The City may be on the quiet side at the weekends, but there are some cracking restaurants there - not least at Bloomberg Arcade which houses a few on our list. All of these places will be at their buzziest during the week - and that's the best time to visit them.
Address: South Place Hotel, 3 South Place, London EC2M 2AF
What We Know:
D&D London, are behind this restaurant which is part of the South Place Hotel in the City. This restaurant sits on the top of the hotel and, as you can imagine from the title, does have a focus on fish. Expect a fine fining experience which has gained the restaurant a Michelin star.
Blacklock, famed for their chops have an extended menu in the City with new cuts, starters, and their all-important cut-price cocktails in a 100-cover restaurant with reservations available too. A good option for a great value meatfest.
Charred, smoked and grilled is the name of the game at Brigadiers, which is cooking up all manner of kebabs, chops, tikka and feasting options for hungry City sorts at the Bloomberg Arcade, with a huge selection of beer to wash it all down. It comes from the same people behind Trishna, Hoppers and Gymkhana - so it's easily one of the best Indian restaurants in the City (with a good bar too).
The City base for Vivek Singh's Cinnamon group of restaurants has been a staple of Devonshire Square for over a decade. Expect modern Indian cooking here.
Run by chef Pascal Aussignac, this Smithfield restaurant has been around for a couple of decades - an impressive feat in London - and has held a Michelin star for many of those years. So it's very much a London institution. When it first opened, they were met with criticism that the restaurant was on the outskirts of the City as opposed to being where all the other restaurants were opening. How things have changed in 19 years. It recently had a huge revamp to regenerate the restaurant - doubling the size of the kitchen in the process.
Address: Four Seasons Hotel at Ten Trinity Square, 10 Trinity Square, London EC3N 4AJ
What We Know:
The main restaurant at the Four Seasons has triple-Michelin-starred French chef Anne-Sophie Pic as the chef - and she grabbed a new Michelin star for this restaurant too. Expect La Dame de Pic's menu to be a French Fine dining affair.
Address: Heron Tower, 110 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4A
What We Know:
Duck and Waffle has a well-earned reputation as being one of the best restaurants with a view in London - and what a view. It's almost worth a visit for the elevator ride alone. The restaurant has much to recommend besides the view. Many of the classics - including the signature Duck and Waffle - were created top chef by Dan Doherty.
Everything that Hawksmoor does turns to restaurant gold and this restaurant is no exception. Things kick off with a proper breakfast for City folk and the whole thing is housed in an incredible looking basement room. Expect the usual great steaks, cocktails and more.
Goodman was one of the restaurants leading the charge to transform London steakhouses into restaurants that could rival their American counterparts. Expect a damned good steak and much more at this City outpost.
Gunpowder is serving Indian small plates just around the corner from Spitalfields Market. It's run by Harneet Baweja, who was an Indian entrepreneur who wanted to bring something different to the scene. Expect dishes that are inspired by those that the team grew up with.
This is the third restaurant from Jose Pizarro (and his first outside Bermondsey) one of London's top Spanish chefs. Expect a range of Spanish dishes and a big focus on grilled meats like presa.
For his second restaurant, Andrew Wong has his own take on classic Chinese dishes. The city in Bloomberg Arcade seat over 120, with a separate bar and private event space and a bloody great big tree inside the restaurant too (which looks amazing). Expect hits from A Wong and plenty of roasted meats too.
koya has been a Soho institution and this was its first expansion outside that area, with a larger location and with the same udon noodles and more that made the original such a big hit.
The original BBQ boys, Pitt Cue Co, outgrew their Soho spot and relocated to much bigger premises in the City. And the menu has taken something of a shift too, with much of the meat sourced from pigs at Coombeshead Farm (and their amazing bread too). Expect lots of cuts of meat and the bone marrow mash is unmissable.
