London food

London food

The pavement along Barking Road in Plaistow is a blur through the front windows and deserted, and there are only two customers in the shop. Another sign this one on the counter says CASH ONLY. Card machine companies often tell proprietor Nathan Jacobi that he's missing out by not catering to customers who favour cashless transactions. They're the ones missing out, he says. Cos they ain't getting pie and mash.

Hélène Darroze at The Connaught is celebrating Valentine's Day in London with a special menu, showcasing the best of fine French dining and fresh British ingredients. The meal begins with caviar paired with sea urchin and dashi jelly, continuing with indulgent dishes such as black truffle with cacklebean egg, Dover sole from Newlyn in Cornwall, and veal from Corrèze, France. Dessert comes in two parts: rhubarb and chocolate courses.

It'll be the first opening outside of Notting Hill for husband-and-wife team Christina Mouratoglou and Adrien Carré Mazi and Suzi Tros, both in Notting Hill, are two of the best Greek restaurants in London, and this spring, they're about to be joined by a third spot, only a little further east than W8. Owners Christina Mouratoglou and Adrien Carré have chosen Mayfair for their latest project Maza, which'll channel the spirit of a 1980s Athenian taverna.

London's bakery scene has got to be one of the best in the world right now. As well as an abundance of croissants and sourdough, there are bakeries doing everything from Italian maritozzi to Japanese milk bread and pretty much everything in between. The weekend pastry run has become a ritual (bonus points if you literally run to the bakery) and bagging goods from Toad or Chatsworth Bakehouse before they sell out is a social flex.

Tse was not raised cooking Japanese food and, in preparation for opening The Azuki Room, travelled to Tokyo to train at the Japan Culinary Institute. He told me a bit about this process, but where his resilience has really been tested is in London. The Azuki Room was due to open in 2025 but suffered a series of unfortunate events: the site was occupied by squatters, the premises were damaged, stock and equipment were stolen, and the specialist sake Tse bought in Japan was consumed.

When it opened in 2021, Brixton Market's Temaki quickly became a hit with the city's sushi aficionados. The restaurant, which was London's first dedicated to handroll sushi, received a Time Out reviewer's praise for its 'triple whammy of expertise, exceptional produce and classy execution'. Alas, the south London Temaki wasn't to last. The California-style sushi joint shut its Brixton outpost last summer. Now, however, Temaki has announced a grand return to the city - this time in central London. A new location will open on Mayfair's Maddox Street

Khan started Darjeeling Express as a pop-up at Soho pub The Sun & 13 Cantons in 2014 before taking on a permanent site in Kingly Court. She decided not to reopen there post-lockdown and chose instead to move the restaurant to a bigger site in Covent Garden, where she stayed until the summer of 2022. Following another pop-up stint, this time in west London, Khan moved Darjeeling Express back to Kingly Court at the beginning of 2023.

Laura and the team have transformed the upstairs area into an intimate and relaxed space, with dimmed lighting, low ceiling and long centre bar topped with a few of the tapas dishes on the menu. You have a front row view of the chef knocking up the pinxtos from the bar, which is always helpful when deciding what to have next.

It is a great honor to be a custodian of The Great Dame of Dean Street on her 100th year, alongside Sam Hart and Crispin Somerville - 100 years of good folk crossing the threshold bringing such joy, mirth, and merriment to Quo Vadis, Lee told Elite Traveler.

After releasing her cookbook Rambutan, celebrating the food of Sri Lanka and her Tamil roots, Cynthia Shanmugalingam opened a restaurant of the same name in Borough in 2023. Rambutan received rave reviews almost immediately and has built a rep for being one of the best Sri Lankan restaurants in town thanks to dishes like mutton rolls, saffron chicken pongal rice, and kottu roti with crab and chilli butter.

Onsu, an Asian-inspired bake house and patisserie, opens its doors in Soho on January 15. The sweet treat haven at 55A Dean Street is fronted by chef Michael Kwan, a multi-title pastry champion and the former executive pastry chef of the Dorchester. Kwan's career has also included stints at Ladurée, Hakkasan, and the three-Michelin-starred The Fat Duck. The new spot will combine Asian flavours with classical European style baking.

It was already an excellent bakery, that was the point. This wasn't about coming in and changing something, it was about protecting it, supporting it, and helping it develop and expand,

According to recent data, over 2 million people are typically out and about across the capital between 9pm and midnight, with around 1 million remaining active later into the night, in a testament to the city's enduring after-dark draw. A "rain check" no longer has to mean disappointment, though. Across the capital, nightlife has evolved into something far more flexible than a simple pub-to-club circuit. Dining, entertainment, gaming and culture increasingly blend into evenings that feel intentional rather than improvised.

Beginning as Hong Kong milk tea specialists popping up at various markets and festivals across London, HOKO opened a cha chaan teng on Brick Lane in 2023, serving char siu rice, pork chop buns, French toast and other HK diner dishes. The team then did a wonton pop-up at Wun's Tea Room & Bar in Soho in 2024 and it was such a success that it's now coming back as a permanent concept.

Mr Lhermitte passed the restaurant down to his family in 2017 (he died in 2022) and it's now under new family ownership. And the new owners are ready to give Mon Plaisir a refresh - though the original dining room and copper-topped bar will be staying put - so they're auctioning off a range of the venue's classic French interior decorations.

Mercato Metropolitano, which has operated from a former paper-making factory in Elephant & Castle for nine years, is to be demolished after plans for the Borough Triangle development were approved by Southwark councillors in March. The housing scheme will see almost 900 homes built in tower blocks up to 44 storeys high. A spokesperson for the market, which has 40 independent traders, said "despite recent incorrect speculation" the market remained open, adding that it had "lots more exciting things to look forward to" next year.

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.

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,'

Aiming to be the Sean Dyche-style safe pair of hands to Victor Garvey's calamitous Big Ange tenure, Hawksmoor feels like a perfect fit, immediately at home in this space. And what a space it is, by the way. The Grade I-listed dining room designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1873 is surely one of London's most beautiful, with soaring ceilings, decorative mouldings, huge windows, and polished wooden floors.

Returning to Amsterdam is a bit of a walk down memory lane for me. In the mid-90s, I lived there while studying for my master's, and it was a wonderful time - everyone sitting on doorsteps drinking wine, riding their bikes around town. I loved it!

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.