Smokestak is a Michelin Bib Gourmand barbecue restaurant from David Carter, who grew up in Barbados and spent time travelling America's Deep South before bringing his obsession with smoke and slow-cooked meat to East London. The industrial space of blackened walls and rough wood sets the mood perfectly, and the beef brisket, slow smoked overnight over English oak and served in a brioche bun with pickled red chillies, is one of the finest things you can eat in London.
Freshly fried Sicilian arancini made to order, with generously packed fillings ranging from classic beef ragù and ham and béchamel to aubergine and nduja. The golden, crispy exterior and molten fillings have made it a favourite with the lunchtime crowd, and at under £7 a ball it is one of the best value bites in central London.
A long-standing and much-loved pan-Asian restaurant on Kensington High Street, Hare and Tortoise has been serving fresh handmade sushi, ramen, curry laksa, roast duck and noodle dishes since 1996. The bright, airy space is relaxed and unpretentious, the portions are generous and the prices are considerably kinder than most of its neighbours, making it one of the best value Asian restaurants in west London.
A small Japanese grocery store just off the Finchley Road that doubles as one of the best grab and go lunch spots in north west London. Alongside pantry staples and imported Japanese ingredients, the chilled counter is stacked daily with homemade karaage, okonomiyaki skewers, onigiri, bento boxes, sashimi and donburi bowls, all made fresh on site and sold at prices that feel genuinely remarkable for London. A beloved local institution.
The flagship London location of a bold new sushi concept from Dong Hyun Kim, the founder of Wasabi, Sushinoya occupies a corner site on Shaftesbury Avenue and sets out to do something genuinely different: omakase-quality sushi made entirely from whole fish, cut and prepared on site by chefs each day, in a grab and go format. Rare cuts including chutoro tuna belly, yellowtail and eel sit alongside hot bento and seasonal boxes, and the quality is a significant step above anything else in the grab and go sushi market.
A tiny hole in the wall on Kingly Street in Soho, Big Kid Ice Cream has built a devoted following for its inventive, generously packed scoops with flavour combinations you genuinely won't find anywhere else in London. Think black sesame Oreo, Hong Kong French toast with caramelised condensed milk, ube blueberry muffin and peanut butter wasabi, all made with quality ingredients and a willingness to take real creative risks. The staff let you try everything before you choose, which is just as well given how hard it is to decide.
One of the most exciting additions to Chinatown in recent years, YiQi on Lisle Street is a pan Asian restaurant with a largely Malaysian and Singaporean inspired menu, led by chef Stanley Lum Wah Cheok who previously cooked at Hakkasan and Yauatcha. The stylish room of rattan walls, dark wood and emerald green is a fitting backdrop for standout dishes which include the nyonya pandan chicken, charcoal grilled beef short ribs and whole grilled silver pomfret.
Southern Thai canteen Plaza Khao Gaeng takes its name and inspiration from the informal curry over rice restaurants that fill every street corner in Thailand. The strip lit, close packed room with its laminate print tablecloths nails the atmosphere, and the food is ferociously good: deeply spiced curries, sour and fiery stir fries, and a kua kling dry curry with enough heat to make you sweat, all washed down with icy Singha. Not for the spice averse, and all the better for it.
The name translates roughly as "wonderful hamburger steak" and sits directly opposite Shake Shack and Bleecker on Buckingham Palace Road, which tells you everything about the confidence of this Asian-inspired smash burger joint from Turkish-born chef Fatih Alkan. The short menu takes the American burger format and runs it through Japanese, Korean, Thai and Chinese flavours, from a kimchi burger with house-made kimchi to an Isan burger loaded with bird's eye chilli, all served in soft potato buns with double wagyu patties. One of the most genuinely original things to happen to London's burger scene in years.
A small, family founded popcorn shop on Tavistock Street in Covent Garden, Godfrey's is named after founder Luke Godfrey's grandfather. Every batch is popped in small quantities on site, with classics like caramel, cheddar cheese and buttered alongside rotating weekly specials from the test kitchen. Get the half cheese, half caramel and thank us later.
A gourmet patisserie on Ladbroke Grove, Le Choux specialises in French choux buns filled with inventive flavour combinations ranging from pistachio and passion fruit to salted caramel and lemon meringue, each one beautifully made and generously filled. The dark chocolate and sea salt cookies are equally revered and regularly cited as among the best in London. A wonderful neighbourhood gem, and well worth seeking out.
Known as Honest Greens across Europe and trading as Hg in the UK, this Barcelona born restaurant group opened its first London location on St Anne's Court in Soho in December 2025. The concept is plant forward fast casual done properly: seasonal market plates and garden bowls built around open-fire cooking, olive oil, fresh herbs and sustainably sourced British produce, with no preservatives or processed ingredients anywhere on the menu. A genuinely welcome addition to Soho for anyone looking for a quick, healthy and genuinely tasty lunch.
A busy restaurant with sites in Soho and Covent Garden dedicated to Indo Chinese Hakka cooking, the fusion food that grew out of Kolkata's Chinese immigrant community. The name combines the Chinese surname Fatt with the Indian word pundit, and the food does the same, weaving Chinese techniques through Indian spices to genuinely exciting effect. The crackling spinach is the signature dish everyone orders and nobody forgets, and the steamed momos and Malabar monkfish curry are equally brilliant.
A family run Bristol institution that won Uber Eats Restaurant of the Year in 2023, Sandwich Sandwich has made a confident debut in London with sites in the City and Tottenham Court Road. The formula is simple: generously stacked sandwiches built on thick doorstep bread with quality ingredients, from overnight roasted sirloin with horseradish mayo to southern fried chicken with spicy Creole sauce. Try the Scotch eggs, they are simply fantastic.
A multi award winning chicken wing restaurant, Wingmans has built a devoted following for its large, freshly cooked wings tossed in a rotating cast of bold global sauces. From classic buffalo with blue cheese to Japanese curry, Shanghai Oriental and Jamaican hot sauce. Gloves are provided, a bone bucket sits at every table, and the truffle mac and cheese with beef short rib is the side dish to order.
