Restaurants, Brasseries & Cafés

1 Lombard Street
Modern, seasonally oriented cuisine supervised by Mr Hix in a very serenely, top-lit converted banking hall across from the Bank of England and Royal Exchange. £ 72

Balthazar
London’s version of New York’s take on a French Brasserie; Mr McNally’s prolific mind neatly executes a Francophile spot in Covent Garden. £ 85

Berners Tavern
Modern cuisine, directed by Mr Atherton, in a spectacularly renovated Edwardian hall of vaulting grandeur, in the southern reaches of Fitzrovia. £ 100

Bob Bob Ricard
Soho’s playful tribute to Art Deco excess, with “call for Champagne” buttons at every table is not cheap, on average, but does have some good specials. £ 86

Brasseria Notting Hill
A recent (2021) addition to the quality traditional hospitality scene, the Frequelli brother’s Italian comfort food is a valuable and affordable addition to Notting Hill. £ 86

Brasserie Zédel
Reliably French, very accessible and opulently gorgeous, Corbin & King’s Brasserie Zédel sets the standard for its category in London. £ 49

China Tang (at the Dorchester)
One of the world’s great cuisines is produced knowledgeably here and, for once, served in surroundings that elevate it, as does the bar next door. £ 101

Cheneston’s (at the Milestone Hotel)
Tranquil Victorian elegance and an accent on British classics in the heart of Kensington. Deserves to be better known. ££££ (no price yet on Harden’s).

Clos Maggiore
The warmth and quality of Provencal cuisine in n impossible photogenic space on the doorstep of Covent Garden.
£ 95

Colbert
A classic, idealised French bistro in the middle of Chelsea, serving classics in a civilised environment. A Corbin & King establishment. £ 63

Colony Grill Room (at the Beaumont)
The recently renovated grill room is less assertively Deco, masculine and visually delectable but remains an oasis of civility. £ 107

Dean Street Townhouse
Soho House-style comfort food and perfectly easy, trad ambiance makes this a classic and a welcome resource in Soho’s. £ 74

The Delaunay
Classic ‘Continental’ cuisine in a spacious, swish space with a very agreeable bar at the front. The Delaunay is exceedingly civilised even for an area that is not short of bars or restaurants. £ 69

The Drawing Room (in Brown’s Hotel)
A remarkably successful renovation of a historic space, offering refined but generally unfussy versions of ‘supper’ classics. £ 84

Fischer’s
Corbin & king produced another tribute to Mitteleuropean hospitality, schnitzel adn all, that rivals and possibly betters the original. The place to be in Marylebone. £ 66

Hawksmoor Air Street
With a deserved reputation for fine steak and seafood , this branch of the Hawksmoor mini-chain near Piccadilly Circus will appeal to fans of easily traditional décor. £ 94

Holborn Dining Room
British-inflected but not staunchly traditional dishes in a grandly elevated Edwardian space on High Holborn. £ 83

The Ivy Kensington Brasserie
Convincingly traditional, buzzy and with a satisfyingly unfussy menu, this Ken High Street brasserie is a useful stop at any time of day or evening. £ 72

The Ivy Marylebone Café
This serenely retro and supremely well-behaved spot provides rather fine comfort food on Marylebone’s prettiest street. £ 65

J Sheekey
An actual survivor from the Golden Era, this ‘Fish Restaurant’ is a time machine back to the early to mid C20 but sprucely maintained. A Covent Garden institution. £ 88

The Lanesborough Grill (formerly ‘Celeste’)
One of the prettiest neoclassical dining rooms anywhere and high-end cuisine at the edge of Belgravia. A place for special occasions. ££££ (no price yet on Harden’s).

Louie
More classic grill than Creole but evidently passionate about stylish comity. Of the two dining areas, upstairs is more refined, downstairs more animated. £ 97

The Lutyens Grill (in The Ned)
One of the many, beautifully re-created, excellently run environments within that marvel of style and versatility that is The Ned. Classic and classy surf-n-turf menu. £ 106.

Margot
Modern but excellent Italian food of a high standard in a very refined space, at the more genteel end of Covent Garden. £ 84

The Mercer
Another early C20 banking hall turned into a perfectly decent restaurant. Never too many of these, in the City, we think. £ 79

The Quality Chop House
A well-preserved Grade II-listed dining room focused on prime cuts of meat near Smithfield – Clerkenwell. £ 92

Rules
London’s oldest restaurant retains all its Victorian charm, sense of occasion and successful upholding of a tradition that is very much alive. £ 83

The Savoy Grill
The Savoy’s ‘front of house’ restaurant is still a destination spot with refurbished but glitzily Deco interiors, when one needs to splurge. £ 147

The Terrace (at the Clermont Hotel Charing Cross)
Inside the 1865 Clermont Hotel, one of the earlier ‘railway’ hotels, the bar is good value and is an oasis is civility in an area overrun with mass tourism. The restaurant offers a rather ordinary “grill and odd bits’ menu but is architecturally splendid, both in the grand main room and the charming conservatory.
£ (no price yet on Harden’s

Wiltons
Oyster bar of C18 origins turned into classic restaurant replete with carving trolley in the still uniquely gentlemanly district of St James. £ 108

The Wolseley
This is Corbin & King’s ‘even better than the god old days’, classically elegant restaurant that triggered the return to eating as if style mattered. £ 77

Zaika of Kensington
Delectably savoury Indian cuisine in a beautiful Neogothic Victorian space. Zaika is a jewel in Ken High Street’s crown. £ 67


These are shown in alphabetical order. See the Map and Area Guides for geographically organised listings.
The £ amount shown is based on the average cost as reported by Harden’s (“based on a three course dinner, half a bottle of wine, coffee, cover charge, service and VAT”)