DISCOVER LONDON FOOD AND RESTAURANTS WITH US
London offers you a wide range of dining options, ranging from the cheapest snacks to the most refined dishes of a luxury restaurant.
At your disposal are the elegant sites endowed with fabulous architecture and offering the most sophisticated food; restaurant with gardens and terraces or fireplaces or others where food is cooked and prepared in front of you. Are you up for pasta and wine in a fancy Italian place or more for a good burger in a retro American 60s-styled place?
Whatever your tastes are, in London you will find an option to satisfy you all around the city, from Convent Garden or Piccadilly Circus to areas like Dalston and Bermondsey. So, you can just find places in your way, but if you are staying a little bit longer and can’t make up your mind on where to eat, we suggest you to consult the TripAdvisor’s reviews and visit the restaurant you find more interesting. We assure you an unforgettable culinary experience!
But… do you have only one night and want to make it perfect? Or do you just dare to enjoy the immense gastronomic diversity of London? That can be hard and overwhelming, so, continue with us and we will offer you some valuable tips to enrich your culinary experience.
LOOKING FOR THE BEST RESTAURANTS IN LONDON?
The best Londoner restaurants are in the tourist and central areas of the city, like Soho or Covent Garden. In Soho you will find some of the most high-rated restaurants in London, with Asian stir-fry, good “Tapas”, Taiwanese street-food or the famous Turkish pizza.
Covent Garden has everything you can imagine, if we talk about international and ethnic cuisine: African, Moroccan, Turkish, French, Thai, Belgian or Spanish food and so many others! You can even find there the Jamie Oliver’s famous Italian restaurant! At the same time, you can easily find cheap venues with an economic offer of steaks, burgers or pizzas and also good sushi parlous. Is all up to your tastes and budget!
If you have no restraints in your budget, you can visit the most expensive restaurants in the city, located in Chelsea and Kensington. And if what you want is to experiment with new flavours, look for the places that serve exquisite food from diverse cultures such as Lebanese, Iranian, Indian or Argentinean restaurants, they’re definitely worthy.
But if you are the kind of person who looks to live the authentic local experience, then you will need to scape from touristic areas to neighbourhood like Brixton, Bermondsey, Angel, Clerkenwell and Islington, that have recently earned the title of foodie’s paradise because of the truly great diversity of restaurants with offers you would not imagine.
If you’re a veggie or a seafood lover you should definitely go to Angel or Islington and in general, a new MUST are also the restaurants around Borought Market and Maltby Street. In recent times even Clerkenwell has become a hub for a good culinary experience and a wide offer, like Asians, good rooftop bars and so much more.
WHAT RESTAURANTS SHOULD I VISIT IN LONDON?
London has so many good food options that it would be a titanic task to make a selection of the best. But in case meal time gets you in a particular neighbourhood, we will mention some sites you should consider.
If you want to enjoy a purely British and traditional gastronomic experience, we suggest Rules, the oldest restaurant in London, located in Covent Garden. Otherwise, if you look to taste Jamie Oliver’s food, you should know that there are several of his restaurants in the city waiting for you. This is the case of Union Jacks in Covent Garden, Fifteen, outside of Bethnal Green, Barbecoa near St. Paul’s Cathedral and Jamie Oliver’s Diner, in Soho.
There is also the chain of 15 restaurants of the well-known chef Gordon Ramsay, with some of them located in Battersea, Chelsea, Knightsbridge and Mayfair.
If you prefer the Covent Garden area you can choose from the best restaurants in the city, such as Hawksmoor Seven Dials and Creme de la Crepe. If you walk near Chelsea and Kensington, you have the fabulous option of visiting Spaghetti House; but if the area is Marylebone, try The Providores and Tapa Room.
In the case of frequent or visit Angel or Islington, we suggest The Breakfast Club, very popular for including various types of breakfasts, which is a perfect option if you’re carrying a last night London Pub Crawl’s hangover. Also, for those who love Italian food, there is the magnificent Trullo with its shin of beef shin, its rabbit ravioli and the bruschetta with quail and chicken liver.
For the more adventurous we suggest discovering Clerkenwell, site of countless restaurants possessing the most unsuspected dishes in all of London. If you do not believe it, listen to this: Hix Oyster and Chop House offer dishes like the meat’s flanks, wild rabbit, duck’s eggs and roast partridge. Still not surprised or even hungry? What if we tell you that in St. John you can find unique dishes such as roasted bone marrow with parsley salad, goat’s curd, ox heart, carved pork or a highly recommended brown shrimp with white cabbage starter? It is definitely something to taste if you are a food adventurer.
Finally, if you’re looking for sweets and desserts, you will appreciate the offer of Belgravia’s Ottolenghi, a place mainly known for its delicious tarts.
WHAT INTERNATIONAL CUISINE SHOULD I TRY IN LONDON?
London is the right city if you want to live an unforgettable gastronomic experience. The cuisine of almost every place on Earth has a spot in this vast, multicultural capital. You just need to find it!
We suggest you the streets that surround Covent Garden to taste food from almost every country in the world. So many different places await you, from delicious Japanese delicacies at Kirazu to tasty dishes of Mediterranean cuisine, such as cured ham and Spanish tapas at Barrafina or lamb sweetbreads, grilled calamari and white chocolate tiramisu at 10 Greek Street.
Bocca di Lupo opens its doors for Italian food lovers, a restaurant where you will feel transported to the geography of that country while enjoying dishes as spectacular as walnut tortellini. Pitt Cue, on the other hand, is as well a MUST for its take-away offer of the so-called “soul food”.
As is well known, there are parts of the city more specialized in a specific kind of food. For example, if you feel tempted for a good Cuban meal, then you should visit Camden. There are not only specialized restaurants in that Caribbean country’s food but you can also find funny Cuban bars. On the other hand, the Tooting area is known for the thriving presence of Indian and Asian cultures, to the point that some people call it the “Curry Corridor”.
Another case of this food localization, thanks to Chinatown, is Soho, with the best exponents of Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Thai cuisines, with authentic dishes. Do you want to know how many Asian food restaurants you will find there? Well, more than 80! But Asian cuisine does not end up in Soho. At Marylebone’s Cocoro, for example, they have magnificent Japanese-inspired dishes such as seaweed salad, sashimi and tempura, as well as pumpkin mousse with wasabi cream and some curry dishes. Meanwhile, the Stick’ N ‘Sushi in Covent Garden, offers a wide variety of sushi and also has it Feng Sushi, where you can even try Scottish salmon.
In the case of curry fans, they will also find their place in the area of Covent Garden and Brixton Village. Masala Zone, in Covent Garden, is lovely place where you will discover the authentic Indian flavour with tasty chicken korma or biryani and shrimp curry. Moreover, at Masala Grill in Chelsea and Kensington you will be amazed with its famous Iranian egg scramble, the tandoori chicken or the pau-style buns.
LONDON’S RESTAURANTS PRICES AND SCHEDULES
When there is so much variety of sites, with the consequent difference between prices and schedules, you should get some information.
However, we can tell you that restaurants located in the tourist areas of London (Like Covent Garden or Soho) tend to stay open until later, mainly on weekends. Anyway, you should know that last dinner’s orders are generally taken at around 22.00. In case you already know the place where you’re going it is advisable to previously visit its website, consult the schedule and make a reservation.
In the case you’re out of central London you should know that restaurants there tend to close earlier, especially on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. However, they can remain open until midnight on weekends or even later on summer months.
Talking about prices, you should logically know that the sites located in tourist areas such as City of London, Soho, Chelsea and Kensington will be more expensive. However, even in those districts it is possible to find economic places. In Chinatown of Soho they have very cheap prices and their restaurants tends to close at midnight.