London restaurants best for... Bragging about scoring a seat

Victor Garvey's Soho spot features a very Spanish menu focusing on Catalan cuisine. The space itself is all light and sunshine, making you feel about a million miles away from Dean Street when you dine here.

This is the latest restaurant from Richard Caring's Caprice Group, who are also behind the Ivy. It's an upmarket seafood restaurant (with grilled meats too) in Mayfair with a vibe to have much in common with the original Ivy, right down to the use of known artists to decorate the place.

One of London's oldest restaurants, the Ivy has recently undergone a big revamp and has re-built almost the entire restaurant. Chief among the changes is a new central bar area with plenty of counter dining spaces added. There are new paintings too - but expect some old favourites to appear too. The menu has a mix of classic Ivy dishes like the Shepherd's Pie and more contemporary fare.

One of the most successful example of street food vendors going permanent, this is one of the toughest places to grab a seat at in Soho. But when you do, the steamed milk buns that are at the heart of the menu make it all worthwhile.

The Hart Brothers (also behind Quo Vadis and Fino) are opening a second venue of Barrafina, the Soho tapas restaurant. While much on the menu will be familiar to diners at their current restaurant with a menu made up of classic and contemporary tapas, chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho is planning some entirely new dishes. Those dishes will probably be inspired by the Josper oven that's being installed here.

This small restaurant in Mayfair is in the refurbished Shepherd Market and features Tomos Parry - former head chef at Climpson's Yard and YBF winner for best chef of the year - in the kitchen.

Mitsuhiro Araki, whose Tokyo restaurant had three Michelin stars has come to London. That's the good news. The bad news is that the restaurant will accommodate just nine people up at the dining counter and six in a private dining room.

This restaurant is from Karam Sethi, the chef behind Michelin starred Trishna and he's taking the concept of colonial gymkhana clubs as a running theme, serving modern Indian food combined with British ingredients, with a focus on the tandoor oven and sigri charcoal grill.

Hands down one of the best counter dining experience in town, albeit not the quietest one. Expect a Jerusalem-style menu here, with additional influences from Southern Spain and Italy, North Africa through to the Levant. You can grab a table at the back - but try for the full-on counter experience if you can.

Andre Balazs boutique London hotel (he also runs hip hotels The Standard and The Mercer in NYC) has been a hit ever since it opened. Partnering with Nuno Mendes on the launch, the restaurant attracts both celebrities and foodies alike. Grab a seat at the counter and try not to look at who's on the prime private table next door.

One of the few London restaurants on the World's 50 Best list, Heston's only London gaff is still hugely popular. The dishes that captured everyone's attention when it opened - the Meat Fruit (chicken liver parfait shaped like a mandarin) and the Tipsy Cake are still on the menu and are must-order dishes if you haven't got round to trying them yet. Keep an eye out for A-list diners, the hotel is a well-known celebrity haunt. 

The tiny Sushi Tetsu is both one of the best sushi restaurants in town and also one of the hardest to get into. With only half a dozen seats inside, each item served to you will be almost a work of art. This may well ruin other sushi restaurants for you...

Probably Islington's most famous 9and hard to get into) restaurant, this Italian affair sees Jordan Frieda, formerly front-of-house at The River Cafe teaming up with chef Tim Siadatan - one of the original trainees at Fifteen. Expect superlative Italian cuisine. And if you're having trouble getting into Padella, from the same team, then booking a table here will help you avoid that queue.

This is the main restaurant for TV chef Michel Roux Jr and prides itself on having some of the best service in London. It's not cheap but if you book for lunch, there's one of the best set menu deals in town.