We've rounded up the dishes that make this city such a great place to eat out, from carby favourites to unimproveable desserts and special sides.
Spider crab omelette at Mountain
Soho - 16-18 Beak St, London W1F 9RD
Can you really say you’ve dined at Tomos Parry’s restaurant Mountain in Soho if you haven’t ordered the spider crab omelette? This rich dish, celebrating the best Welsh produce, arrives at your table looking beautiful only for you to be instructed to slice it open immediately so you can reveal the oozing innards.
Beef cheek and Guinness suet pudding at The Devonshire
Soho - 17 Denman Street, London W1D 7HW
His perfect take on a classic suet pudding is what made the team at the Devonshire want to bring chef Ashley Palmer-Watts on board in the first instance. Here it’s made with beef cheek and Guinness (obviously) and is a comfort dish of the highest order. The lamb chops on the menu here are a very close second and another must-order.
Squid ink and cod's roe flatbread at FKABAM
Islington - 156 Canonbury Road, London N1 2UP
We'll note up front that the flatbread isn’t always on, but now that BAM has reverted to an a la carte offering you’re a lot more likely to encounter it when you eat here. Cooked in the pizza oven at the back chef Lee Tiernan’s ink-hued flatbread arrives piping hot, topped with smoked cod’s roe and an egg yolk. Heaven, with a side order of heavy metal.
Biryani at Darjeeling Express
Carnaby - Top Floor, Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, London W1B 5PW
Asma Khan's hugely popular Darjeeling Express is probably best known for her excellent biryani but as popular as it is, you won't find it on the main menu. Instead it's reserved for their bi-monthly supperclubs where the traditional Calcutta style Dum Biryani is the focus (and presented to the room before being served family style). Tickets for the supperclubs sell out fast so you'll want to plan ahead for this one.
Escargots at L'Escargot
Soho - 48 Greek St, Soho, London W1D 4EF
As the name suggests, L’Escargot do snails, and they do them very well. The iconic Soho establishment has been serving up the gastropods since Queen Victoria was on the throne and it’s still one of the best places to enjoy them in London. They come served in their shells and liberally drenched in garlic butter. Snails are a big thing in London right now but if you want the very best, you have to come here.
Biang biang noodles at Dream X'ian
City of London - Unit 2A, Tower Place, London EC3
Chef Gurong Wei launched XI'an Impression, Master Wei and now Dream X'ian near Tower Bridge and has become a big star thanks to appearing on Netflix's Chef's table. These hand-pulled noodles are her signature dish. These wide springy noodles serve as the perfect foil to the cumin lamb and garlicky sauce but you can also make this a vegan option by just going for the special sauce.
Meat Fruit at Dinner by Heston
Knightsbridge - Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 66 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LA
A dish originally made famous in his TV shows, the meat fruit exemplifies the historical angle of the menu at Dinner by Heston. The dish has its origins in the 14th century but here is brought bang up to date. Looking for the world like a mandarin, the mandarin jelly ‘peel’ hides a chicken liver and foie gras parfait. It takes days to make and minutes to finish.
Eel Sandwich at Quo Vadis
Soho - 26-29 Dean Street, London, W1D 3LL
Chef Jeremy Lee loves this dish so much that he brought it with him to Soho from his previous restaurant the Blueprint Cafe. Rectangles of sourdough encase the smoked eel fillet, which is then slicked with mustard and topped with onion pickle and horseradish. The perfect sandwich.
Bone marrow and parsley salad at St John
Clerkenwell - 26 St John Street, London EC1M 4AY
There are plenty of signature dishes at Fergus Henderson’s OG restaurant in Smithfield but it’s this DIY dish of toasted white sourdough, roasted veal bones and parsley that’s been on since day one. Scoop the hot marrow out and spread it on the toast exactly as you like it.
Fish pie at J Sheekey
Soho - 28-34 St. Martin's Court, London WC2N 4AL
Having opened back in the 1890s this theatreland establishment knows its seafood and this pie is one of the restaurant’s bestsellers. Featuring a mix of cod, smoked haddock and salmon, it’s topped with the butteriest of mashes.
Crepes Suzettes at The Ritz
St James - 150 Piccadilly, London W1J 9BR
One of the best examples of Guéridon service you’re likely to encounter in London happens when you order the Crêpes Suzette in The Ritz Restaurant. The trolley is wheeled to your table where first a sauce of butter, caramelised sugar and orange peel is made. That’s then spooned over the crepes in the pan before the Grand Marnier is added. The whole dish is then flambeed in spectacular fashion.
Bacon Naan at Dishoom
Kensington, King's Cross, Carnaby, Covent Garden, Canary Wharf, Shoreditch
Combining two of Londoner’s favourite things, a good Indian and a banging bacon sarnie, this breakfast dish of dreams is always a great start to any day. The house-made naan has a little cream cheese spread on it along with tomato-chilli jam and coriander, and the streaky bacon comes from Scottish butchers Ramsay of Carluke. Thi sis also one of the very few London restaurant meal kits remaining - so you can even get it delivered to your door (but it's always best in the restaurant).
Confit potatoes at Quality Chop House
Clerkenwell - 92–94 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3EA
If Quality Chop House were ever to remove these from their menu, one suspects there would be a repeat of the Clerkenwell riot. The two-day labour of love recipe results in ‘crispy golden nuggets’ that are then lightly drizzled with mustard dressing and sprinkled with salt. Carby heaven.
Pressed duck at Otto’s
Holborn - 182 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8EW
Owner Otto Tepasse is the proud owner of several gleaming duck presses at his Grays Inn Restaurant. Behind the nondescript frontage, this theatrical restaurant woos Londoners with its elaborate tableside service. The duck, which must be pre-ordered before it’s cooked and then crushed in front of you, results in three separate courses. It’s expensive but worth every penny.
Beef Wellington at Holborn Dining room
Holborn - 252 High Holborn, London WC1V 7EN
Originally launched by Calum Franklin, the torch of head pie maker at Holborn Dining Room has now been passed to chef Nokx Majozi. There are now new pies on the menu like the Chicken, Chestnut Mushroom & Tarragon Pie but the classic remains their beef wellington, one of the best in London. Note, however, that it's only available on "Welly Wednesday", so make sure to book then.
Classic bao at Bao
Borough, Battersea, Marylebone, King’s Cross, Shoreditch, Soho & the City
Having started out life as a street food stall selling these Taiwanese pork buns, Bao may be more of a restaurant group now but its classic bao is still the one to beat. The rice flour baos are stuffed with soy braised pork belly, fried fermented mustard greens and coriander before being dusted with peanut powder for that final flourish.
Creme caramel at Bouchon Racine
Farringdon - 66 Cowcross St, London EC1M 6BP
Choosing a signature dish from Racine is a painful task when it means leaving out delights such as the Bayonne ham and celeriac remoulade or the mousse with mussels. But the perfection of Henry Harris’s creme caramel is unquestionably the best bit of dining here, down to its level of wobble.
Tortilla at Barrafina
King's Cross, Soho, Covent Garden, Borough Yards
Admit it, you’ve sat up at the counter at some much-vaunted tapas spot in Spain thinking, ‘well this is good, but it’s actually not as good as Barrafina’. If there’s one dish that sums up this restaurant that’s a love letter to Spain it’s their tortilla, made in teeny pans in front of you and served up for you to slice open to reveal that golden oozy centre.
Lamb chops at Tayaabs
Aldgate - 83-89 Fieldgate Street, London E1 1JU
Marinated in a secret spiced paste before being seared in the tandoor grill, the slender chops at Tayaabs are a key reason that fans of this Whitechapel tandoor house keep coming back for more.
The All-In at Blacklock
Shoreditch, City, Soho, Covent Garden, Canary Wharf
When you’re after a plate of food considerably bigger than your head and can’t be faffed with deciding which of Blacklock’s delicious chops to order, the all-in is the dish for you. After all, why choose between the beef, pork or lamb skinny chops when you have all of them piled on top of their amazing flatbreads instead?
Beef brisket bun at Smokestak
Shoreditch - 35 Sclater St, London E1 6LB
On the face of it, this appears to be a simple BBQ sandwich, but Smokestak’s always-on bun showcases their attention to detail - this isn’t just any old ‘cue restaurant. The milk bun is toasted before being brushed with barbecue sauce on the bottom half and beef dripping on the top. then it's filled with their amazing sliced brisket and - our favourite - those pickled red chillis.
Szechuan aubergine at Chick n Sours
Haggerston, Seven Dials
Back in 2015, this was the Hot Dinners dish of the year - and we’re still very, very fond of it. Cubed aubergine is dipped in a light tapioca flour batter before being fried and then - the crucial bit - drizzled with a rich Szechuan sauce. It’s topped with chillis and furikake for the perfect blend of sweet and sour, soft and crispy.
Photo by Jimi Chiu
Lobster noodles at Mandarin Kitchen
14-16 Queensway, London W2 3RX
For 45 years this Bayswater institution has been serving up London’s most luxe noodle dish - for a good while they were singlehandedly keeping Billingsgate’s lobster retailers in business. There are three sauce options, with ginger and spring onion the classic, and the noodles cost extra. But if you’re worried about the bill, then ordering lobster noodles here probably isn’t the best idea anyway.
Egusi bowl at Chuku's
Tottenham - 274 High Rd, London N15 4AJ
Eyebrows may have been raised by the modernity of the quinoa jollof at Chuku's but the egusi bowl at this Tottenham restaurant specialising in Nigerian 'tapas' is a hot favourite. It features three cassava dumplings and a primary coloured trio of sauces made from Nigerian melon seeds; spinach coriander and fennel and also red pepper and tomato.
Rabbit and carrot glutinous puff at A Wong
Victoria - 70 Wilton Road, London SW1V 1DE
As with Heston's meat fruit, there's a lovely level of fakery going on with Andrew Wong's rabbit and carrot puff. Is it a dumpling or is it a carrot? It's obviously the former, filled with rabbit and carrot and topped with a wafer-thin slice of pickled carrot.
Feta and honey cheesecake at Honey & Co
Bloomsbury - 54 Lamb’s Conduit Street, London WC1N 3LW
There’s a definite level of deconstruction to the famous cheesecake at Honey & Co but that’s just how their customers like it, and woe betide them should they take it off the menu. With a base of kadaif, a cream cheese layer given heft by both feta and honey plus a topping of fresh seasonal fruit it’s light but satisfying too.
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