK Restaurants (KOL, AngloThai, Luso, Fonda and Casa do Frango) for the project. Speaking about the restaurant, Lewis said: ‘Lenny’s started as a love letter to New Haven apizza and its culture. I couldn’t believe no one had brought this incredible style of pizza, and the stories behind it, to London. The support I’ve had from both London and New Haven has been overwhelming – it”s been amazing to see this idea grow into something much bigger.’ New Haven ‘apizza’ was developed by Italian immigrants in Connecticut, most notably Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria, which opened in 1925 and is still going strong, known for its oblong shape, irregular slices and coal-fired cookery. Our review of the Lenny’s Finsbury Park pop-up praised its ‘crispy and chewy with a proper, loud bite’ base. ‘Charred at the crust, delightfully salty and a little oily, all 14 inches of Lenny’s offering is bang on. For the ultimate test, lift your slice, give it a little wiggle, and see it stay perfectly straight,’ wrote Time Out’s Ella Doyle. The new Lenny’s will serve the popular tomato pie as well as the hybrid ‘Lenny’, a 14-inch