Control freaks (and we mean that in the best possible way) are well served by a range of London restaurants and bars putting you in the chef or bartender’s role. Whether you’re flipping steak on your own tabletop grill or pouring your own cocktail, here’s where to enjoy the DIY experience in London.
DIY food
Parrillan
Coal Drops Yard and Borough Yards
What you're making: Spanish grilled dishes
From the same restaurant family as Barrafina, these Spanish spots are all about cooking over the parrilla - a charcoal-fuelled tabletop grill. The ingredients are the best you can imagine - from gambas rojos to tuna pintxos and 25-day aged Trasacar beef. At the King’s Cross branch, all of the tables come with the opportunity for DIY grilling. At Borough Yards you’ll need to make a terrace booking to enjoy the DIY grilling session.
Hot Stone
Fitzrovia and Islington
What you're making: Volcanic rock-grilled meat and fish
The clue to what’s on offer at Hot Stone lies in the name. In addition to platters of sashimi and innovative sushi, the signature section of the menu involves volcanic stone slabs being heated up to 400 degrees celsius before being delivered to your table. You then get to cook or sear Hokkaido scallops or tiger prawns to taste. Just pray you don’t overcook the A5 sirloin Kobe that the restaurant’s known for.
Haidilao
Piccadilly Circus and O2
What you're making: Chinese hot pot
There’s nearly always a queue to get into Haidlao such is the popularity of this hot pot restaurant. Once you’re in, the arrangement goes as follows. Assemble your own dipping sauce at the sauce station, then pick your soup base (the Mala spicy one is accurately named) plus the ingredients you want to put in it. Handily, there are guides on how long everything should be cooked for - and if you really want to game it, this site has a great roundup of hacks for dishes there.
Hanwoo Village
Islington - 19 St Alban's Pl, London N1 0NX
What you're making: Korean BBQ
A few things separate this Islington restaurant from London’s other Korean barbecue restaurants. First, the quality of the meat is very good (you’ll find Scottish rib eye, Australian wagyu and Japanese A5 Japanese beef on offer). Secondly, the extraction is also top tier so you won’t go home and have to put everything you own in the washing machine, after cooking up a storm on your tabletop grill. And finally, they’re also very geared up to halal diners. Be sure to try some of the marinated meats.
See also: Any branch of Yori is always a good bet in town for Korean BBQ
Photo by @eatsbyaviary
ZhangLiang Malatang
Chinatown - 112A Shaftesbury Ave, London W1D 5EJ
What you're making: Soup
This Sichuan soup specialist puts you in charge of hundreds of options to create your own bespoke spicy soup. Start with the fridge, where you’ll find everything from pumpkin noodles to squid balls and quail eggs. Then choose from one of four soup bases before passing your bowl over to staff for making up. And finally, while that’s happening, create your own dipping sauce.
Saba
Kensington - 29 High Street Kensington, London W8 5NP
What you're making: Ramen
This newly opened spot is being billed as the UK’s first DIY Korean ramen bar. The shelves are lined with loads of ramen packets. Pick the one you want, wander over to the toppings bar for everything from cheese slices to dumplings, and then head to the smart cookers. They dispense the boiling water and start the cooking - you’re left to stir until ready before adding your toppings. They’ve even got a robot chef making Korean fried chicken.
St Moritz
Soho - 161 Wardour St, London W1F 8WJ
What you're making: Fondue
For a night that takes you back to old-school Soho you can’t do better than dinner at St Moritz. The large Swiss menu takes in everything from veal cordon blue to beef stroganoff, but you’re really here for the fondues. There are five cheese fondues to choose from (as well as a hot oil option and a chocolate one for dessert). Grab your fondue fork and your bread and settle in for a carby night of fun.
Photo by @melhara.
DIY drinks
It's not just restaurants putting diners in control. If you love the idea of not having to wait around to get served at the bar, these places are allowing you to do it yourself.
Vagabond
Across London
What you're pouring: Wine
With nine wine bars around London along with an urban winery, Vagabond are all about giving their customers plenty of choice when it comes to picking (and pouring) their own wines. At each bar, there are usually upwards of 100 wines on offer in their walls of self-pour machines. Load your card up with credit, grab a glass and get pouring. Some of their bars also offer self-pour beer machines too.
Horangee Pocha
Elephant & Castle - 116 New Kent Rd, London SE1 6TU
What you're pouring: Beer
Transformed from an Elephant & Castle boozer into a Korean bar, Harangee Pocha boasts an wall of craft beer you can pour yourself. As with other drinks dispensers, you load up the card first and then have at it. The good news is there’s plenty of drinking food to go with that beer from KFC to crispy mandu.
Brigadiers
City of London - 1-5 Bloomberg Arcade, London EC4N 8AR
What you're pouring: ALL the drinks
The private rooms are where the serve-yourself action is at Brigadiers in the City. Depending on the room you book there’ll be a cocktail and whiskey dispenser allowing you to pour yourself negronis or rare whisky to order. Others have one of those clever bottom-up beer dispensers which still make us go ‘Ooh’ when we see them working.
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