The London restaurant scene is one of the world's best, and it runs the gamut from great British institutions that have been around for decades to trendy no-reservations spots that open faster than you can keep track of. It should come as little suprise that innovative and impressive chefs from all over the world are keen for a place at the (dinner) table here. Pull up a stool at a long steel counter to watch as Northern Thai dishes are cooked over open flames, sink into your leather booth and press the button for champagne to enjoy with lobster mac 'n' cheese, or order a whole spread of small plates inspired by Italy's diverse regions. If you're serious about food, you'll find London has plenty to offer.

Soho

Bocca di Lupo

Italian counter-top restaurant Bocca di Lupo, tucked away down one of Soho’s quieter streets, was one of the first to run with small plates when it opened to much acclaim in 2008. Now something of a Soho stalwart, it’s still one of the most exciting places to eat Italian food, thanks to its diverse menu inspired by all 20 of Italy’s regions. The small plate system means you can sample something from each section/region of the menu, too. We’re talking fried artichoke from Roma, Apulia’s raw fish with pink pepper and olive oil and Veneto’s Pappardelle with wild venison ragu to name a few gems. For dessert, hop across the street to Gelupo, the restaurant's gelataria.

Contact: 020 7734 2223; boccadilupo.com
Nearest Tube: Piccadilly Circus
Reservations: Essential
Prices: ££

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Kiln

This casual, Soho walk-in specialises in Northern Thai food (or specifically the regions where Thailand borders Burma, Laos and Yunnan) and won first place in this year’s National Restaurant Awards for its efforts. It’s affordable, democratic and fun – especially if you’re able get a seat at the long steel counter to watch the chefs cook at their clay pots - the restaurant shuns gas and electricity, instead cooking its deeply savoury and super spicy food over open flames and smoky coals. Fish arrives daily and whole animals are butchered in-house. Be sure to try the lamb and cumin skewer, stir-fried skate with spring onion, and wild ginger and beef neck curry from Burma.

Contact: kilnsoho.com
Nearest Tube: Piccadilly Circus
Reservations: Walk-ins only
Prices: £

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Bob Bob Ricard

This is the restaurant of choice for those planning to go ‘out out’, which is not a claim many restaurants can make. Yes, the food is excellent, the drinks even better, but the main claim to fame? It is fun, with a capital F. The décor is insanely lavish – like something from the Great Gatsby – with low lighting, lots of gold and marble, and blue or red leather booths (depending whether you are in the blue or red dining room). Famously, there is a champagne button at each booth so you can summon a top-up. Does the novelty of this wear off? No. Food wise, it’s ‘luxury English and Russian’. Think comfort food for millionaires – lobster mac ‘n’ cheese, supersized lemon-sole goujons, Chateaubriand for one. Go at lunchtime and get 20 per cent off the dinner menu.

Contact: 020 3145 1000; bobbobricard.com
Nearest Tube: Picadilly Circus
Reservations: Recommended
Prices: ££

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Fitzrovia

Rovi

Rovi is Israeli-born wonder-chef Ottolenghi’s sixth London restaurant with an amped-up focus on vegetables, specifically by way of ‘fermentation and cooking over fire’. And it’s so pretty - probably the most plush of his restaurants with a show-stopping circular marble bar to greet you as you walk in and curvaceous red banquette seating snaking around the tables. As well as serving his usual deli-fare colourful salad bowls and pastries, there are luxurious veggie small plates, presented like works of art – think grilled kasuzake cucumber with peanut and lime sambal and celeriac shawarma, a ‘kebab’ so good it could turn even the most enthusiastic carnivore. Meat and fish also appear on the menu but definitely second fiddle to the vegetable queens.

Contact: 020 3963 8271, ottolenghi.co.uk
Nearest metro: Oxford Circus
Price: ££

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Borough

Bao Borough

They have people queuing around the block in Soho and Fitzrovia and now Bao has brought its Taiwanese fluffy steamed buns to foodie haven, Borough Market. It’s the perfect fit, with its grab-and-go hatch (open Fridays and Saturdays) if you want to keep moving around the stalls. If you sit in, pull up a stool either at the long wooden bar or Formica-topped tables, in a simple café-style setting. Bun-wise, as well as the classic slow-braised pork belly, try the new chicken nugget bao (with hot sauce and Sichuan mayo) and the hot-dog-esque shrimp ‘Shia Song’. Or, from the Tokyo-style grill, there are juicy scallops with spiced beef butter and hot yellow chilli chicken wings inspired by ‘late-night commuter food’ across Asia. To top it off, there’s a karaoke room downstairs that you can book by the hour. 

Contact: 020 3319 8132; baolondon.com
Nearest metro: London Bridge
Price: £

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Mayfair

Scott’s

Among the five oldest restaurants in London, Scott’s was originally opened as an oyster warehouse in 1851, in a different location but still…heritage. Oysters are still the star attraction - ideally consumed at the elegant marble-topped champagne bar, which has a giant boat-style sculpture on a plinth housing all the crustacea on ice. A shimmering centre-piece, indeed – and the focal point, décor-wise. Try one of each oyster on offer (sourced from England, Ireland, Scotland and France) and don’t miss the jalapeno vinegar to add some extra bite. Fish is the specialty for main course – try the roast cod with cauliflower puree and chorizo dressing.

Contact: 020 7495 7309; scotts-restaurant.com
Nearest Tube: Green Park
Reservations: Essential
Prices: £££

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Hide

Bang on bustling Piccadilly, Hide, as the name suggests, is a tranquil space more akin to a luxury spa or gallery thanks to the stripped back, natural interior – all wood and calming neutral tones, inspired by Green Park, which it peacefully overlooks. The focal point is the swirling spiral wooden staircase taking you through all three floors of the experience - from ‘Below’ (the bar) to ‘Ground’ (all-day dining) to ‘Above’ (fine dining). Just five months since opening in May 2018, this joint venture between star chef Ollie Dabbous and Mayfair’s Hedonism Wines has already garnered a Michelin star. The fixed lunch is reasonably priced for this caliber of restaurant and has such ceremony, from cured meats served speared on feathers to chutney made at your table for the cheese course. Then there’s the wine. The wine list – on a leather-bound iPad – boasts over 6,000 bottles that can be beckoned from Hedonism’s cellars within 15 minutes.

Contact: 020 3146 8666; hide.co.uk
Nearest Tube: Green Park
Reservations: Recommended
Prices: £££

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The Wolseley

European brasserie dining on a grandiose scale. The Piccadilly site used to be a very posh car showroom of the same name, and the revered atmosphere lives on – you can’t help but let out a little gasp when the ornate room swallows you up. Even though The Wolseley hasn’t been around that long it feels very traditional and comforting. It’s a place for regulars, and low-key celebrities and media people having breakfast meetings, but don’t let that put you off. Whatever time of day you come it feels like an event, and the staff treats you like it’s your birthday even if it isn’t. The menu is full of comforting crowd pleasers from across Europe - like eggs Benedict, coq au vin with creamed mash and black forest gateau.

Contact: 020 7499 6996; thewolseley.com
Nearest Tube: Green Park
Reservations: Recommended
Prices: ££

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Indian Accent

It’s Indian food but not how you know it. The very chic Indian Accent (think British racing green velvet booths, silver gilt walls, lots of marble) is the definition of experiential dining. The menu borrows from other cuisines, giving dishes a clever Indian twist, like the ghee roast lamb with roomali roti – their take on Peking duck and pancakes. Traditional Indian dishes are deliciously subverted – think blue cheese naan and a pickle tray that comes in the form of mini vials of flavoured ‘waters’ to be knocked back like shots when poured into puchkas (essentially, popadom shot glasses). Try a ‘Proper Copper’ kaffir lime leaf-infused vodka cocktail, served in a freezing cold copper cup, to start the experience in style.

Contact: 020 7629 9802; indianaccent.com
Nearest Tube: Green Park
Reservations: Recommended
Prices: £££

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Cora Pearl

Housed in a handsome, historic town house in Covent Garden, Cora Pearl is the second restaurant from the team behind It restaurant Kitty Fisher’s in Mayfair. The menu is billed as ‘complex comfort food’ and it doesn’t get much more comforting than a ham and cheese toastie, elegantly executed, of course, from a pork terrine and served as a trio of finger sandwiches with a pitch perfect chutney. Warming, traditional-with-a-twist mains include fish stew and croutons and veal with celeriac and Sauce Bordelaise (the Parisian bistro influence showing through). The décor is tres chic - think high ceilings dripping with pendant lamps, parquet flooring and plush green velvet banquettes. It’s become a hotspot for discerning theatre goers as well as Sunday roast aficionados.

Contact: 020 7324 7722, corapearl.co.uk
Nearest metro: Covent Garden
Price: ££

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King's Cross

Coal Office

Coal Office, part of Kings Cross’s new Coals Drop Yard development, is a collaboration between the designer Tom Dixon and chef Assaf Granit (of ‘it’ restaurant Palomar fame). A self-proclaimed ‘food and design playground’, the place is buzzing – it’s dark and industrial with sexy lighting, the music is loud in a good way, and the drinks pack a punch. It’s also intimate, especially if you sit at the kitchen-bar where the magic happens at the Josper oven (cooked over coals). The food is broadly Middle Eastern, but very much inspired by Israel and aimed at sharing. Kudos for dish names ‘Plate for the Brave’ (an assortment of chillies), ‘Bread from the Past’ and ‘Oxitipus’ – potato stew with ox cheek and josperised octopus.

Contact: 020 3848 6085; coaloffice.com
Nearest Tube: Kings Cross.  For places to stay in the area, see our guide to the best hotels near Euston station.
Reservations: Recommended
Prices: ££

Dishoom

Yes it’s a chain but boy is this Indian restaurant good, with the added plus that you have several locations around town from which to choose (Kensington, Carnaby Street, Covent Garden, Kings Cross and Shoreditch). Styled like a traditional Bombay café – all dark wood, decoratively tiled floors and wicker-backed chairs – it’s always thriving with a really mixed clientele. The super reasonable menu runs all day, and serves not traditional curries but specialties like the house black daal, lamb boti kabab or the quick lunch-y chicken tikka roll. Beat the inevitable queue by opting for a unique breakfast and their Bombay-take on British classics, including the Full Bombay and the bacon and egg naan.

Contact: dishoom.com
Reservations: Walk-ins only
Prices: £

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Clerkenwell

The Modern Pantry

An original purveyor of ‘fusion’ cuisine, this Clerkenwell institution celebrated its 10th birthday in 2018, and is the sort of restaurant where chefs choose to have dinner. The word fusion is overused but it’s the best way to describe a menu that finds room for beef, almond and soy gyoza alongside sashimi, and slow-cooked pork belly next to the now-famous sugar-cured prawn omelette with green chilli. You can dine all day in this clean, serene, elegant, Grade II-listed dining room overlooking the pretty and historic St John’s Square. An inspiring choice for weekend brunch or afternoon tea with a difference, too.

Contact: 020 7553 9210; themodernpantry.co.uk
Nearest Tube: Farringdon
Reservations: recommended
Prices: ££