From outdoor medieval markets to the coolest new spots for rooftop cocktails and bottomless brunches, here’s our pick of the best places to eat in London in 2024
The best places to eat in London in 2024
Portrait restaurant at The National Portrait Gallery
The opening of a new restaurant by superchef Richard Corrigan is always big news, especially when it’s the new flagship restaurant inside the National Portrait Gallery, recently reopened after its multi-million-pound transformation. The aptly named Portrait restaurant celebrates the produce of the British Isles in dishes such as Cornish plaice with coastal herbs and buttered vegetables. Diners can enjoy spectacular views of London as they tuck in. One of the best places to eat in London without a doubt.
Piazza Italiana
As bustling as any piazza in Italy, Piazza Italiana is housed in a spectacular building, which was formerly home to the British Linen Bank. Sicilian-born chef Remo Mazzucato cooks up much-loved Italian classics, from truffle risotto to spaghetti alla carbonara. It’s a good bet for a special meal, or for lunch with friends – Saturday’s buzzy bottomless brunch is a must for pasta and pizza lovers.
Tea at the V&A
The founding Director of the V&A, Henry Cole, hoped the museum would provide ‘a powerful antidote to the gin palace’. The first visitors in the 1860s were treated to another world first – a museum restaurant. The beautiful café at the V&A museum is still one of the most appealing places in town for a cuppa, especially the grand, columned Gamble Room; look out for its frieze of cherubs harvesting food, dining and reading newspapers.
Eataly
Spread over several floors, giant Italian food hall Eataly houses a market and retail space, as well as three restaurants and a bar. Shop Italian cheese, cured meats and wine to your heart’s content before sitting down to a perfectly cooked plate of pasta, or why not learn to make your own at one of their special cooking classes?
Chinatown
London’s beauty lies in its diversity. Don’t leave this cosmopolitan capital without exploring Chinatown and its restaurants, which number more than 70. Sip a bubble tea or get your chopsticks ready for an authentic dim sum dinner – it’s all on your doorstep in the heart of the city.
Oblix restaurant
For breathtaking panoramic views and an intimate dining experience, grab a table at Oblix, on the 32nd floor of the Shard. The dimly lit space is elegant and romantic, and the cuisine superb, but chances are you’ll only have eyes for the stunning views of London.
Harrods
From humble beginnings as a grocery shop, Harrods is now a Knightsbridge icon and will always be on our list for the best places to eat in London. It looks magical at dusk when it lures you into the warm with its glowing lights. Its swanky dining hall has six restaurants, including a grill, a caviar house and London’s poshest chippie. This being Harrods, you can also create a bespoke blend of tea and dry age a steak for as long as you wish in the food halls.
Fortnum & Mason
With its roots in devising snacks for hungry travellers – hence the invention of the scotch egg – Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly remains renowned for its ready-to-eat luxury foods, having provisioned British soldiers during the Peninsular war and Florence Nightingale’s hospitals on the request of Queen Victoria, no less. Pick up foodie souvenirs from caviar and Stilton cheese to biscuits and conserves.
Quercus, Sun Street Hotel
If the luxurious boutique Sun Street Hotel in Shoreditch didn’t already have enough to offer, its newly opened restaurant, Quercus, is the über-cool, and wonderfully elegant icing on top. In beautiful surroundings, with a fabulous array of eclectic art on the walls, Quercus serves a deliciously diverse menu of South East Asian inspired cuisine, made from the finest British produce. Dishes include white Kent asparagus with kimchi and brown shrimps, and Cornish lobster with smoked nori and miso butter. Prepare to be surprised, and then immediately delighted.
London Coffee Festival
The London Coffee Festival on trendy Brick Lane takes place in spring (11–14 April) and features masterclasses on mixing the perfect coffee-infused cocktails and demonstrations from world-class baristas, while you can browse and sample to your heart’s content at hundreds of artisan coffee and food stalls.
Supperclub.tube
For a London meal you won’t forget, book a table at Supperclub.tube, where you can taste eclectic Latin
American food in a refurbished 1967 Victoria line tube carriage that has been transformed into a restaurant, complete with tables, linens and fine silverware. A curated playlist and dimmed lights create an intimate atmosphere, and Colombian Head Chef Bea talks diners though the origins of each dish.
Broadway Market
in Hackney, is a magnet for the area’s hipsters every Saturday and Sunday. Join the queue for tasty morsels from the likes of Citron Vert (French Creole bowls), Temaki Bros (sushi handrolls), Toropampa (Argentinian steak burgers), Deeney’s (whose ‘Macbeth’ haggis toasties have a cult following) and Street Pig (applewood-smoked BBQ ribs). Arrive hungry.
Babur
Hidden away in South London, unassuming Babur has won a slew of awards for its modern Indian cuisine since it opened in 1985, most recently London’s Best Asian Restaurant. Their signature dish is a melt-in-the-mouth venison curry slow-cooked with sweet potato, dark spices and tamarind, but you can’t go wrong with anything on the menu: Indian fine dining at its best, in a stylish setting.
A tea masterclass with Twinings
At Twinings’ 300-year-old flagship store at 216 Strand, guests can join a masterclass led by ‘Tea Ambassadors’ to learn the fascinating history of Twinings and afternoon tea, and enjoy tasting teas from oolong to pu-erh.
Kitty Fisher’s
Looking for a restaurant for a cosy dinner or romantic tête-à-tête? Look no further than Kitty Fisher’s – named after an infamous 18th-century courtesan – in Mayfair. Low lighting and fresh flowers set the tone in this Georgian townhouse, and the modern British food is delicious.
Manze
M. Manze is the capital’s oldest pie and mash shop (since 1902) and the best place to try this traditional British dish. If you’re feeling brave, get the eels – jellied or stewed – too, in keeping with the authentic surroundings of the original Bermondsey-based caff.
Bengal Village
Brick Lane is the place to go for one of the best curries in the capital – and in the UK. Opt for the award-winning Bengal Village restaurant at Number 75, established over two decades ago and lauded by the critics for its authentic Bangladeshi cooking.
Mare Street Market
Mare Street Market is a unique space in foodie haven Hackney offering a host of attractions under one airy roof: an excellent restaurant with open kitchen, a buzzy cafe and bar, plus a barber, nail studio, flower shop and record store, so you can really make a day of it.
A Beefeater Gin distillery tour
With a recipe that has remained virtually unchanged since 1800, Beefeater Gin has a pedigree that’s second to none. The Distillery Tour tells the story of the birth of London gin, a heady tale of international politics, the British Empire, Victorian entrepreneurs and savvy American barmen.
Wonderful Wiltons
Started as an oyster stall in 1742, Wiltons was opened as a restaurant in the 1840s, and the oysters remained a mainstay of the menu. A meal at Wiltons is the ultimate treat and one of the best places to in London. From the monogrammed carpet and velvet banquettes to the silver trolleys that are trundled through the restaurant – and the menu of British classics, of course.
Taste of London Festival
Every June, London’s Regent’s Park fills with foodie stands for four days of eating, drinking and entertainment, with 40 of the capital’s best restaurants serving up their best dishes for an alfresco feast. This will always be on our list as the one of the best places to eat in London.
Lina Stores
Lina Stores, a mini-chain of gourmet delis, has been in business since 1944. This is the place to come for authenic Italian produce, from pasta to panettone, handsomely displayed in Lina Stores’ signature duck-egg blue interiors, and all beautifully packaged to take home.
Read more:
What’s on in London in 2024: Exhibitions, openings and cultural highlights
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