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Best Dining Bets
- St. John, 26 St. John St., EC1 (tel. 020/7251-0848): In a former smokehouse north of Smithfield Market, this is London's major venue for serious carnivores. Chef Fergus Henderson is England's biggest devotee of offal cuisine -- meaning "nose-to-tail cookery." This earthy food obviously will not appeal to vegetarians, but it would delight a reincarnated Henry VIII.
- Fifteen, 15 West Land Place, W1 (tel. 0871/330-1515; www.fifteenrestaurant.com): In Shoreditch, the author of The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, takes "disadvantaged" young people and trains them from scratch. In just 4 months, they are tempting you with their modern British cuisine as chefs of the day. Amazingly, the food you're served is praiseworthy, even attracting some of London's Michelin-starred chefs.
- Simpson's-in-the-Strand, 100 the Strand, WC2 (tel. 020/7836-9112): At least once forsake London's trendy restaurants and dine as Sir Winston did back in the post-war '50s when he was prime minister. It's partaking of "The Deadly Sins" to dine here: roast sirloin of beef; steak, kidney, and mushroom pie; and roast saddle of mutton with red currant jelly.
- Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, Brook Street, W1 (tel. 020/7499-0099): We'd cast our vote for Ramsay as the hottest and most talented chef in London today. In the city's swankiest hotel, he dazzles serious international foodies with his take on modern Continental cuisine using, for the most part, British products. Close your eyes and point to any item on the menu -- chances are, you'll be delighted.
- Sketch, 9 Conduit St., W1 (tel. 087/0777-4488; www.sketch.uk.com): Hailed by the British press as a "camp wonderland," this is a restaurant, tearoom, art gallery, bar, and patisserie. There is no more chic joint at which you could be at night. The Continental and modern British cuisine is divine as well.
- Club Gascon, 57 W. Smithfield, EC1 (tel. 020/7796-0600): Chef Pascal Aussignac is all the rage, bringing a corner of southwestern France to London -- and that spells Armagnac, foie gras, and duck confit. This bistro stands next to the famous meat market in Smithfield, and it's the best place in town for a foie gras pig out.
- Best Spot for a Celebration: There's no spot in all of London that's more fun than Quaglino's, 16 Bury St., SW1 (tel. 020/7930-6767), which serves Continental cuisine. On some nights, as many as 800 diners show up at Sir Terence Conran's gargantuan Mayfair eatery. It's the best place in London to celebrate almost any occasion -- and the food's good, too. There's live jazz every evening and on Sunday at lunch.
- Best Newcomer: Down in Chelsea, a former pub has been stylishly converted into Tom's Kitchen, 27 Cale St., SW3 (tel. 020/7349-0202), a dream come true for its talented chef Tom Aikens. He fashions only the freshest of ingredients into a finely honed British cuisine. Even his fish and chips are seductive.
- Best Place for Spotting Celebrities: If Demi and Ashton, or virtually any visiting celebrities are in town, chances are they'll be hiding out behind a translucent silk curtain in the center of London's hot new restaurant, Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester, on the lobby level of the chic Dorchester hotel, Park Lane (tel. 020/7629-8866). A chef maestro many critics hail as the world's greatest has crossed the Channel to open this citadel of haute cuisine.
- Best for Seafood: After a long slumber, the famous Scott's, 20 Mount St., W1 (tel. 020/7495-7309), has reopened in a swank restaurant in Mayfair. It began as an oyster warehouse in 1851, but gone from that rustic beginning to Mayfair glitter, peddling market-fresh Dover sole and "cockles and mussels."
- Best Gastro Pub: At last London's enfant terrible chef, Gordon Ramsay, has entered the gastro-pub sweepstakes by opening The Narrow, 44 Narrow St., E14 (tel. 020/7592-7950). Pub grub never tasted like this. Some of the dishes will put hair on your chest even if you don't want it -- whole baked gilthead bream or braised Gloucester pig cheeks with neeps (turnips).
- Best English Breakfast: Serving traders at the Smithfield meat market since 1898, Fox and Anchor, 115 Charterhouse St., EC1 (tel. 020/7250-1300), offers the "Full House" breakfast, a plate with eight items ranging from black pudding to kidneys and bacon. With a Black Velvet (champagne with Guinness), the day is yours.
- Best for American Cuisine: A celebrity favorite with homesick expats, Automat, 33 Dover St., W1 (tel. 020/7499-3033), is Mayfair's slice of the Big Apple, serving perhaps the best U.S. beef in London, including New York strip sirloin. All those familiar favorites are dished up here, even chili con carne.
- Best Continental Cuisine: Le Gavroche, 43 Upper Brook St., W1 (tel. 020/7408-0881), was one of the first London restaurants to serve modern French cuisine, and it's lost none of its appeal. If you want to know why, order pigeonneau de Bresse en vessie aux deux celeris: The whole bird is presented at your table, enclosed in a pig's bladder; the pigeon is removed, and then carved and served on a bed of braised fennel and celery. Trust us -- it's fabulous.
- Best for Value: Called the market leader in cafe salons, Veronica's, 3 Hereford Rd., W2 (tel. 020/7229-5079), serves not only some of the best traditional British fare, but also some of the most affordable. Many of the chef's recipes are based on medieval or Tudor culinary secrets, and some even go back to the days of the conquering Romans.
- Best Modern British Cuisine: Just north of Smithfield Market, St. John, 26 St. John St., EC1 (tel. 020/7251-0848), serves a modern interpretation of British cuisine like none other in town. The chefs here believe in using offal (those parts of the animal usually discarded) -- after all, why use just parts of the animal when you can use it all? Although some diners are a bit squeamish at first, they're usually hooked once they get past the first bite. Book ahead of time.
- Best Traditional British Cuisine: There is no restaurant in London quite as British as Simpson's-in-the-Strand, 100 the Strand, WC2 (tel. 020/7836-9112), which has been serving the finest English roast beef since 1828. Henry VIII, were he to return, would surely pause for a feast here. This place is such a British institution that you'll think they invented roast saddle of mutton.
- Best for Kids: The owner, the Earl of Bradford, feeds you well and affordably at Porters English Restaurant, 17 Henrietta St., WC2 (tel. 020/7836-6466). Kids of all ages dig Lady Bradford's once secretly guarded recipe for banana-and-ginger pudding, along with classic English pies, including such old-fashioned favorites as lamb and apricot; and ham, leek, and cheese.
- Best Indian Cuisine: London's finest Indian food is served at Café Spice Namaste, in a landmark Victorian hall near Tower Bridge, 16 Prescot St., E1 (tel. 020/7488-9242). You'll be tantalized by an array of spicy southern and northern Indian dishes. We like the cuisine's Portuguese influence; the chef, Cyrus Todiwala, is from Goa (a Portuguese territory absorbed by India), where he learned many of his culinary secrets.
- Best Italian Cuisine: At Zafferano, 15 Lowndes St., SW1 (tel. 020/7235-5800), chefs prepare delectable meals with ingredients that conjure up the Mediterranean. The most refined palates of Knightsbridge come to this chic, rustic trattoria for dishes like pheasant and black-truffle ravioli with rosemary.
- Best Innovative Cuisine: Irish chef Richard Corrigan brings sophisticated modern British cuisine to Lindsay House, 21 Romilly St., W1 (tel. 020/7439-0450). The menu is dependent on what looks good at the daily market combined with the chef's inspiration. After you sample his breast of wood pigeon with foie gras and pumpkin chutney, you'll want to kidnap him for your kitchen.
- Best Wine-Bar Food: Cork & Bottle Wine Bar, 44-46 Cranbourn St., WC2 (tel. 020/7734-7807), serves the best wine-bar food in London. The ham-and-cheese pie alone is worth the trek across town -- it's hardly your typical quiche. Also try the prawns with garlic and asparagus, or the lamb in ale. The wine selection is superb, with a strong emphasis Australian selections.
- Best Cantonese Cuisine: Fung Shing, 15 Lisle St., WC2 (tel. 020/7437-1539), is a culinary landmark, serving the finest Cantonese cuisine in London, both traditional and innovative. The seasonal specials are the way to go. Stewed duck with yams, tender ostrich in yellow-bean sauce, and a delectable whole sea bass are some of the delicious treats.
- Best Japanese Cuisine: Robert De Niro and his gang have generated much excitement about Nobu, in the Metropolitan Hotel, 19 Old Park Lane, W1 (tel. 020/7447-4747). The sushi chefs create gastronomic pyrotechnics with their raw dishes.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
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