London food

London food

Lunch is the new dinner, and London has some of the best on offer. The last few years have - pardon the pun - given us a renewed appetite for it. Lunch is a wonderful time to shmooze clients or business partners in the week, of course - all the better if you can foot the bill with the company card.

The space was once home to Soho's last surviving adult cinema, and it still hums with that energy: loud music, tightly packed tables and a sense of near chaos that nods to the buzz of its pop-up days. Sustainability also underpins the project. Khao Bird is B-Corp certified and committed to seasonal, local produce, working with Sussex suppliers including the 3,500-acre rewilding project Knepp Estate, alongside a network of small-scale London producers.

With so many places to eat out in London, competition for customers is intense. This means that there are lots of offers to encourage us to choose where to go. For many tourists, afternoon tea in a stylish setting is one of the highlights of their time spent here. Voucher sites like Groupon and Wowcher always have some deals that let you save money on tea, cakes and scones in classy establishments.

The menu is a pretty punchy £187 per person for the full omakase experience, with a slightly reduced price of £167 on Saturday lunchtimes. So you not only have to be fast off the mark to enjoy eating here, you also have to be a bit flush. 'The husband and wife team behind Sushi Tetsu continue to serve some of the most expertly crafted sushi you can get outside of Japan in a warm, intimate setting - a truly wonderful experience,'

The brand is the creation of three-Michelin-starred Dutch chef Sergio Herman, and in their own words, the chips are "F**ing Perfect." Expect hand-cut, double-fried frites, served with sauces like truffle mayo, piccalilli, and spicy andalouse, plus loaded options including Spicy Royal Rendang, Old Flemish Beef Stew, and Vegan Chilli Con Queso. Everything is made in-house, and the menu doesn't stop at fries - there'll be burgers and croquettes too.

The third branch of Padella - which follows the original location by Borough Market and a second in Shoreditch - is set to come to Soho next spring. The 80-seater restaurant will open at 2 Kingly Street, a decade after the first Padella launched. Run by the same team as Highbury's Trullo (the best Italian restaurant in London , according to Time Out), the much-loved Padella is known for its hand-rolled pasta, including their now-legendary pici cacio e pepe and pappardelle with beef shin ragù.

The space has been decked with a Christmas tree, hanging mistletoe and neon fairground signs, with a bar serving up a host of bespoke Christmassy cocktails, including Cinnamon Bun Espresso, Winter Berry Martini and Jameson Irish Coffee. On top of that, visitors can expect live entertainment like a Michael Bublé tribute act, karaoke, DJs and 'speed-quizzing' sessions.

New pub The Stranded is serving up the popular Chinese staple xiaomian this winter, partnering with Kingly Court success story Liu Xiaomian, who has been serving these steamy bowls of spicy noodle soup since 2017. The Stranded, surprise surprise, on the Strand, is hosting Liu Xiaomian in a pop-up space at the back of this roomy taphouse. They specialise in frothy milko' Czech beer served in hefty mugs.

Head downstairs, though, and you'll find the heart of Mele e Pere: a copper-topped vermouth bar and a surprisingly spacious dining room. Burnt orange walls and framed Italian prints film stars, pasta, truffles, set the scene. Low ceilings, flickering candles, and the soft hum of conversation create a cosy, inviting buzz, perfect for autumn and winter. Being a big Negroni fan, I was keen to explore the vermouth bar, something that, perhaps unsurprisingly, since the Negroni was invented in Florence, Italians do remarkably well.

London's dining scene has always been big on provenance, but a new breed of restaurants is taking things even further by curing, smoking, and ageing their own meats in-house. Curing and crafting in-house isn't just about chasing flavour, it allows chefs to control the quality of their product, reduce waste, and celebrate nose-to-tail cooking. From silky slices of coppa and spicy nduja to rich pâtés and terrines, these spots are cutting, curing, and serving up some of the city's best hand-made charcuterie.

Tucked beneath Kingsland Road, Jiāonest is a cosy new basement restaurant serving up fiery Chongqing flavours inspired by chef Hua Yang's childhood. It's intimate and personal, from the handmade ceramics and bespoke furniture (created with local artists) to a spice and herb-loaded menu that nods to Hua's family herbal medicine shop back in China, and the dishes her grandparents used to make.

The much-loved cocktail spot has had a full refurb, reopening on 13th November with a nostalgic nod to the nineties and a few surprises that'll make you want to stay all night. Founded in 1998, Be At One's always been about good times and great value drinks, and the new space keeps that spirit alive but with a glossier edge.

SlowBurn sits on a stretch of Walthamstow that's more grit than glamour - opposite a funeral care centre and next to a petrol garage - but that's kind of the point. This part of E17's got character, and behind the corrugated steel doors of Blackhorse Lane Ateliers, you'll find a restaurant that shares space with a working jeans atelier - and yep, you're quite literally sliding past spools of fabric before you reach your table.

The concept centres around smoked and braised meats, like pork knuckle, beef, chicken and pig's trotter (with kelp knots, tofu, lotus root and enoki mushroom for the veggies) which are slow-braised in spiced soy, gently smoked and then served chilled like charcuterie. There are more cold plates on the rest of the menu, alongside dishes like: black fungus with pickled chilli salt & pepper squid deep-fried eggplant sandwiches steamed savoury egg custard sea bass with spicy mixed pepper

The new spot has just opened on Mare Street Bar 161 on Mare Street is no more as new spot Paper Tiger has taken its place, with handmade dumplings and artisanal cocktails in tow. After a soft launch at the end of October and a Halloween event, which included pumpkin dumplings, Sichuan candy apples, Blood Moon Negronis and a costume competition, the bar is officially open for business.

'It's one of my favourite restaurants in London. They have two branches, but it's the white one - no-one is ever there but in a good way!' she said of the restaurant, which has two locations right next to each other. 'The pho is amazing, the bun noodle is amazing with marinated pork grilled to perfection with crispy bits. The fried spring rolls with carrots, daikon, lettuce. Tay Do is just the best. It's delicious comfort food and the perfect place to chat with your friends for hours. And it's bring your own booze.'

There's so much good food being made and sold in Spa Terminus in Bermondsey - residents include Neal's Yard Dairy, Natoora, The Kernel, Ham and Cheese Co, Gimlet Drinks and Farmer Tom Jones - so it makes sense that a new neighbourhood restaurant has also opened there.

I don't want to eat food from someone who's an arsehole. I get the ube matcha, or they have a mango layered drink that's very good. They do Filipino pandesal bread rolls, the cookies are delicious and they do very good sandwiches and a kind of sausage roll called longanisa.

'It will come as no surprise to anybody that the boys can throw down,' said Jay. 'The food is beautiful and the pub is annoyingly cool. It's cool in a way that's not trying to be cool. We feel very strongly about our roasts at Rake, because a roast can be the most disappointing restaurant visit you can do. You're usually in a vulnerable, hungover state, too!'

Sesta opened on Wilton Way in September 2024, in a space previously occupied by Michelin-star tasting menu restaurant Pidgin. It immediately made the leap to Time Out's 50 Best Restaurants in London list. Our five-star review praised head chef Drew Snaith's imaginative menu, which included such dishes as nduja-scotched olives, coastal cheddar and cider scones, and prawn and stone bass dolma with ouzo butter.

At the top end, sushi masters are practising a truly creative art, turning out delicate dishes that are almost too pretty to eat.

It has become clear to me that the restaurant world I've known for decades is radically changing through a combination of factors: people's working patterns, health obsessions, the falling out of love with alcohol and the falling in love with pastries and bread, but, predominantly, the affordability of it all. The numbers are genuinely frightening: in my restaurants, utility costs are up more than 50% since 2019; chocolate prices have doubled; olive oil is up 121%; even spring onions are up 55% spring onions!

Founder Ravinder Bhogal was born in Kenya to Indian parents and raised in London; the influences of her varied background are woven into both the menu at Jikoni and her popular cookbook of the same name. Well-known for many years in its Marylebone location, my expectations were already high for this 2025 visit, and I was pleased to discover that the innovative blend of culinary traditions that first put Jikoni on the map remains alive and well.

Say what you like about Mayfair, but there's nowhere else in London quite like it for sexy, OTT restaurant interiors. The latest to join the ranks is seafood spot Lilibet's, the new restaurant from Ross Shonhan, founder of Bone Daddies and former executive chef at Zuma. Russell Sage Studio has taken care of the design at Lilibet's and it's a riot - green silk walls hung with botanical prints; floral upholstery; a pale marble bar with incredible hanging glass lampshades;

Gallery at The Savoy has transformed afternoon tea into a chic evening ritual this October. With its Twilight Tea, you can indulge in elegant finger sandwiches, savoury bites, sweets and a glass of Nyetimber all under the stained glass dome within the hotel. The food offering includes a brioche roll filled with Scottish smoked salmon, lemon, dill cream and topped with caviar, and British salt beef finger sandwich with pickle mustard mayo (we're already drooling at the thought).