Ideal for bringing a little Gallic ritual to your evening…
There’s a specific window in the French day, usually somewhere between 6pm and 8pm, when the whole country seems to collectively exhale. The working day is done. Dinner is still an hour or two away. And in that gap, there’s apéro.
Short for apéritif, apéro is one of those French concepts that doesn’t translate neatly into English. It’s not quite a happy hour (too boozy, too rushed). It’s not pre-dinner drinks (too functional). It’s closer to a ritual: a deliberate slowing down, a moment to gather with whoever’s around, and an opportunity to wake up the appetite before the meal to come. The word itself comes from the Latin ‘aperire’, meaning ‘to open’, and that’s the idea. You’re opening the palate, opening the evening, opening the conversation.
The British equivalent, such as it is, tends to involve standing in a kitchen drinking wine while someone cooks, occasionally breaking stride to chant along to Oasis on the Alexa. If you’re throwing a dinner party, there might be some olives out, but that’s as far as it goes.
The French version is more considered. There are conventions and a loosely understood etiquette. And while none of it is rigid, understanding the form makes it easier to recreate at home. As AFAR puts it, apéro hour is sacred in France: it’s simply unthinkable to jump from a busy workday straight into dinner without stopping for a little pause.
What To Pour
Apéro drinks are meant to stimulate rather than sedate. You’re not trying to get drunk: you’re trying to prime the appetite for dinner. This means lighter serves, lower pours, and nothing too heavy or sweet.
Champagne has long been considered the quintessential apéro drink, and there’s a reason it works so well: the acidity cuts through, the bubbles lift the palate, and it pairs with almost anything you might put out.
The La Cuvée from Champagne Laurent-Perrier is a good example of the style: Chardonnay-dominant, fresh, with citrus and white flower notes that make it an ideal aperitif rather than something you’d save for a toast. The house itself describes it as perfect for this purpose, which tells you something about how the French think about champagne: not as celebration fuel, but as a drink for ordinary evenings done well.
Beyond champagne, the classics include Kir (crème de cassis topped with white wine, typically Aligoté), its sparkling cousin Kir Royale, and in the south, Pastis: that anise-flavoured spirit diluted with cold water until it turns cloudy. Lillet, served over ice with a slice of orange, has seen a revival. A crisp white wine or a dry rosé are always safe choices. The key is keeping things fresh and relatively restrained. Two drinks, maximum, before dinner.
One point of etiquette: when you clink glasses, look the other person in the eye. The French will tell you, with varying degrees of seriousness, that failing to do so brings seven years of bad luck. Or bad sex. The superstition varies by region.
What To Put Out
The food at an apéro is not dinner. This is important. You’re not trying to fill anyone up: you’re trying to tease the appetite. Everything should be small, simple, and easy to eat standing up or perched on a sofa. No cutlery required.
The bare minimum is a bowl of olives and some nuts. The next level up involves charcuterie: a few slices of saucisson, some jambon cru, maybe a terrine or rillettes with cornichons alongside. Cheese is traditional, though purists will tell you the French reserve cheese for after the main course, not before. A basket of sliced baguette is non-negotiable.
If you want to put in a bit more effort, the go-to moves are crudités with tapenade or hummus, radishes with good butter and salt, or small tartines: pieces of bread topped with whatever’s to hand. Goat’s cheese and honey. Anchovies and butter. Tomatoes and basil. The idea is assembly rather than cooking. In Burgundy, gougères (those airy little cheese puffs made from choux pastry and Comté) are the classic apéro snack, and they’re surprisingly easy to make at home.
For a more substantial affair, what the French call an apéro dînatoire, where the apéro effectively becomes dinner, you might add harder cheeses, terrines, salads, and perhaps oysters if you’re feeling flush. But this is the exception rather than the rule. Most apéros remain deliberately light.
Apéro happens in that liminal space between work and dinner. The French eat later than the British (8pm at the earliest, often 9pm) which means apéro can start as late as 7pm and still leave room. An hour is typical. Two hours isn’t unusual. There’s no strict end point; the apéro finishes when dinner is ready or when everyone moves on to a restaurant.
The key is that it shouldn’t feel rushed. This isn’t about efficiency. The whole point is to slow down, to mark the transition from one part of the day to another. Phones go away. Conversation takes over. If the apéro extends and dinner gets pushed back, so be it.
No special equipment required. A few nice glasses, some small plates or boards for serving, napkins, and somewhere comfortable to sit. The French do this in apartments, gardens, parks: anywhere works. If you want to add atmosphere, some candles and fresh flowers help — a red gingham tablecloth gives you instant bistro credentials — but don’t overthink it. Apéro is casual by design. The elaborate tablescape is for dinner.
One thing that does matter: having everything out and ready before guests arrive. The host shouldn’t be stuck in the kitchen. The point is to be present, to participate, to drink alongside everyone else. Anything that requires last-minute assembly or temperature control is probably too complicated.
The Unwritten Rules
Every French tradition comes with its own set of gentle expectations, and apéro is no exception. None of these are deal-breakers, but observing them helps capture the spirit of the thing.
First, pacing matters. This isn’t a race to the bottom of the bottle. Sip, don’t gulp. The French have a phrase for it: “L’apéritif, c’est la prière du soir des Français” (the aperitif is the evening prayer of the French). It’s meant to be savoured.
Second, the food should complement, not compete. You’re whetting appetites, not ruining them. If guests fill up on your elaborate canapés, you’ve overdone it. Keep portions small and resist the urge to keep bringing things out.
Third, conversation is the main event. The drinks and nibbles are there to lubricate, not dominate. A good apéro has a rhythm to it: people arrive, drinks are poured, small talk gives way to something more substantial, and by the time you move to the table (or say your goodbyes), something has shifted. You’ve decompressed. You’ve connected. The evening has officially begun.
And finally, there’s the question of how to end it. If you’ve been invited for apéro only (rather than apéro followed by dinner), the polite window is around an hour to ninety minutes. Overstaying is poor form. But if the host starts bringing out more food, or opens another bottle, take that as your cue: the apéro is evolving into something longer, and you’re welcome to stay.
Bringing It Home
The real appeal of apéro isn’t the specific drinks or the particular snacks: it’s the permission it gives you to carve out a moment of deliberate pleasure on an ordinary weekday. The British tendency is to collapse on the sofa after work or to power through to dinner. The French have decided there’s value in the in-between.
You don’t need to make it a production. A bottle of something cold, a few things to pick at, and an hour with whoever’s around. No agenda beyond enjoying the evening. It’s a small ritual, but rituals have a way of making ordinary life feel slightly more intentional. And after all, isn’t that the point?
The Bottom Line
Apéro is the French art of the pre-dinner drink, perfected over centuries and still going strong. It’s simple to recreate at home: champagne or wine, a few nibbles, good company. Consider it your new evening ritual.
There’s something about leafy, laid back Chiswick that makes you feel like you’ve truly left London, the West London neighbourhood’s village-cosplay extending from its name (the Old English for ‘Cheese Farm’) all the way to Strand-on-the-Green, where riverside pubs have perfected their pastoral performance.
A little smug, maybe, but undeniably beautiful all the same. And when the West London light hits the river just right, there really is no better place to be in the capital than here, staring at those refractions through a two-thirds full pint glass.
Chiswick is also a fine place to dine. These days, while the monthly cheese market still draws crowds to the High Road, W4’s culinary credentials extend far beyond curds and whey – though we’d strongly recommend timing your visit to coincide with that dairy-fuelled Sunday session if you can.
This is a part of London that manages to feel both connected and removed from the capital’s frenetic energy. The broad pavements of Chiswick High Road host a parade of independent cafés, artisan delis and restaurants that wouldn’t look out of place in Paris or Rome, while the quieter streets that branch off it harbour both ‘hidden’ gems and fine dining heavyweights.
With all that in mind and the scene somewhat set, here’s our rundown of the best restaurants in Chiswick.
La Trompette
Ideal for Michelin-starred dining without pretense…
Under Greg Wellman’s steady hand, La Trompette continues to deliver the goods that earned its Michelin star back in 2008. Part of the same esteemed restaurant group behind Chez Bruce and the now-closed Glasshouse (RIP – what a place that was), the dining room strikes an elegant note without fuss – crisp white tablecloths and golden banquettes setting the scene for cooking that sings. Come summer, the front terrace with its fold-back doors offers a delightful spot for lunch.
Wellman’s menu (a refreshingly straightforward £65 for three courses at lunch, £95 at dinner, with six choices for each) draws deeply from the well of British ingredients while casting occasional glances further afield. A recent visit brought a sweet, earthy Jerusalem artichoke veloute, garnished with little nuggets of chorizo picante, followed by a masterclass in meat cookery – perfectly pink Devonshire duck breast with celeriac puree and braised red cabbage. In autumn, the kitchen shows particular prowess with game – their roast grouse deserves circling on the calendar, quite frankly.
The wine list stands among London’s finest, particularly strong in Burgundy and the Rhône. Sommeliers here wear their knowledge with a refreshing lightness, as happy to guide you to a £7.50 glass as they are to discuss grand crus. Indeed, La Trompette proves that serious food doesn’t need to come with a stuffy attitude, and offers fine value for the calibre of cooking on display.
Ideal for modern British cooking that’s not afraid to get indulgent…
Chef Nathan Cornwell (nope, not Nathan Outlaw of Cornwall – must stop skimming), who cut his teeth at prestigious restaurants Le Champignon Sauvage and The Barn at Moor Hall, has turned this understated High Road restaurant into one of West London’s most downright enjoyable dinners. In keeping with the whole soft-pedal sophistication of Chiswick, the space whispers rather than shouts – natural woods, neutral tones, and dried flowers providing subtle punctuation marks.
Cornwell’s cooking lets ingredients take centre stage. His Devon crab with apple and dill on house-made sourdough crumpets demonstrates a delicate touch that’s increasingly rare in a dish that’s become ubiquitous, but even better is when the kitchen takes the brakes off and lets a certain opulent streak take over. Dare we say that there’s a sense of indulgence at The Silver Bitch that’s left the London food scene at large, best exemplified in a gorgeous plate of crisp, bubbled Iron Age pork belly. The breed, a cross between a Tamworth sow and a Eurasian wild boar, is prized for its thick layer of fat, and you know what that means? More crackling. The addition of a slab of foie gras on the plate isn’t necessary, but christ it’s welcome.
Even the bread service demands attention rather than resentment for filling you up too fast. Here, Guinness sourdough with cultured butter sets the tone and gets the crowds cooing. The wine list offers plenty by the glass for under a tenner, which is always appreciated in this economy, in this neighbourhood. Book ahead – tables here are increasingly hard to secure.
Walking into Villa di Geggiano feels like stepping through a portal to the Italian countryside. The imposing villa seems to have materialised from a Tuscan hillside, complete with a gated terrace that provides welcome separation from the High Road’s bustle.
Inside, a sense of craftsmanship takes centre stage – custom furnishings and curated artwork (including some dead strange trophy mounts) lend an atmosphere that feels just a little regal, though fortunately, the tones are anything but hushed in here. It’s a boisterous kind of place, full of braying toffs, sure, but also families and folk who simply like to have a spirited conversation. The restaurant has its own coat of arms for some reason…
Images via @villadigeggiano.co.uk
It would all be a bit much if some reheated schiacciata (must see a doctor about that) hit the table within a minute of ordering, but fortunately, the kitchen delivers Tuscan specialities with conviction, with the wild boar pappardelle a faithfully rendered version of a classic. A 1.1kg bistecca alla Fiorentina is served confidently with just a green salad and some pan juice. For £120 and enough to feed several, it’s not bad value in this part of town. If you are looking to blow the budget, there’s even a section of the menu dedicated to the region’s revered truffles.
The wine list leans heavily into Italian regions, unsurprisingly, with several bottles coming from the restaurant’s own Tuscan estate. For summer dining, the terrace here is one of Chiswick’s finest spots – especially with a glass of their house Chianti in hand and a conversation about the rising cost of second homes in Salcombe on the lips.
A lemon tree bursting through the floor tiles and a central wood-fired oven provide the backdrop for pizzas that redefine expectations. Pascarella’s dough achieves that magical combination of lightness and character, emerging from the fierce heat of the oven with just the right amount of char. Sure, the space is small and can get noisy, but that’s part of the charm.
While the benchmark margherita is pretty much as-good-as-it-gets, there are some more creative touches that show Pascarella’s growing personality as a pizzaiolo first hand. The ‘Cheesewick’ sounds like it shouldn’t work – five cheeses (ricotta, fior di latte, stracciatella, parmesan crisps and Stilton) unified by Vesuvian cherry tomato jam. Yet somehow it achieves perfect harmony and, remarkably, isn’t too heavy. That’s down to Pascarella’s absurdly digestible dough, no doubt.
The pizza fritta (fried pizza) section is worthy of your time, too, with the double pepperoni and hot honey something of a revelation. Save room for bocconcini – the fried dough balls with Nutella and pistachio will live long in the memory.
*Big news: The acclaimed Napoli on the Road team will shortly open their much-awaited Soho flagship at 140 Wardour Street. This expansive 100-seat restaurant houses traditional à la carte service upstairs, while pioneering London’s very first pizza-focused tasting menu in the basement – a seven-course Neapolitan fine dining experience featuring creative techniques and authentic flavours, complemented by Campanian wine pairings.*
Ideal for sophisticated pub dining in a storied setting...
With a crime rate so low there seemed no point in keeping it going, the 1872 Chiswick police station has found an unexpected new calling under the guidance of JKS Restaurants (the increasingly ubiquitous group behind Gymkhana, Hoppers, and BAO). That new calling is The Hound, a gastropub with a humble mission statement; to nail the minutiae of the ‘gastro’ part of gastropub, and to get all the things we love about pub dining just right.
The Victorian architecture provides a dramatic backdrop to this humble goal, with the space cleverly divided into distinct areas – a proper pub floor for casual drinks, two private dining rooms, a covered courtyard, and a sun-trap front terrace that’s worth booking ahead for during warmer months. There’s even footy on the tele.
Executive chef John Sparks, working alongside two Michelin-starred James Knappett of Kitchen Table, has created a menu that celebrates (even elevates, though we’re not meant to say that anymore) pub classics without stripping them of their comfort. Plates are marked out by their attention to detail: the lacy batter on the fish and chips that’s several shades bronzer than your chippy; the choice of Oxford sauce (homemade, of course) with the black pudding scotch egg; and the frankly cartoon-perfect hot dog, here made with Highland wagyu, and topped with house sauerkraut and Ogleshield cheese.
The Hound is still proudly a pub at heart (at least, in the marketing material) so rotating cask ales sit alongside craft beers, while the wine list offers genuine interest at each price point, with several drops available by the glass and carafe. They pour a decent Guinness, too; pretty much a prerequisite for any self-respecting gastropubs in the capital these days.
Ideal for romance, roasts and rococo excess by the river…
A short wander from Strand-on-the-Green’s riverside pubs, Annie’s has been feeding Chiswick’s romantics and roast-hungry families for the best part of a quarter century now. That kind of longevity in this industry doesn’t happen by accident – and stepping through the door, you quickly understand what’s kept the locals coming back.
The interiors are unapologetically maximal, with a magnetic pull that draws folk off the blustery street in winter especially. Exposed brick meets ornate gilded mirrors, cherubs take flight across the walls, fairy lights twinkle year-round, and floral arrangements compete for attention with velvet cushions in deep jewel tones. It’s the sort of space that could tip into kitsch but somehow lands on charming instead – a place your nan would adore and your date would find endearing. Upstairs offers a cosier affair, all low ceilings and the feeling of dining in someone’s particularly eccentric living room.
The menu trades in comfort without apology. A halloumi, roast squash and fig salad gets ordered at most tables, while the slow-roast pork belly with white bean and chorizo cassoulet delivers the kind of warmth you want on a grey London evening (can you tell we’re feeling a bit low today?). They’ve resisted the urge to overthink things. Instead, it’s cottage pie, sirloin with chips and béarnaise, sticky toffee pudding – all generous portions that mean you’ll rarely leave wanting more. Come back for the pork Milanese with linguine arrabbiata.
Sundays bring what many locals consider the area’s best roast, the sort that warrants a riverside walk afterwards, recently singled out by Hardens with their ‘High Quality Food’ accolade for 2025.
Weekend brunch covers the classics with the same unpretentious competence – eggs any style, a full English, smoked salmon bagels. The cocktail list gets genuinely creative, particularly during the 5-7pm happy hour on weekdays, and wines hover at sensible price points.
Don’t let the modest frontage on Turnham Green Terrace and the canteen-like interior within Sushi Bar Makoto fool you – this tiny spot serves some of West London’s best value Japanese food. The space itself barely seats 20, which means weekday lunches offer your best chance of securing a table without a wait, but it’s worth the queue if you do pitch up at a busier hour.
The quality of fish here is impressive given the prices. Nigiri arrives precisely formed, each piece dressed appropriately – a touch of nikiri here, a whisper of wasabi there. The sashimi platters showcase the kitchen’s expertise with knife work (two chefs work continuously behind the counter, which is a reassuring testament to the freshness of the fish here), while the donburi bowls offer excellent value for lunch (most hover around £12-15).
Image via @sushi_bar_makoto
Beyond raw fish, their karaage chicken achieves that perfect crisp-juicy balance, while the teriyaki dishes demonstrate proper technique – the sauce glazed onto the fish or meat rather than simply poured over. Green tea comes with free refills, and the service moves at a pleasant clip without ever feeling rushed. What’s not to love?
The transformation of Chiswick’s former fire station (getting a bit concerned about the lack of emergency services here now) into a restaurant could have gone wrong in so many ways. Fire stations present unique challenges for restaurant conversion – their cavernous engine bays can feel cold and impersonal, their industrial fixtures and fittings can clash with dining ambience, and their heritage-protected status often limits renovation options.
Instead, No. 197 has turned these potential weaknesses into strengths. The soaring ceilings and dramatic arched windows now create an airy, elegant atmosphere, while the vast space has been thoughtfully divided into distinct zones that flow naturally into each other, centered around an impressive oval bar that’s worth visiting even if you’re not staying to eat.
Recently acquired by the Portobello Pub Company, No. 197 is part of the Darwin & Wallace collection – and no, we don’t mean the collection of letters, manuscripts, and other materials related to naturalists Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, but rather, a collection of unique neighbourhood bars with five locations across London.
The Chiswick outpost is a bright space that calls for an equally breezy menu, and the all-day menu here proves consistently reliable, if not groundbreaking, food. Brunchis the restaurant’s trump card. Their sweetcorn and courgette hash topped with a perfectly poached egg is a winner,, while the full English shows an understanding that this humble breakfast relies so much on sourcing – the bacon comes from HG Walter butchers just down the road, and the sourdough is from Bread Factory.
Later in the day, the menu shifts gear. Small, nourishing plates like roast squash with carrot and turmeric hummus make wholesome companions to their well-crafted cocktails (the house spritz, at £9, is particularly good value). More substantial dishes such as their chicken schnitzel with caper butter demonstrate the kitchen’s ability to handle classics with care and an unpretentious lack of frippery.
The hidden terrace at the back is one of Chiswick’s finest outdoor dining spaces – book ahead for weekend brunches, especially during summer months. The acoustics can get lively when busy, but tables in the back dining room offer a quieter experience.
Tucked away on South Parade and fittingly for a district named after some cheese, Le Vacherin captures the spirit of a neighbourhood Parisian bistro without falling into pastiche. It feels almost too perfect, too apt, too carefully-marketed, with its retro affiches années vingt, draping white tablecloths and burgundy leather banquettes lining the western wall. It’s probably known as ‘our own little slice of Provence-en-Thames’ by some of the more insufferable denizens of Chiswick.
All of this feels like it’s building up to a disappointing experience on the table, but Le Vacherin delivers on the French bistro classics in considerable style. From a commendably tight menu of just five starters and five mains, the cheese soufflé is no doubt a signature, arriving puffed and golden, light as air but rich with flavour, and more than deserving of its keen £12.50 price tag. Things get more interesting when Le Vacherin strays tentatively into more experimental territory; a technically precise foie gras and pheasant terrine comes with poached kumquats and pickled mooli, all light and shade, lift and vigour against the unabashed, earthy indulgence of the terrine. It’s superb.
The wine list leans heavily French but strays to ‘our neighbours’ when quality or intrigue demands it. There are several bottles hovering around the £30 mark, which isn’t bad going in 2026 London. Weekday prix fixe menus offer particularly good value – two courses for £29.50 or three for £36.50 at lunch, and a little more in the evening. That set menu includes classics like onion soup, snails with garlic butter, coq au vin and a Toulouse cassoulet. Whichever way you play it, don’t skip dessert; the pastry section here, unsurprisingly, possess impeccable tekkers.
Regarded for being the home of the New Nordic food movement and, of course, Noma, as well as a whole host of other highly inventive, critically-acclaimed restaurants, as well as an ever–evolving pop-up scene and superb traditional cuisine, there are fewer better places to be fed.
What the city is perhaps not as well known for is its pizza scene. But boy is that changing, with that trademark Copenhagen combination of meticulous craft and inquisitiveness now translating into pizzas operating at the lofty echelons usually only associated with Naples.
True to that mentality, today we’re considering only the very best of the best in the city. Here is our guide to the best pizza in Copenhagen.
Bæst
Found in the neighborhood of Nørrebro, the award-winning pizzeria BÆST is well known for using the highest quality ingredients and operating with sustainability at the core of everything it does.
Even though the pizzeria is, quite rightly, clearly inspired by Italian traditions and craft, BÆST harnesses the power of these techniques and ideals using local, organic ingredients. In fact, the restaurant very proudly states that they aren’t an ‘Italian’ restaurant per se, but, rather, a mix of Italian and Danish sensibilities as told by chef Christian Puglisi, who was born in Messina, Italy and moved to Denmark in 1990 with his parents.
All this build-up would be irrelevant if the product wasn’t good, and here, to be fair, it isn’t good; it’s exceptional. The restaurant’s signature ‘fior di latte’, made using biodynamic Danish cows’ milk, is as good as we’ve tasted anywhere in the world, and the salami, coppa and nduja from organic, free-range pigs from the famous Hindsholm-farm provide the perfect counterpoint when placed atop these superb pizzas.
We’ve all been there, gripped by the pizza paradox of choice so badly when perusing the menu that we end up ordering tiramisu as a main course.
Right, guys? Right?
Well, Pico Pizza has got your back. Here, instead of offering single pizzas that are hard to take down in a single sitting, the guys at Pico sling their pies in a much more manageable ‘mini’ size, arriving in batches of three and allowing guests to try a few in one sitting from the expansive 15-pizza menu.
But frozen Mini Chicago Town Pizza this ain’t. Pico’s pizzas are proper, nominally in the Neapolitan ‘style’ rather than adhering to strict AVPN legislation, with an airy sourdough base and properly blistered crust.
With six locations across Copenhagen in Nørrebro, Vesterbro, Valby, Nordvest, Amager and Brønshøj, the USP here is the ‘Pico Trio’ order, which allows you to choose three different sourdough pizzas from the menu. We’re particularly in thrall to the restaurant’s Sloppy Joe, which boasts Bolognese sauce alongside red Irish cheddar. The ‘Hawaii’, pineapple and all, is also excellent.
Yes, it’s that kind of place – there are tasty little pots of crust dippers, too – and it’s all the better for it, but if you do prefer the classics, both the Margherita and Capricciosa are superb.
And the best news? Pico’s pizzas are available in vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options, too. What’s not to love?
Perfectly positioned between Peblinge Sø lake and the Copenhagen harbour in the heart of the city, La Fiorita (‘the little flower bud’) has been something of a Copenhagen institution since 1991, offering a kind of homely authenticity in food scene that’s always at the cutting edge of contemporary. Originally opened in Nansensgade, the business quickly bloomed, adding a second location focused on Italian specialties in 1995 before consolidating both into their current basement space on Charlotte Ammundsens Plads.
In their current home, this bustling pizzeria and salumeria offers thin crust pizzas a world away from their canotto-cousins at Baest and Pico. The glass-fronted display cabinet is packed with fresh panzerotti, calzones stuffed with mozzarella and tomato sauce, and an array of ready-to-eat Italian specialties with prices neatly chalked on the glass. The menu extends to pasta dishes, while the deli counter offers an impressive selection of Italian wines, cheeses, charcuterie, bread, and olives.
Unlike the Neapolitan numbers that dominate Copenhagen’s scene, La Fiorita’s are characteristically thin and crispy, with a delightfully crunchy crust that maintains its structure from first bite to last. The dough is rolled rather than hand-stretched, resulting in a distinctive even crunch.
The atmosphere is that familial, boisterous Italian style that’s a welcome antidote to to the crisp and curt precision of Copenhagen’s fine dining scene, filled with singing and laughter as sports matches and Italian television shows play in the background. It’s exactly the kind of place where you might pop in for a quick slice but end up staying for hours, caught up in the convivial spirit and the occasional gratis amaro.
Address: Charlotte Ammundsens Pl. 2, kld, 1359 København, Denmark
MaMeMi
Before MaMeMi arrived in 2015, Roman-style pizza was essentially absent from Copenhagen. Two brothers and their cousin, all raised together in a small town outside Rome, changed that. After years working in restaurants across the world, Francesco, Danilo and Daniel reconnected in Copenhagen and decided to introduce their hometown style to Vesterbro.
The pizza tonda Romana here is thin, crispy and light, made from a closely guarded blend of five organic flours sourced from small Italian mills. There’s no margherita on the menu, no quattro formaggi, no capricciosa. This caused early controversy among purists who questioned whether it counted as real Italian pizza, though ten years of packed tables and a 23rd placing in the most recent 50 Top Pizza Europe rankings suggest the doubters have been silenced.
The menu divides into two sections: classic Roman pizzas based on the Rome’s iconic pasta dishes – carbonara, gricia, amatriciana, cacio e pepe – and a selection of original MaMeMi creations where the team experiments with new topping combinations, always chasing flavours that keep regulars coming back curious. No matter which section of the menu, the kitchen philosophy is simple: fewer toppings, better quality, perfect balance.
Wine is treated as seriously as the pizza. Danilo, a trained sommelier, travels directly to Italian vineyards to select bottles from small, independent producers. One pairing worth asking about: the pizza with guanciale, caramelised red onions, smoked scamorza and fresh apple slices, matched with a Frappato di Vittoria or Etna Rosso. The light acidity and gentle tannins work against the richness of the pork and smoke.
Have you even been to Copenhagen if you haven’t had a Gorm’s? There are eight in total across the capital, with more expected to open as the popularity of these simple, crisp pizzas which fuse Italian traditions with Nordic ingredients shows no signs of slowing.
The mothership is on Magstræde, one of the oldest streets in Copenhagen, where celebrity chef Gorm Wisweh (or, more likely, one of his many devoted pizzaiolo) prepares his pizzas with the sensibility of a Roman ‘tonda’; that’s an ultra-thin crust and base crisp enough to support a generous – though not showy – set of toppings.
Our go-to order here is the Miss Wishbone, which boasts thinly sliced potato, rosemary, basil pesto and 16-month matured parma ham. It’s a banger, and we dare you not to order a second!
Last but not least is Mother, located in Copenhagen’s hip Meatpacking District. Known for its trademark sourdough (the restaurant’s name refers to the dough’s starter culture), the humble restaurant opened its doors in 2010 and has grown in popularity with the foodies of Copenhagen ever since.
These days Mother is well known far beyond the Danish border for its approachable way of doing business, focusing on organic quality food imported directly from Italy or made in Copenhagen itself.
Back in the heady days of 2016, the innovative restaurant took its ‘good food for the people’ and ‘back to nature’ philosophy a step further by introducing a new way of making pizza dough, using purified seawater instead of traditional salt and water.
The results are tremendous, with refined, carefully sourced toppings taking precedence over the more indulgent offerings found on some of the other pizzas on our list, allowing the true star of the show, the dough, to shine through. True to that ethos, perhaps the most delicious pizza on the list is also the most simple; the mozzarella-less (ooft, that’s a clumsy word) Marinara is as good as a pizza gets, in our humble appetite.
Housed in the historic Lauras Hus in Carlsbergbyen, Surt (meaning ‘sour’ in Danish) is the passion project of Giuseppe ‘Peppe’ Oliva, whose impressive credentials include stints at both Tribeca NV and Bæst. The 50-seat restaurant creates an intimate atmosphere where diners can watch their pizzas being crafted in the custom-built stone oven – the literal and metaphorical heart of the establishment, which was constructed on-site.
The sourdough bases here undergoes a watchful 72-hour fermentation process, made without industrial yeast and using only ancient grain varieties. True to Copenhagen’s commitment to seasonality, the menu evolves with what’s available, though certain standouts remain constant. The Hindsholm pizza, featuring local pork sausage, buffalo mozzarella, and 30-month aged Parmigiano Reggiano, exemplifies their approach to combining premium ingredients with careful fermentation.
For those seeking something different, their Shrooms pizza with blue oyster mushrooms (yep, sadly it won’t get you high) and fresh herbs showcases their vegetarian prowess, whilst the Rianata with anchovies, red onion, and pecorino offers a beautiful balance of savouriness. Don’t leave without trying their cleverly named Tiramisurt, which features their house-made sourdough shokupan in place of the usual ladyfingers.
Address: Bag Elefanterne 2, 1799 København, Denmark
All full of dough and nowhere to go? If you’re looking for something a little lighter, check out these affordable seafood restaurants in Copenhagen for a taste of a more traditional side to Danish cuisine.
Disembark at London’s Liverpool Street Station and the bright and bustle of the big city can at first overwhelm. People jostle and shimmy, police vans congregate, and all the buses come at once, defying both attempts to cross the road casually and a certain London saying. It’s bedlam out here, make no mistake.
Sure, you could retreat back into a station once known as the Dark Cathedral, taking refuge under its atrium vaulting, the golden arches of McDonalds or in a box of Krispy Kremes, but to do so would be to miss out on all the fantastic restaurants just a short stroll from Liverpool Street.
So, pull yourself together, engage your appetite, shoulders back and smash it; here’s where to eat near Liverpool Street Station, our favourite restaurants in Bishopgate and Liverpool Street.
Three Uncles, Devonshire Row
The ideal place to enjoy traditional roast Cantonese meats over rice…
After that flustered introduction, who’s going to firmly but fairly tell us to get a grip? Not one, not two, but three of our favourite uncles, that’s who.
So, it’s to Three Uncles we’re heading first (leave the station, cross Bishopsgate, pass the Bull and Last on your left, and you’re pretty much there) which celebrates traditional roast Cantonese meats over rice.
Just the ticket after a train journey, whether you’ve come from Cambridge or Tottenham Court Road, you’ll see slabs of crispy pork and whole roast ducks hanging over the counter at this modest shop, making it hard not to order both. Fortunately, the ‘any two meats over rice’ (complete with iron-rich, steamed pak choi) offer is as generous as you like, and a steal in the City for just £14.50.
Grab a stool at one of the two outside tables and watch the world go by, or head back to Liverpool Street Station for your departing train; you’ll be the envy of the whole carriage.
Needing little in the way of introduction, Fergus Henderson’s St. John Bread & Wine is arguably even better than the Smithfield mothership, with the stark, ascetic interiors, stark, ascetic plates, warm hospitality, and yes, plenty of offal, all present and correct here.
Whilst you won’t always find the bone marrow and parsley salad on the menu at Bread and Wine (grilled sardines often stand in), there’s plenty of nourishing, generous dishes to get very excited about. We’re often found stalking Commercial Street, waiting for the doors to swing open at noon; a Bread & Wine kedgeree, a chilled glass of St. John Blanc, and a big ol’ plateful of warm madelines… Could it be the best ‘brunch’ in all of London? We certainly think so.
Stay for lunch, for a dish of upmost simplicity; a whole roast quail with a little jelly, or grilled red mullet with a fennel salad. Upfront, straightforward, and all the more delicious for it.
And if you can’t wait ‘till midday, the restaurant’s iconic bacon sarnie is available for takeaway only between 9am and 11am. Be prepared to queue.
Ideal for some seriously sensational Sri Lankan food…
In the new, long-teased development of Norton Folgate, on pretty, cobbled Blossom Street, Kolamba East is positioned as the sophisticated, slightly more premium sibling of the acclaimed Soho restaurant Kolamba. Whilst it’s only been open for a a year and a half, the restaurant is already on form, and is a great option for a spicy, invigorating feast close to Liverpool Street.
Introduced to the London dining scene by husband and wife duo Eroshan and Aushi Meewella in 2019, Kolamba was conceived from their memories of growing up in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo and the incredible food of the city.
Kolamba settled into Soho fast, earning several rave reviews in the national press. The announcement of a second act with loftier ambitions, then, piqued our interest something substantial, so we’re alighting at Liverpool Street once again, and heading five minutes down the road to the second outpost.
What first strikes you is the design here. Kolamba East is one handsome building, its 90-cover dining room a homogenous, harmonious single entity. Designed in partnership with Annie Harrison of FARE INC, it’s all plush booth seating, an attractive central bar, and some truly gorgeous lanterns, the latter of which cast a blanket of warming sepia over the whole space. It’s a beautifully designed room and one that really feels like you’re travelling on a private jet, for some reason.
Roasted Pineapple
When you come back down to earth, fold yourself into plates of Sri Lankan ‘homecooking’ with a few flashes of finesse from executive chef Imran Mansuri and team, perfectly exemplified in the string hopper king prawn biryani, which comes with a small jug of intensely flavoured, delicately spiced shellfish stock. Pour that jug over the tangle of thread like noodles, squeeze the prawn brains into the mix, and muddle; inside, it’s heady, oceanic alchemy. Alongside, and whatever you do, order the roasted pineapple; it’s one of the best things we’ve eaten this year.
If you prefer your conversations to be conducted in hushed, reverent tones, you might be better off seeking shelter elsewhere. But if you’re looking for one of the best restaurants close to Liverpool Street Station, however, you’ve found it here.
Because Manteca, the ‘Britalian’ restaurant from chefs Chris Leach and David Carter, is a brimming, boisterous affair, and impossibly hard to book since moving to its permanent location in Shoreditch.
Once named by Time Out London as the second best restaurant in the city, and receiving a slew of fawning national reviews, the nose-to-tail small plates here are as satisfying as they come, the energy both in the dining room and on the plate totally irresistible.
Whilst the brown crab caico e pepe is arguably the restaurant’s most talked about dish, it’s the pig head fritti that truly had us cooing. Or should that be ‘oinking’? Served alongside a burnt apple purée, Sunday lunch this ain’t. Rather, it’s a refined, deeply savoury bite, offset perfectly by the purée.
Equally fine when it’s on the menu is the tortellini in brudo, the pasta parcels filled with a mortadella mixture that’s both light and umami-heavy. The broth glistens, the tortellini bounces, and everything feels right with the world.
Speaking of Sunday lunches, incidentally, Manteca observes the lord’s day in true Bolognese fashion, with a celebratory lasagna verde (here, using belted galloway beef and rarebreed saddleback pork), all finished in the restaurant’s wood-fired oven. Only available on the Sabbath, it’s a worthy match to a more traditional Sunday roast in the city.
Anyway, Manteca truly is a class act, and somewhere you’ll want to return to again and again (and that’s coming through a writer who has now made their way through the entire menu here!).
By some estimates, there are around 50’000 Portuguese nationals living in London, with the majority living in South Lambeth, the city’s so-called ‘Little Portugal’, and, more specifically, Stockwell, which is home to the biggest concentration of Portuguese outside of the Motherland.
Unsurprisingly, then, that to eat great Portuguese food in London, it’s wise to head into SW9. That said, north of the river, in the rather bromidic surrounds of Finsbury Avenue Square, some of the best Portuguese food we’ve ever had – Lisbon, London or anywhere – is being served at Bar Douro City.
In a dining room that might better be described as a particularly well-appointed corridor, with intricate blue-and-white azulejos-tiles lining one wall, and a bar and open kitchen on the other. From here, a procession of generous, gutsy Portuguese small plates are served with the kind of flourish that whisks you far away from the soulless City and to somewhere altogether more sincere.
Start with the croquetes de alheira – circular croquettes filled with a sharp, spicy smoked sausage and topped with a dab of aioli that hit all the right notes with your first crisp glass of Super Bock, the only beer you need here. An exemplary bacalhau à brás pulls off that delicate balancing act that only the best versions do, of being both crunchy and creamy, its top end seasoning moreish rather than parching, as long as you’ve another Super Bock to hand.
From the larger ‘land’ based dishes, the secretos de porco preto alentejano (grilled black pig) is a highlight, the highly prized cut from around the pig’s shoulder served blushing pink and beautifully marbled. The accompanying Montanheira salad features segments of orange that lift and cleanse. This has got to be one of the best dishes you’ll eat close to Liverpool Street Station, and well worth delaying your train for.
Round things off, naturally, with a pastel de nata. Bar Douro’s is served with a cinnamon ice cream which at first feels superfluous, but is so well made – smooth and rich rather than dusty – that you have to remove your purist hat and succumb.
Bar Douro is also one of the best places in London for large groups, its dining room able to accommodate 16 people with a sharing menu that clocks in at just £42.50 a head. Woof.
JKS Restaurants – the group behind Gymkhama, Sabor, and Trishna – runs this Indian barbecue and beer hall in a former banking hall opposite Liverpool Street station. And they run it with a certain chaotic precision, make no mistake. The space holds 240 covers across two floors, with ceiling fans, colonial-era fittings, and multiple screens showing live sports, and it gets rowdy. But that doesn’t mean you’re left checking your watch as you wait for your sizzling lamb chops. Quite the opposite; things happen smoothly here, but with enough kinetic energy to keep things interesting.
The menu divides between small plates – Punjabi vegetable samosas, goat belly vindaloo samosas, Indo-Chinese chilli paneer lettuce cups – and larger grills and kebabs meant for sharing. Tandoori lamb chops come as half or full rack, methi chicken chops arrive with fenugreek marinade, and the mixed grill sizzler serves two with guinea fowl, lamb chops, and prawns. Biryanis are substantial: dum beef shin and bone marrow serves two, as does the tawa prawn version. The wood oven turns out dishes like Sikandari kid goat shoulder with lacha paratha, and wood-roasted sea bream pollichathu, and the whole place smells like smoke. Alongside, the house IPA is brewed in Bermondsey specifically for the restaurant, designed to work with the char and spice coming off the sigri grill and tandoor. It’s the only drink you need here.
Monday nights bring a curry club thali for £30 per person: chicken tikka butter masala or paneer butter masala, house daal, garlic naan, rice, and a Cobra lager. Saturdays offer a sports menu with two hours of free-flowing Cobra, Tanqueray gin cocktails, and Paul John Nirvana whisky drinks for £25, alongside a £35 feast that includes a chicken tikka club sandwich and mixed grill pilau. When major cricket or rugby fixtures are on, expect the room to shift from restaurant to sports bar – tables book out early and the atmosphere gets considerably louder. It’s all part of the fun.
Open Monday to Saturday from midday until half past ten, closed Sundays.
A Yiddish term of endearment akin to ‘sweetheart’, this vegetarian restaurant on the peripheries of Spitalfields takes inspiration from the cafe and casual dining scene in Tel Aviv. Put simply, Bubala is as charming as they come.
Whilst at lunch the menu is a la carte, at dinnertime it’s a set menu only affair, which at £44 per person isn’t necessarily cheap, until you see just how much you get for that figure; with over ten courses, this certainly isn’t a meal for watching yours.
Whether you’re here for lunch or dinner, the brown butter hummus is essential (and all present and correct on the Bubala Knows Best evening set). But the headlining act for us is the fennel with saffron caramel and rose harissa, whose impossibly heady top notes are smoothed and sedated by a piquant yet cooling yoghurt. Just superb.
Ideal for cinnamon, spice and all food ridiculously nice…
Fittingly located in the historic East India Company spice warehouse and just a two minute walk from Liverpool Street, Cinnamon Kitchen is the perfect spot to escape the hustle and bustle of the City.
With Chef Vivek Singh at the helm, the restaurant and all-weather covered terrace serves his signature modern Indian cuisine with the best of British ingredients for lunch and dinner. The restaurant also does one of London’s spiciest dishes – the perfect way to dust yourself down after a long day, we think.
The Cinnamon Collection celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2026, and throughout January Cinnamon Kitchen City is offering a special three-course menu for £25 to mark the occasion.
Ideal for sophisticated all-day dining in the heart of The City…
Nestled in the heart of London’s historic/soulless Square Mile, this European restaurant pays homage to its much-loved forefather, The Wolseley, by retaining the ‘all-day’ offering intrinsic to its DNA, with food served in one way or another from 7am to 11pm, daily (except Sundays, which ends at 5pm) – pretty useful if you’ve missed your train and need somewhere to pitch up for a while, we think.
The ‘City’ version of this much cherished restaurant is a place where British (and London) heritage meets contemporary broadly-French cuisine, creating a dining experience that’s both casual and elegant, glamorous but grounded.
Upon entering, you’ll be greeted by the graceful design details of the interior, which was once a bank and later a department store before being transformed into the capacious dining room you’re just about to settle into. Of course, twinkling, meandering jazz plays at just the right volume…
With the scene set, it’s time to tuck in, and the menu at The Wolseley City is a continent-spanning rundown of European classics. The snails done in the Bourguignonne-style, as in, swimming in plenty of garlic and herb butter, with a lick of pastis to liven them, are particularly good. Pack chewing gum for that onward train journey.
Even better – the highlight, in fact – is a tranche of turbot ‘Grenobloise’. Here, the pearlescent, expertly cooked fish arrives positively bathed in a lemon-spiked brown butter, capers dotted across its surface. You’ll want a side of frites with this one. Sure, £44.50 for a fairly small piece of fish – king of the sea or otherwise – might feel pretty extortionate, but the place is heaving with boorish bankers who wouldn’t bat an eyelid at the price tag, so fair fucks. Veal sweetbreads, all crisp exteriors and buttery centres, are served with a pleasingly light soubise sauce and pleasingly rich veal bone reduction, creating a ying and yang effect that complements those butch yet delicate offaly bits perfectly.
Desserts are decent, too, the apple strudel with a strident calvados chantilly cream hitting all the markers you want from your sweet course – caramelised sugar, giving fruit, and a soothing but boozy cream. Lovely stuff.
Located just a stone’s throw away from Monument Station, The Wolseley City is an accessible place to dine, making it the ideal choice for those looking for a grand dining experience without venturing too far from Liverpool Street.
Ideal for Indian small plates that pack heat and flavour…
Duck down Artillery Lane (sadly no relation to the whole Gunpowder thing; the restaurant is named after a famous spice mix), and you’ll find Gunpowder holding court in a tight space that feels like someone’s front room in terms of the cheek-to-jowl nature of things.
Five minutes from Liverpool Street Station, this tiny space has been buzzing with interest since day one, the room enveloped in a thick miasma of blooming spices that promises a good meal before you’ve even had the chance to get properly across the menu. These days you can actually book a table (a recent change from their famous no-bookings policy), though they do still keep some spots for walk-ins. Sure, you might be practically sitting on your neighbour’s lap, but nobody seems to mind when the food starts arriving. Hey, you might even enjoy that kind of close proximity…
The spicy venison and vermicelli doughnut sounds like something dreamt up after too many pints, but it works brilliantly. The meat’s been spiced judiciously, and the doughnut is light and grease-free, adding richness that’ll have you licking your fingers without shame (perhaps avoid doing so whilst looking into your neighbour’s eyes, though). Order the Gunpowder chaat for contrast – these crispy Norfolk potato fingers come dressed in yoghurt and tamarind, creating the kind of sweet-sour-spicy balance that the subcontinent does so well.
It’d be madness to stop after snacks. Instead, go for the grilled pork ribs arrive lacquered in a crimson Nagaland glaze that’s got a pleasing punch. These aren’t your Sunday pub ribs – they’re sticky, funky, and hot enough to make you grateful for the lassi you’ve almost knocked over several times. Speaking of heat, approach the bhel puri with caution if you’re spice-sensitive. What looks like an innocent puffed rice salad will absolutely blow your head off, though in the most delicious way possible.
The intimate space still creates a buzzy, energetic vibe, even if queues have been reduced by the new allowance for reservations. Perfect for a pre-train feast or a lunch that’s anything but boring.
A fair amount of scepticism existed about the opening of the juggernaut Italian ‘marketplace’ Eataly just moments from Liverpool Street Station, and the first to land here in the UK.
Did we really need a sprawling food court and Italian deli in London, when affordable pasta joints were proliferating faster than the time it takes to boil some freshly rolled angel hair? Would the self-proclaimed premium ingredients appeal to a British market often more concerned with convenience than quality? Was a whopping 42’000 square feet of eating, shopping and learning strictly necessary?
Four years in, and it turns out we did and it was. With over 5’000 food products and 2’000 wines – the largest collection in London – all under one roof, including some seriously good charcuterie, cheeses, and sweet stuff (the cannoli here is ace), Eataly has thus far been a massive success.
It’s also a great place to spend an afternoon, with samples, tastings and trials all available at the various retailers. Just make sure you bring a large bag and a larger credit limit; it’s impossible to leave this place empty handed!
There’s also decent pasta and pizza in Eataly’s three dedicated restaurants, for those looking to take a load off for a while.
The ideal destination for some of the best hand-pulled noodles in the Capital…
If you prefer your noodz hand-pulled rather than pasta machine rolled, then over on Commercial Street you’ll find one of the very best restaurants near Liverpool Street Station; Xi’an Biang Biang Noodles.
A sister restaurant to the much celebrated Xi’an Impression, one of our favourite places to eat in Highbury and Islington, the food is equally as good here. Visually akin to a canteen, all white walls and clinical lighting, and with straightforward service to match, the food is anything but impersonal; noodles have just the right amount of bite and spring, sauces (and subsequently, shirts) are slicked with chilli oil, and garlic lingers for days after dining here.
Some good news for those devoted to central; Xi’an Biang Biang Noodles now have a second branch in Covent Garden.
Spitalfields Market has a slicker, smoother feel than some of the more cobbled together markets in the city, but that’s not to its detriment at all. It’s large, covered (great for sheltering from the ever present London rain) and has a great variety of the good stuff, both in stall and fully-realised- restaurant form.
Indeed, there are plenty of Spitalfields restaurants to choose from and the much renowned Galvin Brothers have two places here if parking your bottom and taking your time is more your thing. If snacking, shopping and switching cuisines does it for you, then Smokoloko, The Duck Truck and Ebby’s are particular favourites.
Sure, Shoryu Ramen may be pretty ubiquitous by now, with the chain boasting 9 London outposts, as well as more across the UK, but that shouldn’t detract from the quality of the milky thick, rich, heavily porcine tonkotsu broth that has become the restaurant’s signature.
Founded by Tak Tokumine, a Fukuoka city native who might bleed bone broth if you cut him open with a Nakiri knife (weird image), the aim when opening Shoryu was simple; to bring the unique flavour of Fukuoka’s Hakata tonkutsu ramen, hard to find outside of Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, to London and beyond.
A noble aim indeed and one that has been embraced by ramen-loving Londoners. At the glass-fronted Shoreditch branch, a brisk 10 minute walk from the station, in a rather functional space, the usual lofty standards remain; the char siu barbecue pork is as tender as ever, the 12-hour broth is so enriched with pork fat it’s become opaque, and the dappling of chilli oil across its surface brings a curious sort of respite.
It’s bloody fantastic, though perhaps not one for your lunch break; your white shirt is sure to get splattered and your energy levels may well be tanked. Best save this glorious bowl for after work, we think.
Idealfor regional Thai dishes and fruity cocktails that still both pack a punch…
The boozy and brilliant Som Saa has been such a foodie fixture since its Shoreditch opening back in the heady days of 2016 that it’s easy to forget how groundbreaking the restaurant felt at the time.
A wildly successful pop-up that became a crowd-funded bricks and mortar restaurant, Som Saa’s introduction to the world was one of regional Thai food that wasn’t only liberal with the chilli, but also didn’t hold back on the cuisine’s funkier elements. Shrimp paste, fermented fish sauce and entrails, fresh durian and more all made an appearance on the big sharing tables that defined Som Saa’s convivial, cacophonous vibe.
Fast forward to 2025 and the whole of London suddenly feels conversant in the difference between Isaan’s pla raa and Sai Buru’s nahm bu du, with the city’s capsaicin tolerance at an all time high, and some of Som Saa’s more unfamiliar dishes now very much part of the fabric of food culture here.
Much recent focus has been placed on Som Saa founders Andy Oliver and Mark Dobbie’s new Southern Thai joint Kolae over in Borough Market, but back at the mothership on Commercial Street, the whole deep-fried seabass is still as crisp and herbal as ever, the rotating cast of som tam still pounded to order each and every time, and the coconut cream for the restaurant’s excellent curries is still getting freshly pressed daily.
It’s a labour of love that bears delicious fruit in a current red curry of crispy tofu and Thai basil, a thick, fresh and fragrant affair that undulates gently with the smoky background note of a complex dried red chilli paste. Equally good is the menu stalwart of stir-fried to order seasonal greens, with black cabbage, asparagus and mushrooms boasting huge amounts of wok hei.
This is a place where you’ll want to come for a full sharing spread. Indeed, each dish’s interplay with its neighbour feels just as important as its flavour profile when standing alone. Som Saa’s ‘tem toh’ menu is designed with this interaction and balance in mind; a spread of 5 or 6 complementary dishes, plus rice and dessert, is priced for £40 per person.
A couple of the restaurant’s signature cocktails (mine’s the Siam Sling – a long, floral number flavoured with Thai basil and makrut lime – if you’re asking) sees that sharing menu on its way beautifully.
*Following a fire at the restaurant in early May, Som Saa is now up and running once again. Rejoice!*
Running parallel to Regent Street and made up of 14 lanes and thoroughfares, Carnaby is a pedestrianised area in London that is famous for its high-end shopping.
Regarded as been the epicentre of culture in the West End of London for centuries, the street was the birthplace of Swinging London in the 1960s, and the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix all hung out here. You’ll still see the iconic Rolling Stones ‘tongue and lips’ logo rendered in bright lights above the street, in fact.
Back then, people were attracted to Carnaby for its cheap rents and independent boutiques selling colourful clothes and playing loud music from morning ‘till night; many punters of the time say it was like going to a groovy nightclub, but in the middle of the day!
Today, the area has tried to recapture some of that energetic soul. While the main drag boasts mainly international and British heritage labels, step off into the side streets and you’ll find quirky independent boutiques and one-off concept stores from major brands.
Just like the sixties, where individualism ran supreme, there’s plenty of choice here if you’re looking to shop. But that’s not all; the area also has its fair share of wonderful places to eat, meaning that you don’t have to venture too far to find somewhere for a quick bite or a lavish meal after all that shopping.
To help ensure that you’re always close to the action of Carnaby Street, here’s a selection of outstanding restaurants that are no more than a five-minute stroll from this iconic location.
Kolamba Soho, Kingly Street
Ideal for vital Sri Lankan flavours and sharing plates…
Already big fans of sister restaurant Kolamba East, a visit to the OG felt long overdue. On a balmy Friday night, Kolamba Soho delivered all the punchy, vital flavours that made us fall for the Shoreditch outpost, with a buzzy Soho energy that feels perfectly pitched for this neighbourhood.
The hot butter cuttlefish is an absolute must-order – batter-fried pieces of tender cuttlefish glazed with a chilli coating that’ll have you grasping at your Lion Lager between bites (in the best possible way, of course). The best bits? The caramalised slices of green onion; sweet, bitter, and saturated with spicy oil.
Aunty Mo’s ‘Chatti’ roast is another assertive and well-balanced plate. Here, dry-fried beef has been tossed with chilli and tomato, served atop delicate string hoppers, with a little accompanying jug of turmeric coconut gravy that soaks into the string hoppers and creates delicious, homogenous bites. Keeping the glorious onslaught coming, devilled king prawns arrive sticky and glistening, the sweet-hot marinade having caught and caramelised. It clings to plump prawns that have been tossed with chilli, tomato and onion – it’s messy, moreish eating at its finest.
Vegetarians are well served, too. The mango curry hits the spot – pleasingly leathery hunks of mango are cooked in coconut milk and aromatic spices until they’re just yielding, creating a delicately flavoured curry that’s comforting and nuanced. Order it alongside the vibrant tomato sambol, a salad of sliced heritage tomatoes, green chilli, lime and red onion which offers a fresh counterpoint to the richer dishes. For afters, a wobbly puck of watalappam seals the deal, the caramelised coconut custard a fitting end to a satisfying, interesting meal.
All in all, Kolamba Soho proves that lightning can strike twice, as good as the East outpost and arguably more accessible for many. The crowds giving up on the Dishoom queue opposite can confirm this, too; many leave that restless wait in favour of Kolamba, and don’t regret making the decision.
Ideal for modern Filipino flavours and sharing plates…
Filipino cuisine remains one of the most underrepresented in London, which makes Donia’s arrival all the more welcome. Occupying the same top-floor Kingly Court spot where both Imad’s Syrian Kitchen and Darjeeling Express first found their feet, this modern Filipino restaurant from the team behind Kentish Town’s cult Panadera Bakery is turning heads for all the right reasons.
In 2025, Donia became the first and only Filipino restaurant in the UK to be awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand (though just last week, Belly was added to the red guide – we’ll wait until next month’s full announcement to find out their award), a recognition that feels both overdue and entirely deserved.
The space is cosy for such a weirdly corporate building, the vibe is relaxed, the servers friendly, and the whole thing feels a world away from the tiresome Carnaby Street below.
The menu is designed for sharing, blending Filipino flavours with British seasonal produce. Adobo mushroom croquetas make a fine start, the classic Filipino vinegar-soy seasoning lending depth to crisp, golden parcels. Chicken inasal has been marinated for 48 hours in lemongrass, coconut vinegar, calamansi and annatto oil before hitting the grill. Lechon, the celebratory whole roast pig of Filipino feasts, appears here with liver and peppercorn sauce.
Save room for the headlining lamb shoulder caldereta pie. A reimagining of the traditional Filipino stew, the lamb is slow-cooked and pulled, layered with potatoes and piquillo peppers, then wrapped in puff pastry. It needs to be pre-ordered, but it’s worth the planning. Finish with ube choux, that distinctly purple Filipino flavour given the French pastry treatment, a callback to the restaurant’s bakery origins.
For a smokey and southern-styled BBQ feast, Bodean’s is a fantastic option for those shopping on Carnaby Street who are suddenly struck with an appetite that only grilled meat can cure.
The brainchild of Andre Blais, a Kansas City native and lover of its beloved BBQ scene, the restaurant was started in 2002 and has now grown to include three smokehouses in London, including this outpost on Poland Street.
The interior, filled with jet-black leather booths and dimly lit lamplight, evokes the traditional BBQ ovens used to sear and cook their meat and creates a welcoming atmosphere ready to overwhelm you with big, hearty flavours.
Try their Signature BBQ Platter if you’re looking to share; it comes loaded with beef rib, baby back pork ribs, pork belly bites, hand-pulled pork shoulder, Texas hot link sausage and Pitboss BBQ beans, all smoked low and slow and served family style. At £65, it comfortably feeds two to three adults. If you’re looking to feed the whole family, get their 14-hour smoked beef brisket covered in a perfectly crisp bark and packed with smoky flavour.
Ideal for British seasonal ingredients and Thai-inspired dishes…
The second restaurant from chef and Thai food enthusiast Ben Chapman, Kiln is quite the spectacle, with bar seating overlooking flames, coals and clay pots (making it a great place to dine solo, by the way). The vibe transports you right out of central London and to somewhere altogether hotter and more rustic.
Here, dishes are loosely influenced by the region of Thailand that borders Burma, Laos and Yunnan, forgoing the familiar coconut cream based curries and liberal use of palm sugar for something altogether more earthy and herbal. In this setting, that’s no bad thing.
Accordingly, Kiln is unlike many other Thai restaurants in the capital, and offers something unique and distinctive.
The restaurant works proudly with a close clutch of suppliers, with fish sourced directly, daily, from fishing boats in Cornwall, and heritage vegetables earning equal billing on the menu to protein. During game season, that menu comes alive with jungle curries of wood pigeon or wild mallard and minced laab salads of raw venison (whose season begins in April through October, incidentally).
But even better, and on more consistently throughout the year, is cull yaw, a type of mutton from retired female ewes that has been fattened with high degrees of welfare in mind. The meat has an incredible depth of flavour, and has been making appearances on the menu of several acclaimed London restaurants in recent years. At Kiln, it’s often served as a collar chop accompanied by a spicy dipping sauce, or in grilled skewers with a little sprinkle of cumin. Just so damn delicious.
Ideal fo Spanish tapas dining and wood-fired specialties…
Founded by former Barrafina head chef Nieves Barragan and business partner Jose Etura, Sabor is a Michelin-starred tapas bar and grill serving Andalusian-inspired tapas around a horseshoe counter on the ground floor, and larger sharing dishes cooked in a traditional wood-fired oven from Castile in their first floor El Asador.
That latter location is a beautiful space to dine in, with a spiral staircase leading to a boisterous dining room that has you sitting in close proximity with your fellow diners, building a communal, convivial experience.
The menu includes some less familiar tapas such as confit rabbit shoulder and tortilla gallega, or you can go big and order Sabor’s signature Churrasco de Cordero; Iberian lamb ribs roasted in the famous wood ovens of the region.
The main event, though, is without doubt the whole roast suckling pig, which is one hell of a spectacle and one of the finest eating experiences in the capital. Bring a friend or two for this one!
A Spanish-Italian hybrid, Dehesa offers classy, well-executed small plates and a great wine list just off Carnaby Street. It’s the place to come for inventive and creative modern tapas in London, we think.
Like all good small plates affairs, the menu at Dehesa responds to the seasons; on our last winter visit, a roasted hake with caramelised celeriac and crispy kale was sublime. When it comes to mainstays on the menu, the signature deep-fried cheese-stuffed courgette flowers is a particular highlight.
The restaurant also does the classics well; the crisp and creamy jamon & manchego croquetas are not to be missed, nor are their gloriously garlicky pil pil tiger prawns.
For the quality of food on offer, Dehesa is a refreshingly informal dining spot, ideal for a light bite of cheese and charcuterie or a full blown tapas feast, equally. If you’re looking to sit outside, their heated corner terrace is the largest in Soho and is the perfect spot to take a load off while watching the colourful world of central London go by.
Ideal for casual Neapolitan pizza and lively atmosphere…
A little dough, a ladleful of sauce and a sprinkle of cheese… No dish in the world manages to coax pure ambrosia from so few ingredients as pizza. Even the word ‘pizza’ evokes an image that gets this writer salivating, Pavlov dog-style, and judging by the mess that you’ve made on your mobile, might we assume you’re the same?
If you’re pining for a pizza whilst wandering the streets of Carnaby, then make a move to Pizza Pilgrims in Kingly court. Come for the wood-fired Neapolitan, stay for the delicious Gin and Pocello (their own version of Limoncello – just delicious).
Pizza Pilgrim’s mantra is ‘In Crust We Trust’, and they stay true to this pledge with a base of lightness, chew, a hint of sourness and the requisite heat blisters that are the hallmark of a true pizza from Southern Italy. Their arancini balls make an excellent starter, too.
Ideal for generous Middle Eastern sharing plates and warm hospitality…
We end where we began; in Kingly Court. Here, up several flights of stairs and overlooking the main courtyard, is Imad’s Syrian Kitchen, not only one of the best restaurants close to Carnaby Street, but one of our favourite places to eat in London, full stop.
The story of the restaurant has been well documented; restaurateur Imad Alarnab’s three successful restaurants in Syria’s capital Damascus ended up a victim of the cruel war being fought there, seeing Alarnab flee the country in search of a new life. He found it in London, where his Syrian Kitchen has been thriving, garnering praise from national critics and a coveted Bib Gourmand from the Michelin Guide.imimads
Imad Alarnab, at Imad’s Syrian Kitchen, photographed by Jamie Lau / Studio LauImad Alarnab, at Imad’s Syrian Kitchen, photographed by Jamie Lau / Studio Lau
It’s easy to see why; Imad’s Syrian Kitchen is a hugely likeable place, with the big man working the room with grace and warmth, and the hearty, generous (it’s very easy to over order) flavours of his homeland finding their way onto every plate here.
Tear off a chunk of the restaurant’s house pita, drag it through the roughly-hewn hummus that’s been dusted generously in sumac, get stuck into the complex, no-one-bite-is-the-same fattoush, and prepare to feel very well-looked after, indeed.
And with those massive portions still lingering, we’re off for a lie down!
Address: 2.14 Top Floor, Kingly Court, Carnaby St, London W1B 5PW
Did you even dine in London if you didn’t go to Dishoom? Well, if you’re looking for great things to eat in the vicinity of Carnaby Street, then rest assured; the very first outpost of the now ubiquitous purveyors of Bombay-style comfort food was here.
For those not in the know, Dishoom is an enduringly popular and lovingly curated Indian restaurant serving classic Bombay dishes that, just like the 60s Bombay beat bands the location is inspired by, are sure to delight you with flavour and texture.
With a fun yet measured interior that boasts chequered-tile floors and bright leather seats, it mixes hippy-trail vibes with cues from the subcontinent’s familiar patterns and hues. Despite the restaurant chain growing to include 11 other Dishooms (and four Permit Room bars) in the UK, standards haven’t dropped – as so often is the case with expansion – and Dishoom Carnaby still maintains its authentic charm and showcases that in its delightful cooking.
The Chef’s special in Carnaby is the Salli Boti, a tender curried lamb dish that is braised in a rich gravy and finished with salli crisp chips. A Parsi classic, this one is sure to open your mind to the distinct flavours of the ethnoreligious group.
Still hungry? You could also go with a medley of small plates that include Gujarati-style lamb samosas, the house chaat, or the Keema Pau, a minced lamb dish you’ll often find in the Irani cafes of Bombay, served in homemade buns.
If you’re in town for breakfast, then you can’t do better than Dishoom’s legendary bacon naan roll which involves crispy bacon, chilli jam, cream cheese and herbs, all encased in a freshly baked naan that’s been brushed in melted butter. It’s just the fuel you need before taking on the Carnaby’s shops.
Dishoom’s expansion shows no signs of slowing; in 2025, the group secured a major investment from L Catterton, valuing the company at approximately £300 million. The deal will help fund growth across the UK and, excitingly, in the States, with their first US restaurant slated to open in 2026.
London has a swell of excellent Japanese restaurants, many offering serious and admirably faithful experiences. Inko Nito is not one of them. Instead, it offers an unconventional Japanese-Korean hybrid with an energetic casual dining experience. Before you shrug this off as just another ‘pan-Asian’ place that suffers from a lack of clear vision, it’s worth noting there’s some serious pedigree behind this restaurant – it’s part of the Azumi group, known for world-renowned establishments like Zuma and ROKA.
There’s an energetic vibe to the room from the off. The green, neon-illuminated signage creates an upbeat feeling from the moment you step through the doors. The space inside is huge and social, especially when compared to the dinky, sometimes deliberately dingy surrounding restaurants of Soho.
It’s tastefully designed with blonde wooden tables and beams as far as the eye can see. The mixed-level seating that zigzags across the room combined with the smells and sounds of the grill gives an open market feeling to the space. The atmosphere is accordingly convivial and, even at lunch time, a little loose. With 90+ covers, it’s one of the best spots in Soho to come if you’re looking for an impromptu meal with a few friends.
Cocktails here are a must. Classic formulas have been reimagined with an emphasis on Japanese ingredients – try the Nori Old Fashioned with toki whisky, kokuto and nori, or the Inko Star (their take on a pornstar martini), which all feels a pleasingly frivolous, and much better than the original – think passion fruit, vodka, makrut lime leaf, pisco and verjus, with a shot of bubbles to pour in. It’s also nitro-charged and poured into a martini glass straight from the restaurant’s cocktail tap.
Anyway; this stomach needs lining, and just in the nick of time, steamed prawn and leek dumplings arrive swimming in a complex, tangy ponzu sauce enlivened with ginger – they’re delicate and lovely. The braised beef cheek with DIY lettuce wraps is a standout, while their ‘nigaki’ – the restaurant’s playful interpretation of classic nigiri and maki rolls – showcases a creative spirit. The salmon fillet with grapefruit miso and sansho salt would have delivered more had we squeezed the citrus (don’t miss this step) earlier rather than in the final few bites – it lifts the dish considerably. The spicy tuna tempura is excellent – lightly battered, crisp and irresistible.
Our meal ends on the highest of highs: the Inko cheesecake is worth visiting the restaurant for alone. Or, you know, alone; you’ll want to keep this one to yourself. Not only is it one of the prettiest plates that calls out to be photographed, it’s also one of the most delicious cheesecakes we’ve had the pleasure of trying. Fresh strawberries, oat crumble, guava sauce and little pearls of popcorn-tasting balls all make for the ideal sweet send-off.
Just as we were ducking out, the 4pm happy hour was beginning. It sees beer, wines, and bubbles available for £4, cocktails for £6.50 and bar snacks for £7 – a steal in Soho and sounds like a lot of fun. Next time, next time…
Address: 55 Broadwick Street, Carnaby, London W1F 9QS
Iceland wasn’t built for cruise tourism, and that’s precisely what makes it so thrilling to visit by sea. This is a country where the landscape itself feels alive, where geysers erupt on schedule and glaciers calve into lagoons, where volcanoes simmer beneath ice caps and the earth steams and bubbles in ways that seem frankly improbable.
Arriving by ship means watching this otherworldly coastline reveal itself gradually, fjord by dramatic fjord, and stepping ashore into towns that feel genuinely remote rather than purpose-built for visitors.
With 4,970km of coastline punctuated by fishing villages, geothermal bays, and some of the most spectacular waterfalls on the planet, Iceland rewards the cruise passenger who wants their journey to feel like an expedition rather than a floating hotel transfer.
Iceland: The Number One Cruise Destination For 2026
Forward bookings for Northern Europe cruises are surging, with Holland America Line reporting that 2026 sales are up more than a third compared to this time last year, and Northern Europe voyages specifically seeing a nearly 50% year-on-year increase.
As the cruise industry embraces immersive, slow-travel experiences, demand for Arctic itineraries is rising faster than any other region, with travellers seeking cooler summers, dramatic scenery, and overnight stays that allow for proper exploration rather than rushed port calls.
Iceland sits at the heart of this demand, and with extended shore time becoming the norm in marquee ports, you can explore beyond the obvious and discover a country where fire meets ice at every turn. Here’s why we’re naming Iceland the IDEAL cruise destination for 2026.
Reykjavik
Reykjavik, the world’s northernmost capital is compact, creative, and surprisingly cosmopolitan, with cruise ships docking at the Old Harbour just a fifteen-minute walk from the city centre. The striking Hallgrímskirkja church dominates the skyline with its concrete columns designed to echo basalt lava formations, and from its tower you can survey the colourful corrugated iron houses below and the mountains beyond.
The city’s food scene has transformed in recent years, with Dill Restaurant now holding both a Michelin star and a Green Star for its commitment to local ingredients. For something more casual, head to the Old Harbour for Sægreifinn (The Sea Baron) and its famous lobster soup, or try Café Loki near the church for traditional plokkfiskur, a hearty fish stew accompanied by dark rye bread baked underground using geothermal heat.
Most visitors use Reykjavik as a gateway to the Golden Circle, Iceland’s most famous day trip. Thingvellir National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site where the Icelandic parliament was founded in 930 AD and where you can walk between two tectonic plates, while the Geysir geothermal area features Strokkur, which erupts every few minutes in a spectacular plume of boiling water. Nearby Gullfoss waterfall thunders into a dramatic canyon with such force you’ll feel the spray on your face from the viewing platform.
Many cruises from Southampton offer overnight stays in Reykjavik specifically so passengers can experience the Golden Circle properly, returning in time to catch the Blue Lagoon at sunset when the crowds have thinned and the milky blue waters take on an almost ethereal quality.
Known as the ‘Capital of the North’, Akureyri sits at the head of Eyjafjörður, Iceland’s longest fjord at 70 kilometres. Your ship crosses the Arctic Circle on approach, often accompanied by a ‘Polar Bear’ ceremony on deck, and the cruise terminal is a five-minute walk from the pedestrian centre, where heart-shaped traffic lights and independent boutiques line the main street.
The town’s modernist church, designed by the same architect responsible for Hallgrímskirkja, offers panoramic views from its tower, while the botanical garden, the northernmost in the world, showcases plants that thrive despite the latitude thanks to the surprisingly mild microclimate.
Goðafoss Waterfall, Iceland
Shore excursions from here showcase a different Iceland entirely. The journey to Goðafoss, the ‘Waterfall of the Gods’, takes you through moss-covered lava fields to falls that span thirty metres across a horseshoe-shaped cliff, their power matched by their historical significance as the site where a chieftain supposedly threw his pagan idols after Iceland’s conversion to Christianity in 1000 AD.
Lake Mývatn, an hour’s drive away, is a geothermal wonderland of volcanic craters and bubbling mud pools, with the Mývatn Nature Baths offering the same mineral-rich waters as the Blue Lagoon but without the crowds. The newly opened Forest Lagoon provides fjord views from its geothermal pools, a perfect afternoon stop before returning to your ship.
Ísafjörður
Iceland’s third busiest cruise port lies deep in the Westfjords, where mountains rise almost vertically from the water to create a dramatic natural harbour. The town feels genuinely remote, with the Westfjords Heritage Museum occupying one of the oldest buildings in Iceland and wooden houses dating back to the eighteenth century lining the narrow streets.
The Arctic Fox Centre in nearby Súðavík provides insight into Iceland’s only native land mammal, a creature that walked here across the frozen sea during the last Ice Age, while at Sætt & Salt chocolate shop you can make your own treats using local ingredients like sea salt harvested from the fjord.
The Dynjandi waterfall, accessible by shore excursion along roads that wind dramatically through the mountains, is among Iceland’s most spectacular natural features. Water cascades over 100 metres in seven tiers that widen as they descend, earning the falls their nickname ‘the bridal veil’, and the surrounding landscape feels untouched even in high season.
Whale watching yields sightings of minke and humpback whales in the nutrient-rich waters where the fjord meets the open ocean, while puffin colonies nest on nearby cliffs from May through August. Kayaking the glassy fjord waters offers a perspective on the landscape that stays with you long after you’ve returned to the ship.
Húsavík
Often called the whale-watching capital of Iceland, Húsavík sits on Skjálfandi Bay where nutrient-rich currents attract humpback whales, minke whales, and occasionally blue whales throughout summer. Success rates for sightings exceed ninety percent between June and August, with traditional oak boats departing from the harbour several times daily.
The town charms with its distinctive wooden church overlooking the harbour and the Exploration Museum celebrating the area’s connections to NASA’s moon landing training, when astronauts prepared for lunar conditions on the volcanic landscapes nearby.
The GeoSea geothermal sea baths, built into the cliffs north of town, offer infinity pools that seem to merge with the ocean, their waters heated by the same volcanic forces that power the dramatic landscape around Lake Mývatn. Shore excursions can reach Dettifoss, Europe’s most powerful waterfall by volume, where 500 cubic metres of glacial meltwater thunder into a canyon every second with a force that shakes the ground beneath your feet.
The Food
Iceland’s culinary scene has evolved dramatically, driven by chefs who have returned from training abroad determined to showcase their country’s unique ingredients. The volcanic soil, geothermal greenhouses that produce tomatoes year-round, and abundant seafood from some of the cleanest waters on Earth create a cuisine unlike anywhere else.
Traditional dishes like hangikjöt (smoked lamb hung over birchwood fires) and harðfiskur (wind-dried fish eaten with butter) reflect centuries of survival in harsh conditions, while modern restaurants like Grillmarkaðurinn serve these heritage ingredients alongside reindeer and Arctic char with contemporary techniques.
The Icelandic hot dog deserves its devoted following, made with a blend of lamb, pork, and beef and topped with raw and crispy fried onions, ketchup, sweet mustard, and remoulade. Bæjarins Beztu in Reykjavik has been serving them since 1937, and the queue is part of the experience.
Seafood dominates menus everywhere, from langoustine pulled from the waters off Höfn to cod prepared in every imaginable way, and at restaurants like Messinn, generous sharing pans of perfectly cooked fish with butter and capers arrive sizzling at your table.
The Northern Lights & Midnight Sun
Timing matters in Iceland more than almost any other cruise destination. Summer sailings between June and August offer the midnight sun, where daylight extends nearly around the clock, meaning longer exploration time, vibrant wildlife activity, and landscapes in full bloom after the long winter.
Winter sailings from late September through early April bring the chance to witness the Northern Lights, with several cruise lines now offering dedicated aurora-hunting itineraries that include overnight port calls north of the Arctic Circle specifically timed for optimal viewing conditions.
The 2026 solar eclipse in August has prompted cruise lines to position ships off Iceland’s west coast, directly in the path of totality where passengers can witness the moon block the sun far from the crowds that plague land-based viewing sites. These sailings sold out quickly, demonstrating both the growing appeal of celestial events and Iceland’s unique position as a destination where the extraordinary becomes almost routine.
The Bottom Line
Iceland’s allure as a cruise destination lies in its ability to surprise at every port, with each stop bringing a different landscape, a different atmosphere, and a different set of wonders. From the creative energy of Reykjavik and its thriving food scene to the geothermal marvels accessible from Akureyri, from the remote beauty of the Westfjords to the whale-rich waters off Húsavík, a circumnavigation of Iceland delivers variety that few other destinations can match.
In 2026, Iceland stands as a testament to the evolution of cruising, where the journey itself matters as much as the destinations and where shore time is designed for immersion rather than quick photo stops. The Land of Fire and Ice lives up to its name.
Clapham Common is, in a district of cliques and cliches, a breath of fresh air. Quite literally – the verdant oasis is surrounded by heavy traffic on all sides, its 220 acres bringing respite from the choking pollution of the four teeming thoroughfares that act as its border.
Taking a load off in the Common, you’ll find folk on various shades of health kick and in various stages of inebriation, the impossibly ripped, bare chested and short-shorted, park runners, parkourists, park tourists, and proud, tired new parents. You’ll see plenty of Camden Hells 330s being crushed, and plenty of lads tweeting their location to Round The Bend as day fades into evening.
All of these folk – some more than others, admittedly – will need a decent feed when they come up for air and venture out of the park, and we’ve got them covered when they decide to do so. Here are the best restaurants close to Clapham Common.
Trinity
Ideal for fine dining lovers…
Boasting a coveted Michelin Star (Clapham and Battersea’s only restaurant to be bestowed with that honour) Trinity is now entering its third decade in fine fettle.
Owned by the talented chef Adam Byatt, this neighborhood gem, on the corner of Clapham Old Town and overlooking the Common, has been remarkably consistent in its intricate, seasonal and downright delicious classical cooking since opening in 2006.
Here, it really is all about classical tekkers, courses rather than sharing plates, and attentive, pitch perfect hospitality, all to be enjoyed via Trinity’s four course menu, priced at £90 for lunch and £140 for dinner, plus the usual extras.
There’s plenty of choice here. As spring kicks into gear, that menu is alive with colour and the fresh, verdant flavours of the season, a dish of English asparagus, polonais sauce (a melted butter, chopped egg and breadcrumb number that’s so much more than the sum of its parts), and smoked eel from award winning local fishmonger Moxon’s exemplifies this approach.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for a restaurant that prices itself on perfectly executed classical technique, Trinity’s pastry section is sharp and precise as you like. Yep, they do puddings well here, and on a recent visit, an indulgent chocolate marquise was one of the best desserts of the year thus far.
Yep, these are proper plates to enjoy all to yourself, a rare treat in London’s modern day fine dining landscape, and a key reason why Trinity has endured – and got better and better – as the years have passed.
For something a little more laid back, the sister restaurant Upstairs at Trinity boasts a Bib Gourmand award and a hearty menu based around French country cooking. If you can manage both in a single evening, you’ve got an even more admirable appetite than us!
Ideal for ultra-comforting, beautifully spiced West Indian food…
From fine dining to no-frills deliciousness, another of the best places to eat near Clapham Common is Tawa Roti, a ten minute walk down Clapham High Street towards Clapham North Station.
Here, it’s all about Trinidadian food, with the freshly slapped roti both the star of the show and vehicle for Tawa’s delicately spiced channa, dhal puri and aloo curry. Though there are a couple of seats and a counter for perching inside Tawa Roti, the headlining dishes are perfect for taking away. Order a fresh coconut juice, a dhal puri wrap, an obligatory side of doubles – channa filled flatbreads that are deep fried and delicious – and head back up to the Common for a feast.
Ideal for modern European dining in an art-filled setting…
Tucked away on Nelsons Row, just a short amble from Clapham Common station, Crispin at Studio Voltaire might be the area’s most exciting recent opening. Part of the HAM Restaurants family (who’ve made quite the name for themselves with Bistro Freddie in Shoreditch and their original Crispin in Spitalfields), this 50-cover modern European restaurant and counter bar brings a much-needed dose of studied cool to a neighbourhood with a somewhat fair reputation for the naff.
The space itself is rather special – housed within Studio Voltaire, one of the UK’s leading non-profit arts organisations, the restaurant manages to be both industrial and intimate. Candlelight flickers across bistro tables, while hefty curtains in burnt caramel and the gallery’s signature blue create a cosy atmosphere despite the concrete floors and polished metal fixtures.
The kitchen, helmed by former-Manteca chef Michael Miles, delivers a menu that changes with the seasons but maintains a steadfast commitment to thoughtful, produce-driven cooking. Small plates, priced in the £10 to £20 region, dominate – think stracciatella with pickled squash and fermented chilli, or beetroot with black garlic, almonds and crème fraiche. The Montgomery cheddar croquettes with pickled walnut ketchup (£3.50) are already developing something of a cult following.
Larger plates showcase the kitchen’s deft hand with both meat and fish – the grilled half chicken with salsa verde and onion (£35) is perfect for sharing, while the hake with grilled leek and almond cream (£25) demonstrates their commitment to careful cooking and clever flavour combinations.
The wine programme deserves special mention, with a rotating selection that champions small-scale producers and artisanal winemakers. There’s a strong focus on sustainability, with several options available on tap; an increasingly ubiquitous feature of a certain type of restaurant/wine bar in London lately.
For those watching the pennies, half pints of house wine start at £4 (about the same as their half-pint of Guinness). The cocktail list offers creative takes on classics – the apricot margarita and blackberry negroni, both £14, are particularly noteworthy, strident affairs that will certainly put the hairs on your chest.
Opening hours are considerate to both gallery-goers and evening diners, running Wednesday to Sunday (11am-10pm Wed-Sat, 11am-3pm Sun). While dinner reservations are recommended, the counter is available throughout the day for coffee, house-made cakes and light bites.
Right on Clapham High Street’s main drag is the newly done up gastro-pub The Ox. Once a gay bar and then briefly The Saxon pub, the Ox is owned by the same people as the popular local the Rose and Crown down the road at the Polygon.
The Ox seems to have moved on from its initial focus on pan-Asian flavours, to be replaced by resolutely British cooking and farm-to-fork flavours. Beef and lamb is supplied solely from the family farm on the Scottish Borders and dry aged on site.
The busy front bar is a proper pub with the promise of multi-screen sport. There’s the option of eating there but a quieter bet is to go through and downstairs to the welcoming restaurant area. There’s a hum of conversation and background music at the right level not to be intrusive. It’s a convivial space.
Where the Ox stands out from your average gastro-pub is the imagination and quality of its starters. Making friends with our neighbouring table (it’s that kind of place) means that we could test not two but five starters.
Black pudding scotch eggs marry the peppery richness of the black pudding with just the right level of yolky runniness. Twice baked cheese soufflé sits up pertly, the rich cheese cut through by the addition of chives. Scallops in their shell gain texture from the beef dripping crumb The ox cheek toastie (a bit of a signature dish at the Ox) divides the crowd. Some love the meat juices soaking into the sour dough toast; others want their toastie to retain some crunch.
Diving back into the starter menu, we sample the braised lamb neck with apple and gentleman’s relish. The lamb was fall apart tender but we could do with more zing of anchovy from the gentleman’s relish – but we are hardcore anchovy lovers.
Still room for mains? Now, the Ox is justifiably proud of its boeuf bourguignon pie. And on our visit, it was actually National Pie Week. So it was a surprise to find it off the menu, to be replaced by shepherd’s pie. Shepherd’s pie can be a fine thing but didn’t quite meet those Pie Week expectations. Instead, flat iron steak and smashed beef burger deliver on their pastoral promise, the latter’s lacier edges boasting all the crusty, crunchy bits you’d want from the smashing process. Traditional British fare continues into the desserts with old school rhubarb crumble and custard, and a classic sticky toffee pudding.
While the mains were great, it was the starters that stole the show. What would really work at the Ox would be to load up on those. Add a side of the exceptional triple cooked chips. You’d eat very well. Fill your boots.
Ideal for crisp, elegant sourdough pizzas that have come to Clapham via Bologna…
First started by Matteo and Salvatore Aloe in Bologna in 2010, the Clapham version of Berberè stands on the former site of Radio Alice, a pizzeria that the Aloe brothers were involved in. Safe to say, Berberè is even better, with a sourdough base whose mother has been tended to for a decade and a half resulting in a gently tangy, crisp base that’s as digestible as it comes.
That crispness is ideally suited to dipping, and so Berberè has obliged with a choice of four dippers – spicy ‘nduja & honey, aioli, garlic butter or basil & walnut pesto. Of course you’ll order all four.
The pizza selection itself feels more traditional and, dare we say, demure, with the least adorned pizzas the most sparkling – uplifting, even – in their simplicity. Most pleasingly, these guys feature a good amount of sauce, a welcome departure from the trend for quite a dry pizza that seems to have been cropping up across the city recently. Follow this narrative to its natural conclusion and settle on the margherita, which is superb and priced keenly at £10.90. With that digestibility already dispensed with, and that sub-tenner pricing, it’s the perfect excuse to order another!
The Clapham restaurant was Berberè’s first UK outpost, sure, but the brand has since expanded to Kentish Town and, most recently, Tottenham Court Road as part of The Outernet development. The sourdough, it seems, travels well.
Ideal for some of the city’s best pasta and an enjoyably raucous vibe…
Prolific, hugely talented chef Robin Gill’s ode to the Amalfi Coast, Sorella, is one of the best Italian restaurants south of the river, and for those hungry when kicking back in Clapham Common, it’s also only a five minute walk from that vast green expanse.
Proud Irish man Gill has plenty of history in the area, having run much loved neighbourhood restaurant The Dairy before its closure in 2020. He was also the man behind The Manor, which operated on the same site that Sorella now sits. Up the road in Nine Elms, the chef oversees the superb Darby’s. Yep, this man lives and breathes South London.
Sorella (meaning ‘sister’ in Italian) is the sibling to his other successful ventures, with success coming here too in the form of a Michelin Plate award. The restaurant is warm and inviting, with rustic wooden tables and a bar that showcases an impressive selection of Italian wines and spirits, all very much in keeping with the residential street Sorella sits on, and those neighbourhood restaurant connotations. Yep, a gratis limoncello shot or two is pretty much obligatory if you exercise even the most common of courtesies with the attentive staff here.
On the plate, the menu is divided into the classic format of cicchetti, antipasti, primi and secondi. Make sure you kick off with some of the truffle arancini, which has been on the menu since 2018 and for good reason. They’re a highlight; creamy, rich and on the nose. As in, they’re pungent in all the right places.
Another highlight, in a shocking turn, is the hand rolled pasta here. Gill has always had a wicked way with agnolotti, those most plump of filled pastas, and so it is here. On the current menu, an early spring version of purple sprouting broccoli cooked down until collapsing before being mixed with ricotta, was truly superb. It’s dressed with a pancetta XO that brings serious umami, as well as that pleasing dappling that any chilli oil bestows on a dish.
The actual, genuine dish it’s served on is a thick slab of grey stone that’s barely bowed, and it’s an intriguing, scratchy thing to eat off. We’ll forgive them; its heft is reassuring and those agnolotti sitting within it are just too good to hold a grudge.
Gill’s portfolio continues to grow across South London, with Bottle + Rye bringing natural wines and snacks to Brixton.
Ideal for single slices of the good stuff and craft beers in the sunshine…
Sure, this part of Clapham might be more well known for its Aussie residents than its Americans, but you’ll find an excellent Californian (sourdough base, if you’re asking) by-the-slice joint at Joe Public, just a few seconds from Exit B of Clapham Common underground station.
You can also order full, 14 inch pies here (slices start at around a fiver, pies at £15ish), of which there are a selection of around ten at any given time. Though the Cheese Burger pizza sounds pretty out there, and your nonna will chastise you for even considering ordering it, you should do so anyway; it genuinely works! Topped with ground beef rather than actual, you know, patties, the burger vibes come from McDonalds style pickles and an elegant zig-zag of burger sauce. Enjoy this one from the small selection of stool seating in the restaurant, overlooking an actual McDonalds across the road, for a surreal kind of Heston-curated hyperreal simulacrum.
Joe also has some outdoor picnic tables out front and plenty of craft beer on tap, as well as slushy cocktails in the summer months, to bring you back down to earth. What’s not to love?
Speaking of pizza, Eco was a fixture on Clapham High Street for over 20 years, serving up nourishing Italian cuisine and packing out its buzzy, busy dining room nightly. Now in a shiny new location just round the corner on Venn Street, the restaurant is still known for its wood-fired, sourdough pizzas, which are considered some of the best in the neighbourhood. The dough is left to mature for at least 48 hours, resulting in a perfect crust that’s both crisp and chewy. With several pizzas clocking in at under a tenner, Eco is fantastic value too.
Beyond pizza, Eco’s menu also includes a range of pasta dishes, salads, and antipasti, made with high-quality ingredients, many of which have been sourced from organic farms.
Eco does a great breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays, too, their shakshuka-adjacent ‘wood oven eggs’ blessed with the smoke of the pizza oven, the marinara sauce in which they’re bathing luscious and rich with garlic. It’s a brekkie to dust off even the most violent of Infernos hangovers.
Ideal for a consistently excellent burger that sings of the flavours of proper beef…
Speaking of burgers, too, you really can’t go wrong with Honest, whose patties still taste deliciously beefy after all these years and all that expansion. Just off Clapham High Street on Venn Street (home to a great market every Saturday, by the way), and with plenty of stool seating, the Clapham branch of Honest Burgers is an agreeable place to settle into. The fact that it’s open from 11am to 11pm daily does not harm, receiving early morning gymgoers fresh from a sesh and mopping up the chillers and boozers at the restaurant’s disparate bookends.
There’s not much more to say about the burgers here, which we believe to be some of the finest in London, except that the Clapham outpost has its own dedicated burger, as is the Honest way across their various sites. This one boasts smoked bacon, Kappacasein Raclette cheese, truffle mayo, shoestring fries, rocket and pickles, and is even more of a mouthful than its ingredients list. Don’t be shy about requesting a knife, a fork and a stack of extra napkins, as the beef juices mix with that particularly runny cheese, oozing out all over the shop.
Ideal for more fresh pasta from an ever growing Italian mini chain…
Lina Stores Clapham, an offshoot of the iconic Italian delicatessen and pasta restaurant that first opened in Soho in 1944, brings a slice of Italian heritage to the Common. Practically touching the grass, you’ll see Lina’s distinctive mint-green and white striped awning from the park, its shelves lined with the finest Italian produce and bustling open kitchen beckoning you in.
You’re here for some of the city’s most talked about fresh pasta, we know that much, and the seasonally changing rundown of around six pasta dishes has enough to please the whole squad. Though it feels almost perverse to be twisting, writhing and slurping at such a celebration of the sea as you peer out across a big ol’ urban park, the spaghetti alle vongole here is superb; briny af, a little spicy and slippery, just as it should be.
Be warned; for £17, it’s not the biggest bowl – probably a third of the size of the kind you eat on your sofa in your comfy clothes with your knees up against your chest, but that only gives you an excuse to order some cannoli to finish. Here, you have a choice of ricotta, pistachio or chocolate. You’ll want all three, and we’ve already set you up with the perfect excuse to do just that.
Idealfor when you need a restaurant to satisfy a disparate set of desires…
images via @minnowclapham
Next, we saunter over to Minnow, just next door to Lina, where modern European cuisine meets the charm of Clapham Old Town to great though occasionally overwhelming effect.
We say ‘overwhelming’ because Minnow takes the meaning of an ‘all day’ restaurant and runs with it, opening from 8am to 11pm daily and with not only a brunch menu but also an ‘afternoon’ menu (alongside the more predictable lunch, dinner, Sunday roasts and the rest).
Perhaps most interestingly, there’s plenty of joy to be found on that afternoon part of the menu, the 3pm to 5:30pm time slot offering an enjoyable slot to get the drinking started a little earlier than might be socially acceptable, and a chance to tuck into a random croque monsieur in a kind of post-lunch stupor/’is this a dessert or an aperitif before dinner vibe?’
Just us? Well, it’s a tradition we’ve come to love on a Saturday, and we’re keeping it.
Come Sunday after 4pm, it’s all about the Minnow roast dinner. Dubbed a ‘Sunday Roast Club’ and ridiculously good value, you can bring your own bottle and enjoy a full on roast with dessert for just £30. Again, £30. Again, that’s ridiculously good value when you can’t find a bottle of wine in a restaurant much below that these days.
During summer, Minnow sprawls out onto the street somewhat, with plenty of terrace seating and enviable views of the Common. It’s a lovely spot to while away a few hours, especially if you’re being served by James, who is one charming fella.
Ideal for silky, hefty ramen that would satiate even the heartiest of appetites…
Tonkotsu Clapham, part of the increasingly cherished chain known for its soul-warming ramen, has only been open for two years, but has already made its mark just a short walk from the green expanse of Clapham Common.
Take a seat in one of the booths close to the entrance, under the intricate photo of a ramen noodle rolling machine, and luxuriate in the hum of conversation and reassuring sound of slurping. Misophoniacs beware; no amount of Prince playing over the speakers can drown it out.
The menu at Tonkotsu Clapham is a testament to the art of ramen, with each bowl boasting its own unique character. The signature Tonkotsu ramen features a broth that is rich and milky, the result of pork bones being simmered for up to 18 hours and releasing their fat and collagen, paired with noodles made fresh in-house daily and boasting the absolute correct amount of chew. The succulent slices of pork belly are buttery as you like – indeed, you’ll want to order some of the house cucumber pickles to cut through the richness, because it is a lot.
So much so, in fact, that should you not be able to finish a regular bowl (small sizes are available, the bowls priced at £15.95 and £11.95, respectively) and decide to take the remainder home, the broth sets in the fridge to a firm jelly. That’s some serious silky collagen, but just think about the good it’s doing your skin!
At the other end of the park towards Clapham South is Moxies Fish Bar, a place who pride themselves on their sustainable fish and chips, and also the place where we finish our exploration of where to eat near Clapham Common.
The adjacent fishmongers – Moxon’s Fresh Fish – incidentally supplies some of the best restaurants in the area, including the aforementioned Trinity, and this is testament to the quality of the fish used in the chippy. Alongside the usual choice of battered haddock, cod, hake or plaice, there’s also a selection of grilled fillets and charcoal grilled whole fish, served simply with a half of caramelised lemon. The mackerel given this treatment is particularly good, its oily nature catching over the charcoal until bubbling and blistered all over. Bliss.
Though Moxies does have some simple wooden benches inside, this one is crying out to be taken away and enjoyed in Clapham Common.
And if you’re still hungry after that, then just down the road you might want to check out the best restaurants in Balham, too.
Clapham Common’s restaurants are a microcosm of London’s diverse dining scene, offering everything from Michelin-starred tasting menus to take away Trini doubles, each one perfectly suited to whichever way the mood has taken you. Now, the mood has taken us for a lie down in the park. Wake us up in a couple of hours, if you don’t mind?
Remember the last time you lost track of time doing something you loved? Not scrolling mindlessly, but truly absorbed in creating or learning something new. That state of complete engagement—where your hands are busy and your mind is focused—has become surprisingly rare in our lives. Here are 8 hobbies that can help you rediscover that sense of flow, each one offering a perfect balance of mental and physical engagement.
Bread Making
Forget those precise measurements and rigid rules you’ve read about. Real bread making is about getting a feel for it. You’ll know you’re onto something when you start recognising how the dough should feel under your hands, when it needs a bit more flour, or when it’s ready to prove. That first warm, crusty loaf you pull from the oven? Pure magic. And yes, your kitchen will be a mess – embrace it (and clean it later).
The beauty of bread making lies in its endless variations. Once you’ve mastered the science of a basic loaf, you can experiment with different flours, add seeds or nuts, try your hand at sourdough, or venture into enriched doughs like brioche. There’s also something wonderfully communal about bread making – people have been baking bread for thousands of years, and sharing a freshly baked loaf with friends or family connects you to that ancient tradition.
Getting Started with Bread Making:
Begin with a simple white loaf recipe – no fancy equipment needed
Invest in good quality bread flour and fresh yeast
Join online communities for tips and troubleshooting
Consider taking a day course at a local bakery
Estimated starter cost: £10-15 for basic ingredients
Knife Making
Few sounds are as primal as hammer striking anvil. There’s something deeply satisfying about taking a cold bar of steel, heating it until it glows orange, and shaping it into a blade with nothing but fire, hammer, and patience. According to Soulful Iron, who run a knife making course in the Cotswolds, if you can swing a hammer, you can forge a blade. No superhuman strength required, no mystical metalworking knowledge – just learning how steel behaves when it’s hot and having someone guide you through the techniques.
What makes knife making particularly compelling is its rhythm. The repetitive cycle of heating, hammering, and checking your work creates an almost meditative state. You’re forced to work at the metal’s pace, not your own. Rush it and you’ll end up with cracks or uneven edges. The forge demands your full attention – there’s no room for distracted thinking when you’re working with glowing steel.
And unlike many hobbies, there’s something wonderfully practical about the results. That chef’s knife you forged? You’ll use it every day. Each piece carries the marks of your hammer strikes, evidence of the hours spent learning to read the colour of heated metal and feel when it’s ready to be worked. It’s an ancient craft that produces something genuinely useful – and once you’ve made your first blade, you’ll never look at a kitchen knife the same way again.
Getting Started with Knife Making:
Book a day course at a local forge (no experience needed)
Start with a Viking-style blade – simpler geometry, very forgiving
Watch YouTube channels dedicated to beginner bladesmithing
Join online knife making communities for tips and inspiration
Estimated starter cost: £150-225 for a day course
Lino Printing
There’s something magical about lino printing. You start with a humble piece of linoleum and a few carving tools, and before you know it, hours have slipped by as you carefully carve away at your design. The first time you roll ink over your finished block and press it onto paper feels like unwrapping a present – you never quite know how it’ll turn out, but that’s half the fun. Start small with a simple bookmark or dive right in with a bold wall print. Either way, you’ll be hooked.
Low-tech and hands-on, what makes lino printing particularly satisfying is its forgiving nature – mistakes often add character to your prints, creating unique textures and happy accidents. Plus, once you’ve carved your block, you can print dozens of versions in different colours and on various materials, from paper to fabric. There’s something deeply satisfying about creating multiple prints and seeing how each one turns out slightly different from the last.
Getting Started with Lino Printing:
Buy a beginner’s lino printing kit from your local art shop or online (look for something with a small piece of soft-cut lino, basic tools, and ink)
Start with simple designs – geometric patterns or silhouettes work brilliantly
Watch some YouTube tutorials on safe carving techniques (your thumbs will thank you)
Join a local printmaking workshop to learn the basics in person
Estimated starter cost: £20-30 for basic materials
Traditional Bookbinding
Imagine creating a journal that’s completely yours, from the first stitch to the final cover. Bookbinding might sound intimidating, but it starts with simple things you already have: paper, thread, and patience. There’s something deeply satisfying about folding crisp pages into neat sections and watching them come together, one careful stitch at a time. Warning: you might never want to buy a mass-produced notebook again.
The real joy of bookbinding comes from its versatility – you can create anything from simple pamphlet-stitched notebooks to complex hardbound volumes. Each book becomes a personal project, where you choose everything from the paper weight to the cover material. It’s also a fantastic way to give new life to old books by rebinding them, or to create custom photo albums and sketchbooks that perfectly suit your needs.
Getting Started with Bookbinding:
Start with a simple pamphlet stitch notebook
Look for online tutorials focusing on basic techniques
Gather basic tools: bone folder, awl, needle, and thread
Join a bookbinding workshop to learn proper techniques
Estimated starter cost: £30-40 for basic tools and materials
Chess
Before you scroll past thinking “too difficult” – hear me out. Chess isn’t about memorising moves or being a genius. It’s about getting lost in possibilities, like a good puzzle. Whether you’re playing with a friend in a noisy café or contemplating your next move in peaceful solitude, time seems to melt away. Plus, every game tells a different story – no two are ever quite the same.
What makes chess particularly engaging is how it rewards both intuition and analysis. As you play more, you’ll develop a sense for good moves, but there’s always more to learn. The game has a beautiful balance of tactical shots (immediate opportunities) and strategic planning (long-term advantages). It’s like learning a new language – at first, you’ll just know the basic moves, but gradually you’ll start to see patterns and possibilities everywhere.
Getting Started with Chess:
Download a chess app (lichess.org is free and excellent)
Watch beginner-friendly YouTube channels
Join a local chess club or find a mentor
Start with puzzle solving to build pattern recognition
Estimated starter cost: Free (online) or £15-20 for a basic set
Bonsai Cultivation
If you’ve ever killed a houseplant, don’t let that put you off. Bonsai isn’t just about keeping tiny trees alive – it’s about slowing down enough to notice how they grow and change. Each small adjustment you make shapes its future growth. It’s like having a tiny, living sculpture that teaches you patience whether you like it or not. Trust me, you’ll never look at trees the same way again.
The real magic of bonsai lies in its seasonal changes. Each time of year brings different tasks and challenges – spring growth, summer maintenance, autumn colour, and winter protection. It’s a hobby that connects you deeply with natural cycles and teaches you to think in years rather than days. Plus, there’s something incredibly peaceful about spending time with your trees, examining new growth, and making tiny adjustments that will influence their development for years to come.
Getting Started with Bonsai:
Begin with a hardy species like Chinese Elm or Jade Plant
Get basic tools: pruning shears, wire, and good soil
Join a local bonsai society for guidance
Read up on basic care for your chosen species
Estimated starter cost: £40-50 for a starter tree and basic tools
Pottery
Getting your hands dirty with clay is probably the closest adults can get to guilt-free playtime. Yes, there’s skill involved, but there’s also something wonderfully primal about shaping earth into something useful or beautiful. The wheel takes practice, but hand-building is surprisingly forgiving. And unlike many hobbies, pottery gives you something useful at the end – even if your first mugs look a bit wonky.
There’s something meditative about the whole process – from wedging the clay to prepare it, through to glazing your finished pieces. Each stage requires presence and attention, but in a way that feels natural rather than forced. The best part? Pottery has a way of teaching you to embrace imperfection. Those slight irregularities in handmade pieces aren’t flaws – they’re what make each piece unique and give it character.
Getting Started with Pottery:
Take a beginner’s class at a local studio
Start with hand-building techniques before trying the wheel
Join a community studio for access to tools and kilns
Watch YouTube tutorials for basic techniques
Estimated starter cost: £50-100 for classes and basic tools
Traditional Watercolour Painting
Forget about creating masterpieces. Watercolour is all about letting go of control – sometimes the most beautiful effects happen when paint and water do their own thing. It’s like conducting a tiny chemistry experiment on paper. The forced patience (waiting for layers to dry) might frustrate you at first, but soon becomes a welcome brake on our usual rush to get things done.
The real joy of watercolour comes from its unpredictability. Even experienced artists can’t completely control how pigments will blend and flow, which means every painting has an element of surprise. It’s also incredibly portable – a small paintbox, brush, and sketchbook are all you need to capture the world around you. Plus, there’s something deeply satisfying about building up layers of transparent colour to create luminous effects that no other medium can achieve.
Getting Started with Watercolour:
Invest in student-grade paints and proper watercolour paper
Start with simple exercises exploring colour mixing
Take a local class or follow online tutorials
Join urban sketching groups for practice and community
Estimated starter cost: £30-40 for basic materials
Why These Hobbies Matter
These aren’t just ways to fill time – they’re invitations to step out of the hamster wheel for a bit. None of them can be rushed. None of them can be perfected through YouTube tutorials alone. They all require showing up, making mistakes, and learning through doing.
The best bit? They all offer what psychologists call ‘flow states’ – those precious moments when you’re so absorbed in what you’re doing that you forget to check your phone. And in today’s world, that’s worth its weight in gold.
Pick one that calls to you. Start small. Make mistakes. Create something imperfect. And most importantly, enjoy the process. After all, that’s what slow living is really about.
Altitude has always mattered in skiing, but it has never mattered quite as much as it does now. A recent Guardian investigation found that 186 French ski resorts have permanently closed since the 1970s as rising temperatures push the reliable snowline ever higher up the mountains. For anyone planning a 2026 high season trip, this is no longer abstract climate science but a practical consideration when choosing where to book.
The good news is that France still has an abundance of resorts built to withstand uncertain winters. The best of them sit predominantly above 1,800m, with north-facing terrain, modern lift infrastructure and serious investment in snow management. These are the destinations that will still be delivering consistent powder days in a decade, two decades, and beyond. Here are five that stand out.
Méribel
Méribel occupies the central valley of Les 3 Vallées, and that geographical quirk shapes everything about the resort. From here, you can ski directly to Courchevel, Val Thorens, Les Menuires or any of the seven linked resorts without ever doubling back on yourself. That adds up to 600km of pistes accessible with a single lift pass, 85% of which sits above 1,800m. In practical terms, this translates to consistently good snow from early December through to late April.
The resort itself spreads across several altitudes, which means you can choose your atmosphere. Les Allues at 1,100m has the traditional Savoyard charm of old barns and communal bread ovens, a village that feels like it belongs to the mountains rather than having been built for tourists.
Méribel Centre at 1,450m offers the liveliest après-ski and easiest access to the main lifts. Mottaret at 1,750m puts you higher still, with the Mont Vallon gondola rising to nearly 3,000m where north-facing slopes hold powder for days after a storm.
What makes Méribel work so well is the balance it strikes between snow security and genuine village character. The chalet architecture, all wood, stone and slate, was mandated from the resort’s founding in the 1930s and gives the place a coherence that purpose-built resorts struggle to match. The Saulire cable car connects directly to Courchevel, while the 3 Vallées Express takes you across to Val Thorens in under 20 minutes.
More than 160 lifts serve the wider area, so queuing is rarely a problem even during February half-term. The Meribel Official Ski Pass covers both the local Méribel valley and the full 3 Vallées network, with family passes available.
The dining scene here punches well above what you might expect from a ski resort. L’Ekrin holds a Michelin star, while mountain restaurants like La Folie Douce and Le Clos Bernard offer everything from raucous afternoon dancing to quiet lunches with Mont Blanc filling the window.
Val Thorens
If Méribel is about balance, Val Thorens is about one thing above all else: altitude. At 2,300m, it is the highest ski resort in Europe, and the village itself sits higher than many other resorts’ upper slopes. The skiing extends to 3,230m at Cime de Caron, where the panorama takes in over 1,000 Alpine peaks across France, Switzerland and Italy.
The physics are simple and unforgiving in your favour. Air temperature drops roughly 0.65°C for every 100m of altitude gain, which means Val Thorens stays consistently cold when lower resorts are battling slush and ice. The season runs from late November to early May, longer than almost anywhere else in the Alps, and snow quality tends towards cold, dry powder rather than the wetter, heavier stuff you find lower down. Having skied there in late April, I can confirm it feels more like February than spring.
The trade-off is obvious the moment you arrive. This is a purpose-built resort from the early 1970s, and the architecture reflects the era’s enthusiasm for concrete and efficiency over charm. Brutalist apartment blocks cluster around pedestrianised streets, functional rather than beautiful. But if your priority is guaranteed snow and easy ski-in, ski-out access, few places deliver so reliably. The local terrain covers 150km with direct links to the full 3 Vallées network, and the lift system includes funitels, gondolas and high-speed chairs that keep everything moving with impressive efficiency.
The après-ski scene is surprisingly lively for somewhere this high and this purpose-built. La Folie Douce kicks off mid-afternoon with live music and dancing on the terrace, while the village has enough bars and restaurants to keep evenings interesting without requiring you to venture far from your accommodation.
Tignes
Tignes and neighbouring Val d’Isère form L’Espace Killy, an area with perhaps the strongest claim to the best snow record in the Alps. The numbers back it up: 93% of the pistes sit above 2,000m, the resort reaches 3,456m at the Grande Motte glacier, and average annual snowfall hovers around 669cm. These are measurements taken over decades, not marketing approximations, and they explain why serious skiers keep coming back.
The glacier access sets Tignes apart from almost every other resort in Europe. The Perce-Neige funicular burrows through the mountain and delivers you to the Grande Motte in seven minutes, where skiing continues not just through winter but into summer. The Double M piste, a 1,400m vertical descent from glacier to village, ranks among the great continuous runs in the Alps and never seems to get old no matter how many times you ski it.
Tignes comprises several villages at different altitudes, each with its own character. Val Claret and Le Lac, both around 2,100m, offer the most convenient ski-in, ski-out access and the liveliest evenings. Le Lavachet sits slightly lower. Les Brévières, at 1,550m, is the traditional village with more character but less immediate slope access. The resort is largely treeless, which means stunning high-alpine scenery on clear days but limited shelter when weather turns aggressive. If conditions deteriorate badly, the woods above La Daille in Val d’Isère offer the nearest refuge and some surprisingly enjoyable tree skiing.
For experts, the off-piste potential is exceptional, with routes like the Tour de Pramecou starting just below the glacier offering everything from accessible powder fields to serious steep terrain that requires both skill and respect.
Chamonix
Chamonix occupies a different corner of the skiing world entirely. It is not a resort in the modern sense but a proper mountain town, home to the first Winter Olympics in 1924 and still the spiritual centre of alpinism in Europe. The skiing reflects this heritage: challenging, varied and spread across several separate areas rather than one interconnected network.
The headline terrain is Les Grands Montets, reaching 3,275m with steep, north-facing slopes that hold snow exceptionally well into spring. The legendary Vallée Blanche, a 20km off-piste descent from the Aiguille du Midi with over 2,200m of vertical drop, remains one of skiing’s great adventures, though it requires a guide and is emphatically not for intermediates. Even the name commands respect among people who have never skied it.
Snow reliability varies by sector, which requires some planning. Lower slopes at Les Houches can suffer during warm spells, but the altitude and aspect of Les Grands Montets keep conditions dependable well into April. Le Tour, at the valley’s northern end, has a microclimate that makes it the snowiest village in France.
The trade-off is logistics: you will need buses or short drives between areas, and the lack of interconnected lifts means more planning than at purpose-built mega-resorts. But for many skiers, that slight inconvenience is a price worth paying.
What you get in return is authenticity. The town itself buzzes with climbers, guides, ski bums and tourists, its narrow streets lined with gear shops, bakeries and bars that have been serving mountaineers for over a century. The restaurants range from Michelin-starred to fondue-focused, and the views of Mont Blanc, which dominates the valley in a way that never becomes ordinary no matter how long you spend there (or, indeed, how much it shrinks), justify the journey on their own.
La Plagne
La Plagne takes yet another approach to snow security: sheer scale across eleven villages spread between 1,250m and 3,250m, with most of the skiing sitting above 2,000m on north-facing slopes. Combined with neighbouring Les Arcs via the Vanoise Express cable car, the Paradiski area offers 425km of terrain, second only to Les 3 Vallées in terms of interconnected skiing in France.
The glacier above Belle Plagne provides genuine high-altitude options for those seeking guaranteed snow, while the varied terrain below ranges from gentle beginner zones to the steep bumps of La Rochette. The purpose-built villages lack architectural charm (though Belle Plagne is prettier than most of its neighbours), but infrastructure is excellent and lift queues remain manageable even during peak weeks when French and British school holidays collide.
For families, La Plagne ranks among the best resorts in the Alps, and this is not accidental but the result of deliberate design. Wide pistes, numerous skiing beginner areas and ‘Cool Ski’ zones, which integrate small jumps and themed obstacles into gentle slopes, make learning feel like an adventure rather than an ordeal. Each village has its own childminding centre and snow play area. The Olympic bobsleigh track from 1992 offers non-skiers a different kind of thrill entirely, and it is genuinely terrifying in the best possible way.
The spread of villages means you can choose your atmosphere according to what matters to you. Plagne Centre and Belle Plagne offer the best ski-in, ski-out convenience and the most shops and restaurants. Montchavin and Montalbert have more traditional village character at lower prices. Champagny provides a quieter, more upmarket feel for those who prefer their evenings peaceful. Free shuttle buses connect everything.
The Bottom Line
Snow reliability in 2026 comes down to altitude, aspect and infrastructure, and all five of these resorts deliver on each count in their own ways. Méribel’s central position in Les 3 Vallées offers the best combination of snow-sure terrain, varied skiing and genuine resort character, making it particularly suited to groups with mixed abilities and tastes. Val Thorens and Tignes reward their focus on altitude with the longest, most reliable seasons in the Alps.
Chamonix delivers challenging terrain and authentic mountain culture for those willing to work a little harder for their skiing. La Plagne balances family-friendly accessibility with serious vertical for those travelling with children or mixed-ability groups.What all five share is the resilience to deliver consistent conditions regardless of what any given winter brings. In an era of closing resorts and uncertain snowfall, that matters more than it ever has before.
Across London over the previous decade, there was a tendency for the authenticity obsessed, produce-pedants of the Big Smoke to look down their 00 flour-tipped noses at the ‘New York’ style pizza.
Sure, we were content with a 330ml IPA, some deep Derrick May cuts, and a sturdy slice of the good stuff once the clock passed midnight and standards slipped. But if superlatives were getting dished out towards pizzas in London, it was usually in a Neopolitan direction. Whether that was aimed at Pellone, Salvo, Chionchio or Condurro largely depended on which pizzeria was closest, but the praise followed a similar script – of San Marzano tomatoes, 58-65% hydration, and 13.8 inches.
Fortunately, London’s pizza scene feels like it’s loosened up in recent years. The pie purists have begun experimenting and have found that, sometimes, in a city this big, there’s room for a more diverse set of marriages between dough, tomato and cheese.
Though our two favourite neo-Neapolitan and New York by-the-slice joints have now sadly closed, (RIP ASAP Pizza and Paradise Slice), there’s still plenty of joy to be found in London’s crisper, thinner based brethren.
With that in mind, today we’re exploring London’s best New York style pizzas, pie-by-pie and slice-by-slice.
*Yes, we realise some of the below aren’t strictly New York pizzas, and may even bring a touch of the ol’ New Haven across the dough, but these guys are closer to the New York style than the Neapolitan, the two key totems of the genre. And stop trying to make ‘London pizza’ happen guys! It ain’t a thing.*
Alley Cats Pizza, Various Locations
Ideal for a taste of London’s most hype new New York pizza…
If you’re on the hunt for a slice of New York in London, look no further than Alley Cats Pizza. This bustling mini-chain opened its first location in Marylebone in 2023 and has since become one of the city’s go-to spots for authentic New York-style pizza. Alley Cats now has four locations across West London: the original Marylebone outpost, a second on Chelsea’s King’s Road, a third on Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill, and a brand new site on Portobello Road opening in February 2026 featuring a downstairs slice hatch and hidden rooftop terrace.
The mastermind behind the 14 inches here is Francesco Macri, a Sicilian-born pizza specialist whose impressive resume includes stints at Pizza Pilgrims and Santa Maria. At Alley Cats Pizza, you’ll find a menu that boasts plenty of west-leaning pizzas, including the signature vodka pizza, a creamy concoction of buffalo mozzarella and tomato sauce enriched with vodka, inspired by the iconic pasta dish penne alla vodka.
With design details like wipe-clean gingham tablecloths and church-pew style seating, you’ll feel like you’ve stepped into a classic New York pizzeria here. The open kitchen extends into the bar area, allowing diners to witness the magic of pizza-making firsthand. And while traditional New York pizzerias might serve their pizzas by the slice, Alley Cats opts for a whole-pie approach, with prices ranging from £17 to £21. This one, then, is for sharing.
And this fairly recently in; Alley Cats have now opened a second branch on Chelsea’s King’s Road. Perhaps it might be a little easier to actually snag a table now!
When a former Michelin-starred chef decides to sling New York-style pizza from a Southwark railway arch, London pays attention. Tom Kemble (ex-Bonhams and The Pass) opened Spring Street in April 2025 after his lockdown pizza project became an all-consuming obsession, and now he’s serving 18-inch monsters that you can buy by-the-slice like a true East Coaster.
The 72-hour fermented dough using an Italian biga method (the dough is pre-fermented for a good 18 hours before a longer ferment in the fridge for a couple of days) sounds like a lot, but it delivers a base with fantastic structural integrity – crispy underneath yet still foldable enough to do that whole one-handed-fold-while-walking thing.
Pizzas are all served as full sharers, but you can go for a half-and-half option toppings wise, which is a nice touch. True to form, we’re particularly enamoured with the New Yorker, which takes the now totally ubiquitous hot honey and pepperoni combo up several notches with soothing fior di latte, jalapeños and drifts of good quality pecorino. Sure, it’s £34, but the quality of the ingredients and size of the damn thing make it acceptable value.
Tucked into Arch 32 next to Omeara bar, it’s five minutes from both London Bridge and Borough stations, with outdoor seating where you can demolish pizza while trains rumble overhead every few minutes, safe in the knowledge that the structural integrity of these pies won’t be disturbed by your rattling table. They’ve even got gildas to start and Estate Dairy soft serve with olive oil drizzle for afters, again setting out their stall as a pizzeria that takes their ingredients very seriously.
Ideal for a fleeting flavour of New York pizza perfection…
Even more evanescent than a canotto crust pre-exhale, the team at Dough Hands have made a big name for themselves in the London pizza game with periodic pop-ups across the city in recent years, including an inaugural spot at Brixton Market in the pre-COVID blessed times.
Dough Hands has now settled in for a (hopefully) long term residency at the Spurstowe Arms in Hackney. We couldn’t be more excited to be trying chef Hannah Drye’s signature ‘Jode’ again, a spicy little number with nduja, hot honey and buffalo mozzarella. Open 7 beautiful days a week, it’s walk-in only.
Dough Hands also run a second permanent kitchen, this time south of the river in The Old Nun’s Head in Nunhead. The Spurstowe outpost is now billed as ‘East’, Nunhead as ‘South’. Makes sense.
Ideal for affordable, delicious slices of the good stuff…
Another pizza operation with claims at the crown of best NY-style pizza in London, All Kaps Pizza has been through a few iterations over the years – pop-ups, hiatuses, a spell doing preorder-only whole pies from a secret location. But the good news is they’re back slinging slices at Papo’s Bagels’ new home on Amhurst Road, just two minutes from Hackney Downs station.
Available by the slice or as a whole 16 inch take home pizza, All Kaps is an inclusive, democratic affair. Though the Pepp Pie – a rich red sauce, mozzarella, provolone, and properly spicy pepperoni – is a crowd pleaser and surely the best seller (it’s often sold out come late afternoon), we’re even more enamoured with the garlic cream-based slices. A recent green sauce and shiso topped affair was a real ripper. Sundays, 5-8pm.
Ideal for a spicy, satiating slice where Harrow meets Hertfordshire…
Bang on the border with the London borough of Harrow, Vincenzo’s in Bushey, Hertfordshire, does such a good pizza that we’re stretching the very limits of what the “best New York style pizza in London” can be.
Available in 12 inch and 18 inch pies, to eat in or to take out (that is the question), the base here is thin and with just the right level of resilience, the crust gently puffed yet pliable.
We’re here, time and time again, for Vincenzo’s Raging Hog (sounds like a fucking weird innuendo), which is a carefully-composed, assertive though not aggressive balancing act of aged mozzarella, tomato sauce, and heat brought by pepperoni, hot and sweet roquito peppers and chilli honey. It’s that sweetness from the bee piss that tempers the more fiery notes here. Fresh basil, sniped and scattered, rounds it all off. Magic.
And now you no longer need to leave the capital to get your Vincenzo’s fix. Tom Vincent has opened a slice shop on Bethnal Green Road in Shoreditch, bringing his celebrated pies to East London. Unlike Bushey’s whole-pie focus, the Shoreditch outpost cuts slices from 20-inch pies starting at £5, available from 5pm until late. The Victorian shopfront opens onto a characterful interior channelling New York slice bars with an East London edge.
Ideal for trying London’s hottest pizza, New Yorker, Neapolitan or otherwise…
Quite possibly London’s hottest pizza (not temperature wise – that would be Fatisa in Wood Green, of course) right now, the queues outside tell a story. A story of Londoners keen to delve deeper than the Neapolitan culinary diktat, of discerning diners seeking a slice that won’t fold so dramatically that their starched white shirts get splattered in marinara sauce.
Enter the prosaically, aptly named Crisp Pizza, a pub-based operation that has been dubbed London’s best pizza by just about everyone from GQ to the Evening Standard’s Jimi Famurewa.
Boasting a base that simply won’t budge under the weight of its admirably restrained toppings, a good covering of Roni Cup pepperoni and wefts of grated parmesan are all you need to let you know you’re eating a New York adjacent pie. That, and the gravity-defying nature of the slice. Oh, and the literal name of the place – these are certainly crispy boys, and damn delicious, too.
It all began in 2021 when Carl McCluskey took over his nan’s pub, The Chancellors, in Hammersmith and started turning out thin, crispy pies from its tiny kitchen. The rest, as they say, is pizza history: Barstool Pizza’s Dave Portnoy made the pilgrimage, Saturday nights saw 300 pizzas leave the pass, and the virality just grew and grew. And grew. The W6 postcode became a destination in its own right.
Now, McCluskey has relocated to rather grander surroundings in Mayfair, reopening The Marlborough on North Audley Street in November 2025 with heavyweight backing from The Devonshire’s Charlie Carroll, Ashley Palmer-Watts and Oisín Rogers. National reviews have landed thick and fast since opening, and the influencer queue down this stretch of W1 suggests the hype has followed him from Hammersmith.
The setup splits across two floors: upstairs functions as a traditional boozer with standing room and exceptional Guinness pours (courtesy of The Devonshire’s famed installation), while downstairs houses a speakeasy-style 52-cover dining room plus terrace. Expect the same menu that won over west London – the Crisp W6 pie, the fiery nduja, the Vecna with its hot honey drizzle – just with a fancier postcode attached.
Gracey’s Pizza at Arcade Battersea & Arcade Tottenham Court Road
Gracey’s Pizza, the St Albans institution founded by Grace and James Newman, has finally put down permanent roots in the capital with not one but two locations inside Arcade Food Hall.
What started as a December 2024 pop-up at Arcade Battersea proved so popular that Gracey’s never left, eventually cementing their Battersea residency before opening a 40-cover restaurant at Arcade Tottenham Court Road in November 2025. Both sites serve the signatures that earned Gracey’s a spot in The Times’ UK Top 50 Pizzas – the Plain Tom, Smokey Ron, and Sweet Vera – alongside newer additions like the White Mushroom Pie with roasted portobellos and caramelised onions, and the Grandma Square Slice, a crisp-edged nod to Brooklyn’s iconic pan pizza.
This is the culmination of years of graft that began during the COVID years – 12 months of slinging pizzas outdoors in sideways rain and arctic temperatures from a mobile setup, before establishing their acclaimed bricks-and-mortar base in Chiswell Green. The team’s dedication to perfecting their East Coast-inspired style, informed by trips to New York and New Haven plus collaboration with like-minded pizza makers across the UK and US, has clearly paid off.
At Arcade Battersea, you’ll find some of Gracey’s signature offerings including the Plain Tom and Smokey Ron, alongside the Sweet Vera – an exclusive collaboration special topped with house sausage, sweet Italian peppers, and shallots that’s only available at this location. The New Haven influences shine through in their approach to crust and char, while the New York DNA is evident in the structural integrity and generous proportions.
What makes this particularly exciting is that it marks Gracey’s first return to London’s Zone 1 in years, bringing their much-lauded pizza expertise to one of the city’s buzziest food destinations. The fact that the original pop-up proved so popular it’s been extended into 2026 speaks volumes about the quality on offer.
Pair your pizza with selections from the Arcade bar – beers, wines, and cocktails all complement these East Coast-inspired beauties perfectly.
Such is the scarcity of London’s New York-style scene that Dalston’s Voodoo Ray’s feels like a proper veteran of the landscape. Now entering their second decade of slice slinging, the self-proclaimed OGs of NYC pizzas must be doing something right; they now have a second branch in Peckham and another in Manchester.
Here, the main draw is their obscenely sized single slices, with two the equivalent of a whole 11 inch pizza. Though they do sell whole 22 inch pies for taking away and sharing, you’ll more likely find us leant against a weeping wall in the corridor-like space of the Dalston branch in the early hours (open ‘till 2am on the weekends, these guys), clutching a slice of their gorgeous Queen Vegan – no fake cheese here, just heaps of vegetables – and pontificating about life’s larger questions. Like, ‘’shall we order another slice?’’.
A synthesis style of New York and ‘London’ Neapolitan pizzas, Yard Sale is one of the city’s most ubiquitous pizza brands. But their omnipresence hasn’t dampened the quality of their pizzas, with the restaurant group winning a slew of awards recently, including being voted Best Value Eats in the Observer Food Monthly awards in 2022 and London’s favourite pizza in Time Out’s inaugural Clash of the Slices in 2022.
Whilst not perhaps quite as thin and flexible as you came seeking in this article, and cooked in a brick static oven rather than a deck, the by-the-slice nature of Yard Sale definitely renders them worthy of a mention. That, and they’re damn delicious.
Bad Boys Pizza Society at Seven Dials Market, Covent Garden & Bethnal Green
Ideal for carefully composed, beautifully balanced pizzas…
Though you’ll find the good guys from Bad Boys Pizza Society at London Bridge’s Vinegar Yard, as well as in Tulse Hill, it’s at Covent Garden’s Seven Dials Market that the pizza group has turned their attention to New York style slices.
It’s a tight menu of just four pies here, the generosity reserved instead for the 22 inch pies, which boast a raft of finely balanced toppings. Ours is the rather unappealing sounding Crusty Old Goat, a goat’s cheese and caramelised onion number that’s brought to life with a sticky balsamic glaze and plenty of freshly cracked black pepper. Yours for £5.50, or grab three slices for £13.
For those living south of the river, these boys have recently popped up at The Railway in Tulse Hill, and will be slinging for the foreseeable. Rejoice!
And the biggest news for Bad Boy devotees: the team has finally opened a permanent flagship pizzeria on Bethnal Green Road. After two National Pizza of the Year wins (2022 and 2024), Bad Boy Pizzeria launched in August 2025 as a slice shop by day and casual sit-down restaurant by night. Expect the same 22-inch New York-style pies that built their reputation, alongside Italian-American additions like Chicken Vodka Parms and deep-fried Carbonara Suppli.
In the corner of Netil Market, there’s a little black shed with a big sign that reads ‘PIZZA BY THE SLICE’. All caps, because that hatch is home to World Famous Gordos, and this casual grab-and-go spot lives for the slice.
From Tuesdays to Sundays, Gordos are slinging single slices of real poise and precision, with a few inventive twists on traditional toppings keeping things interesting. The pepperoni slice is exactly the kind of no-fuss, smoky carbohydrate that’ll keep you vertical after dragging yourself around Broadway Market for several hours – little pepperoni cups and scamorza cheese delivering a smoky one-two punch.
We’re also partial to whatever the weekly special collaboration happens to be; a recent buffalo chicken and mozzarella number, with both buffalo and blue cheese sauce spaffed across its surface, was ace. Even better on the same visit, a tribute to Coney Island hot dog culture saw a slice of the standard mozzarella and fior di latte base given lift off with chopped hot dogs, chilli beef, chopped raw white onions and a zigzag of mustard.
Sure, there’s a lot of ‘spesh’ and ‘boi’ in the Insta vernacular, and Eating with Tod might praise these pies for being ‘dirty’, but they’re genuinely gold-standard in their delivery, with the more experimental, nostalgic American toppings a welcome change from a pie culture that’s become homogenised and samey surprisingly fast in the city.
There’s nothing quite like the existential dread of a winter alarm. It’s pitch black, your bed is the warmest place in the known universe, and every cell in your body is screaming at you to stay horizontal. You’re not lazy. You’re not weak-willed. You’re simply a human whose biology evolved over millennia to wake with the sun, now being forced to rise in conditions that would have your ancestors convinced the world was ending.
In the depths of a British winter, the sun doesn’t breach the horizon until nearly 8am. If you need to be at your desk by 9, you’re essentially asking your body to spring into action during what it perceives as the middle of the night. The good news? With a few strategic interventions, dark mornings needn’t feel quite so apocalyptic.
Why Dark Mornings Feel So Grim
To understand why waking in darkness feels so profoundly wrong, we need to talk about your circadian rhythm. This internal body clock runs on a roughly 24-hour cycle, governed largely by light and darkness. When light hits your eyes in the morning, it signals to your brain to suppress melatonin (the sleep hormone) and ramp up cortisol (the alertness hormone). Without that light signal, your brain remains convinced it’s still time for sleep.
Then there’s sleep inertia: that groggy, disoriented feeling you experience immediately after waking. According to the Sleep Foundation, this transitional state typically lasts 15 to 60 minutes, though it can persist for up to a few hours. During this window, your reaction time, memory, and cognitive function are all impaired. In winter, when you’re waking without the natural cue of daylight, sleep inertia can feel particularly brutal.
The Case For A Sunrise Alarm
If you’re serious about making dark mornings more bearable, a sunrise alarm clock (also called a wake-up light or dawn simulator) is worth considering. These devices work by gradually increasing light intensity over 20 to 30 minutes before your set alarm time, simulating a natural dawn.
The science is promising. Research published in the Journal of Sleep Research found that snoozing with gradual light exposure helped prevent awakenings from the deepest stages of sleep, potentially easing the transition to wakefulness. Studies at the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki also found that simulated dawn improved subjective sleep quality, particularly during the darker winter months at northern latitudes.
The key is that light begins penetrating your eyelids before you’re fully conscious, triggering your body’s natural wake-up processes so that by the time you need to be vertical, you’re already partway there. For anyone who’s ever been jolted awake by a screaming alarm in total darkness, the difference can be significant.
Make Leaving The Bed Less Painful
One reason dark mornings feel so impossible is the sheer comfort disparity between your bed and the cold world beyond it. When your duvet is a cocoon of warmth and the air outside feels Arctic, the rational choice seems obvious: stay put.
British bedding brand Lost Loom recommends investing in temperature-regulating bedding that keeps you comfortable without overheating. The logic is simple: if you’re not excessively warm under the covers, the contrast when you emerge is less jarring. Breathable, natural fibres like linen or quality cotton help regulate your body temperature throughout the night, meaning you wake feeling refreshed rather than clammy and reluctant to face the chill. It’s a small adjustment, but when you’re battling the 6:45am darkness, every marginal gain counts.
Let There Be (Actual) Light
A sunrise alarm is helpful, but nothing beats the real thing. Sleep experts recommend getting outside within the first 30 to 60 minutes of waking. Morning light exposure doesn’t just suppress melatonin; it helps anchor your entire circadian rhythm, making you feel more alert during the day and sleepier at the appropriate hour come evening.
In winter, this might mean a brisk walk around the block, having your morning coffee by a window, or simply standing outside for a few minutes before you leave for work. Even on overcast days, outdoor light is significantly brighter than indoor lighting. If getting outside simply isn’t feasible, consider positioning yourself near the brightest window in your home, or investing in a light therapy lamp, which can deliver the high-intensity light your body craves.
Rethink The Snooze Button
The snooze button feels like a kindness, but the science is conflicted. While recent research suggests brief snoozing may not be as harmful as previously thought, repeatedly drifting in and out of sleep can fragment what’s known as REM sleep, leaving you groggier than if you’d simply got up with the first alarm.
If you’re a habitual snoozer, try moving your phone or alarm clock to the other side of the room. The act of physically getting out of bed to silence it can be enough to break the spell. Alternatively, if you know you need buffer time, set your alarm for when you actually intend to rise, rather than building in snooze sessions that only fragment your rest.
Create A Morning Ritual Worth Waking For
Part of what makes dark mornings so punishing is the absence of anything to look forward to. If your first conscious thought is about spreadsheets or the commute, of course you’re going to want to retreat under the duvet.
Instead, try front-loading your morning with something genuinely pleasant. This might be a glass of water before your coffee, ten minutes of stretching, a podcast you save specifically for the early hours, or breakfast that feels like a treat rather than a chore. The goal is to create a small pocket of enjoyment before the demands of the day take over.
Watch Your Evening Habits
How you sleep directly impacts how you wake. In the hours before bed, avoid bright screens where possible, or at least enable night mode settings to reduce blue light exposure. Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet, and try to maintain consistent sleep and wake times even on weekends. The more regular your rhythm, the easier waking becomes, even when the world outside is still shrouded in darkness.
Caffeine timing matters too. While a morning cup of coffee can help shake off grogginess, consuming caffeine too early can interfere with your body’s natural cortisol production. Many experts suggest waiting at least an hour after waking before reaching for your first cup. In the evening, meanwhile, cut off caffeine by early afternoon to avoid it interfering with your ability to fall asleep.
Don’t Neglect Vitamin D
From October through to early March, the UK’s sunlight isn’t strong enough for your skin to produce vitamin D. Given that this nutrient plays a role in energy levels, mood, and overall wellbeing, deficiency can compound the fatigue you already feel during darker months. Symptoms of low vitamin D include persistent tiredness, muscle weakness, and low mood, all of which make early mornings harder still.
The NHS recommends considering a daily 10 microgram supplement of vitamin D during autumn and winter. If you’re experiencing significant fatigue despite adequate sleep, it may be worth speaking to your GP about getting your levels checked.
The Bottom Line
Waking up in the dark will never feel entirely natural, because for your biology, it isn’t. But with the right strategies, light exposure, consistent sleep habits, a sunrise alarm, and perhaps a vitamin D supplement, you can blunt the worst of it. Think of these interventions not as hacks, but as negotiations with your circadian rhythm. Give your body the cues it needs, and it will meet you halfway. The mornings will still be dark, but they needn’t be dreadful.
Mykonos, Aegean Sea one of the Aegean sea’s most sparkling jewels, has long attracted the great and the good with its blend of history, culture, and vibrant nightlife. Whether you’re a sun-seeker, a history buff, or a party enthusiast, our curated list of 9 must-see experiences will take you all across Mykonos, ideal not only for ticking off items from your bucketlist but also for, you know, actually enjoying your time on the island, too.
Visit The Windmills
One of the very first views that you’ll clock when coming into Mykonos port is a row of seven white windmills, built by the Venetians around the 16th century.
These windmills have become the island’s signature feature and something of an emblem of the place. As such, they represent an absolute must see if you find yourself in Mykonos. Not only is it a pleasant fifteen minute stroll from Mykonos Old Town to the windmills, but along the way you’ll pass several places to enjoy a snack and a souvenir, should you wish to take your time.
The only windmill open for the public is Mylos tou Bonni, a part of the Agricultural Museum of Mykonos where visitors can see all the machinery and tools that were used in milling in days of old. That said, the remaining six can be admired from the outside, and rest assured; they are a fantastic sight to behold (the vantage point on which they sit isn’t bad either!).
Take A Boat Trip To Delos
If you fancy a bit of a history and mythology on your trip and don’t mind spending some time on a boat, then visiting Delos might just be what you’re after. This island is located just 20 minutes away by taxi-boat from Mykonos Town and happens to be home to some of the most incredible excavations in Europe. Accordingly, in 1990, Delos was declared a World Heritage Site, with UNESCO praising the site for being ‘’exceptionally extensive and rich’’ and conveying ‘’the image of a great cosmopolitan Mediterranean port’’.
Delos may be of particular interest to those who are well versed in Greek Mythology; it is the birthplace of the Greek Gods Apollo and Artemis, who were twins. This island has been considered a holy sanctuary for thousands of years and is well worth the visit.
It’s fun just to lose yourself in Mykonos Old Town’s (locally known as Chóra) labyrinth of white-washed lanes, where every turn is a picture perfect Instagram shot, and discover your own favourite places as you go. But if you’re looking for “the main drag”, it has to be Matoyianni Street.
Matoyianni runs from the north to the south of Mykonos Old Town and is full of little alleyways and side streets exploding with culture and the most beautiful little stores. Here you can find your pick of boutiques, souvenir stores, jewellery shops, and cafes and tavernas if you get hungry.
In the high season, which tends to run from late May to early September, it gets chockablock in the Old Town, with the tight, pedestrianised lanes easily becoming congested with tourists. Matoyianni Street is no exception, so it’s best to visit outside of its busiest hours, which are between 10am and 5pm.
Spend The Evening At Alefkandra
Also known as Little Venice, Alefkandra wraps around Mykonos’ old harbour and is arguably the most charming area of the entire island.
Travel Awaits reports that this little corner of Greece was actually inspired by Venice itself; Mykonos was once an important part of the Venetian’s trade routes and wealthy Venetain merchants built Venice-inspired buildings right on the Aegeans sea’s edge with “sweeping arches and colourful facades’’ to pay tribute to the Italian city.
Today, Little Venice remains one of the most striking spots on the island. Moreover, it’s one of the best places to pull up a chair at one of the many bars on the waterfront, enjoy a drink and appreciate the sunset.
The best place to do so with views of the bay and sunset is undoubtedly Kastro’s, which has a spectacular location right next to the water. If you can get a table in their narrow, alley-like dining space, do so. It’s just magic and one of Mykonos’ most iconic spots. Here, you can enjoy a few appetizers with your ouzo, including classics like taramasalata, calamari, Mykonian cheese rolls and steamed mussels, or you can have a more fully-fledged sit down meal.
Take Photos At The Church Of Panagia Paraportiani
Take a little trip north of Alefkandra, and located in the Kastro neighbourhood, you’ll find one of the most beautiful churches, Panagia Paraportiani. This church, which is made up of five separate buildings, was built between the 15th and 17th century. It is said that the highest of all the buildings was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, also known as Panagia.
Its striking all white facade set against the azure sea behind make it one of the world’s most Instagrammed travel sites. Care to add to the collection?
Relax At The Beach
You’re on holiday in Greece! It would be rude not to relax on at least one beach. Being an island, Mykonos has so many beaches to choose from, but the beauty of the island’s bounty is that they boast such diversity of appeal.
Many are aimed at partygoers, like Paraga Beach, which is home to two of the best beach clubs on the island; Scoropous and SantAnna. There are direct buses that go to both from Mykonos town, making a night on the tiles here simple and safe.
Psarou beach is another party beach where you’ll find rows upon rows of sun loungers populated by beautiful people sipping cocktails. We’re also big fans of Platis Gialos and its excellent clutch of restaurants.
That said, the Mykonos beach scene isn’t all throbbing beats and thrusting. If you’re looking to get away from the chaos, then head to the south of the island to find a few more secluded spots, some of which are connected to the most exclusive of holiday villas to rent. It’s worth making the trip to Fokos beach, specifically to eat at the taverna there which offers up some of the best Greek food on the island, particularly its grilled fish.
Be warned that, other than the taverna, there aren’t any other facilities here, so be sure to bring supplies with you – just on the off chance that it’s closed when you visit.
Party Until Dawn
Mykonos is fast building itself a reputation as the ‘Ibiza of Greece’ and if you have the stamina to stay out until dawn, you won’t be disappointed here. Paradise Beach is the main party beach and after sunset, the place goes wild! Open air Cavo Paradiso is regularly ranked in the top ten nightclubs in the world and its legendary status is well deserved.
Alternatively, in the Old Town, Skandinavian Bar and Club adopts a more sophisticated stance, but still gets pretty lively later on in the evening. For something more laid back, we’re fans of 180 Sunset Bar which offers a chilled vibe and gorgeous views.
For a different perspective on Mykonos, away from the crowds and clamour of Chora, make the trip to Armenistis Lighthouse on the island’s northwestern tip. Built in 1891, this 19-metre tall beacon still guides ships through the treacherous strait between Mykonos and Tinos, and the surrounding landscape feels a world away from the manicured beach clubs and boutique-lined lanes elsewhere on the island.
The drive takes around 20 minutes from Mykonos Town, though the final stretch along an unpaved road requires a bit of care. Once there, you’re rewarded with panoramic views across the Aegean, with Tinos visible on clear days and nothing but wind-whipped scrubland and crashing waves for company. It’s a particularly spectacular spot at sunset, offering a quieter alternative to the packed waterfront bars of Little Venice.
There’s no entry fee and no facilities to speak of, so bring water and sturdy shoes if you plan to explore the rocky coastline. The lighthouse itself isn’t open to visitors, but the setting more than compensates.
See What The Rarity Gallery Has To Offer
In recent years, Mykonos has become well known for its fine art scene and this is mainly down to the Rarity Gallery. This small gallery is a place where budding local artists would come to present their sculptures, paintings and photography. Now, you will find some internationally renowned names in the artworld here.
In Mykonos Town you’ll find a superb selection of museums and galleries, too. The Aegean Maritime Museum, the Archaeological Museum of Mykonos and the Folklore Museum will all give you an idea of how island life was in the past. Fascinating stuff.
The Bottom Line
As Lawrence Durrell once wrote, ”However many tourists come with their chatter and their litter, little Mykonos will not let the stranger down.”
Indeed, even in the tourist chaos of the island in peak season, when the cobblestoned streets of Chora, the main town, are six-deep with daytrippers, Mykonos still has enough variety on offer to charm even the weariest of traveller, whether it’s the height of summer or the relative calm to the winter season. We’ll see you by the windmill?
The town’s cherished park is one sprawling space to stand a little while within – it’s good to feel humbled from time to time – and a sighting of its most famous residents, those proud, marauding deers, is the kind of thing tha’ll have you briefly forgetting the state of your Slack Channel ‘till Monday.
Look up, and you might see parakeets flying above, whistling Hey Joe as they glide to nearby Kew Gardens. You could stroll there from Richmond Park, too, cutting through The Quadrant and checking out Richmond’s boutique shops and laid back pubs as you do so.
At Kew Gardens, find solace in the world-renowned botanical collections, whether you’re sweating it out in Temperate House, the largest Victorian glasshouse in the world, sniffing blossoms in the Japanese Garden, or sashaying through the canopy of ancient trees that makes up the Treetop Walkway.
It’s suddenly struck us that, for a day that’s meant to be all about R’n’R (Richmond and Royal Botanic Gardens, of course), we’ve done a hell of a lot of walking here, and have built up something of an appetite in the process. Fortunately, Richmond is – unsurprisingly for a place of famed affluence and retreat – blessed with some excellent restaurants to satisfy that hunger of yours.
With that in mind, here’s our rundown of the best restaurants in Richmond, London.
The Dysart Petersham
Ideal for precise, hyper-seasonal fine dining…
We’ve come out swinging in our rundown of where to eat in Richmond, at a Michelin-starred joint, no less; The Dysart in Petersham.
Sitting pretty (real damn pretty) at the gates of Richmond Park in a beautifully restored, century-old Arts and Craft building, look for the distinctive half-timbering on this former pub’s facade as you approach. It’s a sight that promises a meal of keen seasonality and precise cooking the closer you get.
This family-owned restaurant embraces its rich heritage through the meticulous restoration of oak furnishings and a commitment to aesthetic simplicity, both in the dining room and on the plate. Under the stewardship of head chef and former Roux scholar Kenneth Culhane, The Dysart offers a highly seasonal menu characterised by a natural ethos and the use of impeccably sourced ingredients.
Though rooted in classical French cooking, there’s a few Far Eastern flourishes here that keep things feeling fresh, whether that’s in the ginger and makrut lime leaf-infused champagne sauce that accompanies an expertly cooked, comprehensively charred fillet of sea bream, or the Vietnamese dressing (essentially a nuoc cham) that lifted a tartare of scallop and razor clam to new heights.
That said, and perhaps not the most natural progression from a couple of dishes of citrus-spiked seafood, the best dish we had on a recent visit was also the most classical; a remarkably good oxtail risotto that used seven-year aged Acquerello carnaroli rice.
This is a dish that has clearly benefited from the kiss of ol’ father time (hmm, that sounds creepy) – our server told us the oxtail had been marinating in red wine for 3 (!) weeks (!), before being gently roasted for another 12 hours, its marrow giving back to the braising liquor, which is then used to bind the shredded oxtail. What a dish this was, and only given more punch by a little pickled chilli.
These are the kind of flourishes that make The Dysart not only one of Richmond’s best restaurants, but also one of London’s finest. With a wine list that has won AA’s ‘Notable Wine List Award’ several times, and a managing director Barny Taylor who reliably works the floor with an attentive touch, this is such a welcoming place to settle into.
The restaurant occupies the old Restaurant 109 site on Kew Road, five minutes from Richmond station. McClements, who previously ran the Ma Cuisine group across South West London, has built Mignonette around a simple premise: excellent French cooking shouldn’t cost the earth. He’s proved the point with keenly priced, handsomely plated weekday lunches at two courses for £23 or three for £25, while Sunday lunch stretches to £29 and £32 respectively – still exceptional value for cooking of this calibre.
The menus here focus on cheaper cuts done with respect and a fair amount of intuitive cooking, just as it should be. McClements’ take on Pierre Koffmann’s legendary stuffed pig’s trotter – slow-braised and caramelised, served with Ibérico ham and sauce gribiche – costs just £12, the same laughably low price as the ox cheek bordelaise and the matured entrecôte steak tartare with duck fat brioche.
McClements has a judicious hand with shellfish, too. A recent highlight was a deeply caramelised Orkney scallop with truffle and sake beurre blanc. It was, remarkably, just £12.95. It seems a little formulaic to keep mentioning the price, but it’s just such good value, especially for this city, in this part of town.
Orkney scallop with truffle
You can drink well without thinking about the price, too. The wine list is resolutely French, as you’d hope, and starts with Crémant de Bourgogne at £8.50 a glass. It features natural wines alongside more traditional bottles for those who like a bit of funk. Cocktails are all £11. It’s quite easy to get quite pissed in here, admittedly.
The dining room is small and tables sit close together, so noise builds quickly once the restaurant fills up, but that’s all part of the charm. There’s no background music, which means conversations compete with each other when all 30 seats are occupied. If you’re after something more private, the downstairs room seats up to 35 for group bookings.
Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday to Saturday, lunch only on Sunday. Closed Mondays.
…but we’re glad we did eventually leave, as Richmond has much more to offer restaurant-wise than just the excellent Dysart.
Located a pani puri’s throw (or, you know, a two minute walk – you don’t have to waste good food) from Richmond station and Richmond Theatre, Cinnamon Bazaar is a transportative kind of place, its vibrant (AI has pretty much ruined that word for us, but it’s essential here) palette of pinks and greens calling to mind the multisensory overload of India’s bazaars to joyous effect. You’ll too be asking where they bought their cushions from by the end of the meal, we have no doubt…
The follow-up to acclaimed chef Vivek Singh’s Covent Garden restaurant, which has been Michelin-recognised for eight years now, the second coming of Cinnamon Bazaar is every bit as good as the first, its peaceful Richmond location feeling really well judged when we visited on a Sunday evening, batteries low and in need of a lift.
Boy, did it provide one, with an opener of India’s most loved street food, chaat, doing exactly what they’re ‘sposed to; hit every taste receptor on the tongue and induce those wide, knowing eyes across a dinner table. The pani puri, in particular, is a gold-standard version, its gossamer-thin shell giving way to a comforting tangle of spiced chickpea and potato, and rich, tart tamarind. It’s rapturous, and were it not for the lovely dkhola chat also on our table, almost impossible not to order a second round.
The menu at Cinnamon Bazaar, crafted by Singh and his head chef Rakesh Singh, pledges a mix of traditional Indian street food dishes and bigger plates that might be billed ‘fusion’ in less loving hands than our own. In the cold, clammy hands of Gregg Wallace, it might even be held up as ‘confusion’ before a creepy cackle.
In reality, the flourishes of British comfort cooking on the Cinnamon Bazaar menu make perfect sense, the mission to serve food inspired by the marketplaces that lie on the various trading routes connecting the empires of the Old World emphatically realised in a spicy, piquant ox cheek vindaloo with masala mash and, even more so, in the signature lamb rogan josh shepherd’s pie, which is rich and elegantly spiced. Though both might feel a bruising in the wrong hands, they are expertly judged and surprisingly light here. Good news, as it leaves enough room for the Peshwari naan, floral and cardamom-rich, and the silky lemon rice.
Two superb desserts seal the deal. The first, a mango and pistachio kulfi, further affirms that there are very capable hands in the kitchen who are keen to execute things with a light but precise touch. The rasmalai tres leches – a light and airy sponge cake, soaked in sweet milk table side – is even better. If you can resist diving in, wait a few minutes for the cake to soak up that heady, perfumed milk; it’s heavenly.
For our next visit, the restaurant’s High Chai caught our eye – that is, a pan-Indian riff on afternoon tea. Pitched at £27.50 a person (a steal) including a pot of the finest Jing tea, the offer includes three rounds of chaat, a riff on a fish finger sandwich (yes please), a kadhai chicken spring roll, and a trio of sweet treats. All of this seems to fit the restaurant’s trump cards to a tee. Next time, next time…
Ideal for produce-driven Italian food sat amongst jasmine and bougainvillaea…
Sustainable, seasonal food is the name of the game at the Petersham Nurseries Café, now in its third decade. Run by the Boglione Family, the restaurant’s ethos is deeply rooted in the slow food movement, celebrating traditional methods of growing quality ingredients. It sources its organically-grown produce from Haye Farm in Devon, ensuring the highest quality foundations for its dishes.
The greenhouse setting, complete with its eclectic blend of Indian artwork, giant vases filled with striking bouquets, and the ambient scents of jasmine and bougainvillaea, creates an intimate environment full of hidden corners and foliage-covered canopies for a little intimacy. The walls are adorned with artworks from Francesco Boglione’s personal collection, adding a subtle touch of artistic flair to the curated alfresco dining experience.
It sets the scene for a meal that promises to soothe and replenish with its organic, produce-driven Italian menu and refined, quasi-spiritual surroundings. Rather than just another strapline, that commitment to sustainability is the real deal; the Petersham Nurseries Café (not really a cafe, we should add) is one of only four in London to hold a Michelin Green Star. The other three, if you’re asking? Mayfair’s Apricity, the City’s St. Barts and the trailblazing Silo over in Hackney Wick.
With the mission and – to be honest – clientele so cloying it makes you sneeze (might just be our hayfever, though), there’s a danger that the food here might be something of an afterthought. Fortunately, the plates of peak British produce complemented by speciality ingredients sourced from Italy are on-point.
So, that’s tortelli with aubergine, tomato, burrata, inspired by the Campanian classic parmigiana di melanzane, followed by blushing lamb rump with corno pepper, cumin yoghurt and a harissa jus, pulling influences from the Middle East as much as Italy, but in succinct, summery fashion.
Heavenly stuff but heaven doesn’t come cheap; two courses are a whopping £70, three are £80. No wine clocks in under £30 a bottle, though there is a very drinkable, faintly floral 2022 Grüner Veltliner for £9 a glass. Perhaps we’ll have just the one…
It could be argued that The Victoria is Richmond Park’s ‘local’, owing to its all-things-to-all-people posture and position. A versatile pub-cum-restaurant that caters to a diverse clientele, it’s just a five minute walk from the park’s Sheen Gate and into East Sheen, which has become something of a gastronomic destination of late, mainly for the next two dinners we’ll be having on this list.
The vibe at The Victoria strikes a perfect balance between cosy and sophisticated, attracting a motley crowd – some in wellies, some in heels, some in Bodux – as a result. The menu, crafted by celeb chef and former Michelin-star holder Paul Merrett, features a robust selection of dishes that straddle traditional pub British classics and more Mediterranean-leaning dishes.
Conveniently close to Mortlake station, The Victoria is easily accessible for those on a day trip out west, and families will appreciate the large enclosed playground, allowing children to play while parents relax with a glass of wine (25 wines on the menu are available by the glass, which is commendable) or one of the cask ales from the well-stocked bar. Indeed, the conservatory overlooking the terrace is a perfect spot for a long, leisurely lunch with one eye on the kids and the other on your pint of boiled prawns with Marie Rose sauce.
Of note, the Sunday roasts here bring the crowds in, and are great value at around the £20 mark.
Ideal for London’s best Indian food, all in the most suburban of settings…
A 15 minute walk north of Richmond Park in sleepy North Sheen isn’t necessarily where you’d expect to find the best Indian food in London. But in this incongruous, unassuming spot on Upper Richmond Road, sandwiched between Sophie’s Dressmaking Atelier and Topps Tiles, we’ve had the finest dahl makhani this side of Ludhiana, a version so superior to the famous Dishoom one that it’s laughable. No wonder this place has been praised in the nationals, with both Jay Rayner and Tom Parker Bowles lauding its quality.
Perhaps we should be surprised; Black Salt is the sister restaurant of the boy Hayler’s beloved Dastaan, and the chefs have previous in some of the city’s most acclaimed Indian kitchens, with two having met at Gymkhana and a third with time at Jamavar under their belt. Together with the owners Sanjay Patel and Simeron Lily, a father and daughter team, that’s some serious pedigree.
To be fair, it makes sense that the restaurant has flourished in this well-heeled neighbourhood since it opened in 2021; Black Salt delivers a fine balance of high-quality Indian cuisine in a relaxed and inviting atmosphere, with keenly priced dishes that don’t stray above the mid-teens. For the complexity at work in the saffron prawn curry, redolent with cardamom, clove and nutmeg, and tempered with coconut milk, those prices represent a bargain.
The pork cheek vindaloo is similarly complex. Not the bruising version that will have you biting down on the bathroom windowsill the morning after, it’s instead a rather delicate affair; tart and tangy, its chilli heat only revealing itself when you’re wiping the bowl clean with a fistful of the excellent roti.
However you play it, the cute, bulbous samosas with mint and tamarind chutney are obligatory. What pastry it is – just the right side of chalky and so flakey we’re still finding remnants in the folds of our jeans weeks after visiting.
Anyway, end with the absurdly good pistachio kulfi, knock back a couple of big bottles of Cobra, and wish that this place was your neighbourhood curry house.
And you’re looking for further bargains, then Black Salt does a ‘2 for £20’ menu Tuesdays to Sundays between 5pm and 6pm. During this magic hour, you get a snack, a curry, the chef’s choice of vegetable dish, steamed rice and your choice of naan or roti. All for just twenty notes.
Ideal for highly rated Neapolitan pizza from one of the world’s most exciting pizzaiolo…
We accept that it’s a little tedious to open with talk of the sister restaurant somewhere that’s not Richmondfor the second time in as many entries, but the Napoli On The Road mothership in Chiswick definitely needs mentioning here.
Named as the best pizzeria in Europe (outside of Italy) on the Italo-centric and increasingly influential 50 Top Pizza Europe list, and as the 5th best in the world in September 2025’s global ceremony, Napoli On The Road is the obsessive, floury work of Michele Pascarella, a celebrated pizzaiolo who began his London journey with a mobile Ape Piaggio, delighting the city with wood-fired pizzas in pub car parks before laying down roots with his first bricks-and-mortar establishment on Devonshire Road.
Pascarella earned the prestigious accolade of Global Pizza Maker of the Year 2023, a testament to his mastery of correct form and structure. And whilst the inaugural Chiswick branch is one that garners all of the attention, this only means that the second outpost in Richmond is a little easier to actually book.
And book you should; these are exceptional pizzas, whether you order a simple, perfect margherita from the ‘classiche’ section of the menu, or you go for something a little more playful from the part billed as chef Pascarella’s ‘Signatures’.
The Cheesewick (not yet given a Richmond twist) is particularly good, a five cheese affair with ricotta, fior di latte, stracciatella, crispy parmesan chips and blue Stilton. If that sounds like an umami overload, it gets even punchier; there’s a piennolo cherry tomato (from Vesuvius) jam to tie everything together. It might sound a lot, but boy is it good, the chef’s highly digestible dough ensuring things don’t get too much. Even further joy is found in the pizza fritta here, if you’ve got room – the double pepperoni number with hot honey is profound.
Best of all though, and back to the classiche section in a cyclical kind of style deserving of pizza, Napoli on the Road’s We’re On Fire is, genuinely, one of the best pizzas we have ever had, in London, Naples or anywhere else in the world. Its sauce sees nduja mixed subtly and seamlessly with a covering of tomato until emulsified – an inspired touch as, all too often, nduja can make a pizza incredibly greasy. Then, dotted across the surface of the pizza, ice cold buffalo stracciatella soothes the rough edges of the nduja, rounding off the tomato’s acidity for good measure. It’s inspired and just so delicious.
The house red, the Greco Di Tufo Oltre DOCG Bellaria from Campania, drinkable and light, is the perfect foil to these fine pizzas. Whatever you do, do end with the pear and ricotta torte; a Naples classic that we always order if we see it on a menu. At Napoli On The Road, it’s the best version we’ve ever had.
*Update, January 2026: Napoli on the Road continues to consolidate its dominance, retaining the title of best pizzeria in Europe for the second consecutive year at the June 2025 50 Top Pizza Europa awards, while their signature Ricordi d’Infanzia was named Pizza of the Year 2025. The team’s highly anticipated Soho flagship at 140 Wardour Street opens this spring, with à la carte options on the ground floor and London’s first pizza tasting menu downstairs – a seven-course Neapolitan fine dining journey paired with wines from Campania.*
Ideal for elevated riverside dining with serious gastropub credentials just beyond Richmond…
Perched on the banks of the Thames in leafy Barnes, just beyond Richmond’s well-trodden restaurant scene, The Waterman’s Arms delivers that rare combination that makes a gastropub truly special: food you’d cross town for in a setting that feels warmly familiar from the moment you step inside.
This historic 1850s riverside pub has undergone something of a renaissance since September 2023, when Patty & Bun founder Joe Grossmann (a Barnes local himself) took the helm. Rather than bringing his burger empire to SW13, Grossmann enlisted Sam Andrews, previously of The Camberwell Arms and Ducksoup, to craft a menu that feels both comforting and considered.
The two-floor space strikes the perfect balance between polished and lived-in, but it’s the first-floor terrace that’s the real prize, offering panoramic Thames views that transform a simple meal into something rather special.
The seasonally-driven menu is built around whatever’s best at market. Small plates deliver big flavours: the curried scallop has rapidly become a signature, while the aubergine with merguez and yoghurt demonstrates the kitchen’s deft hand with seasonal produce.
Where The Waterman’s truly excels is with its commitment to all things porcine. The pork collar with pig skin ragu is something of a revelation, balancing fatty, chewy edges with tender meat in a sauce so rich and slightly sweet that you’ll guard it jealously from fellow diners. For the ultimate Sunday lunch experience, their porchetta with pickled nectarine features impeccable crackling and a blush-pink centre that locals now plan their weekends around.
The Sunday offering forgoes traditional roasts in favour of theatrical sharing centrepieces, the lamb shoulder with mint sauce an absolute belter. Whatever you order, the chips are non-negotiable: crunchy, crumbly and consistently cited as among London’s finest.
Drinks maintain the high standard, with Forest Road beers on draught alongside Estrella Galicia. The wine list spans accessible to aspirational, with several options under £30. It’s a mere two-minute walk from Barnes Bridge station, or a pleasant 30-minute riverside stroll from Hammersmith if you’re feeling energetic.
Across the road from Richmond station and right next door to the aforementioned Cinnamon Bazaar if you’re on something of a restaurant bender, Bacco Ristorante Italiano (to give it its full title) is a family-run Italian joint that eschews contemporary affectations in favour of something decidedly more old school.
So, that’s a big, warmhearted welcome from owner Stefano, generous, sauce-heavy portions of all the good stuff, and rounds of gratis limoncello once you’re on first name terms with your waiter. Which, as usually happens, isn’t long after you’ve sat down…
The restaurant takes great pride in the fact that all the essentials – the focaccia, the ciabatta, the pasta – are homemade. Though the head chef here, Luca, is proudly Piedmontese, the menu at Bacco isn’t fiercely regional, and you’ll find dishes from across Italy on the menu. That said, a couple of Piedmont classics are indeed some of the highlights, with the vitello tonnato a particularly luxurious version of a classic.
The pasta dishes centered around seafood are exceptional, too. Linguine frutti di mare sees fresh pasta tossed until silky with prawns, clam and calamari, all those briny juices adding heft to a tomato-spiked sauce. Lovely stuff, but even better is the seafood risotto, which is precision-made and texturally perfect. The compass point mussel placement can’t even knock this one off its stride.
Presentation on some of the dishes can be a little kitsch, sure – think parmesan tuiles moulded into pasta bowls, zigzags of balsamic reduction and syrupy chocolate sauce, and a fish platter that sees fillets served in neat stacks on a board – but it’s all part of the charm. It certainly does no harm that those fillets are expertly fried, crisp skin, tender flakes and all.
As you’d hope from a restaurant named after the God of Wine, the chiefly Italian wine list is extensive, ranging from small producers to well-known vineyards. And with plenty of terrace seating for the warmer months (andterrace heating for colder ones), all the ingredients are very much in place for a hearty, family-style meal. Cin Cin!
Ideal for an opulent seafood feast, champagne, oysters and all…
Whittaker Avenue’s sprawling Revolution Bar site never quite felt in keeping with the vibe of Richmond residents, and it’s hard to imagine the status-obsessed folk of this affluent London district necking a shot of Sambuca and belting out Don’t Stop Believin’ on a Tuesday night.
Nope, line caught fish and lines of fish scale are more the thing ‘round these parts, so it should come as little surprise that the absurdly opulent second coming of Mayfair seafood institution Scott’s has fitted in perfectly over in residential Richmond.
Set against the scenic backdrop of Richmond’s riverside, Scott’s exudes luxury, positively glowing gold as you approach. Inside, you could imagine a little bacchanalia going down against the sturdy silver columns or in the crushed moss allure banquettes. There are, of course, crystal chandeliers to swing from…
…Sorry to disappoint, but we’ve only come for seafood, and under the guidance of head chef Tom Fraser, the confident fish cooking that made the original Scott’s so popular is all present and correct here. Sidle up to the oyster bar for a few freshly shucked ones and some fizz, or take a table and order a the Dover sole, grilled whole or done in the Meunière style. Either way, it’s cooked expertly until it slips off the bone in satisfying, graceful fillets with just the nudge of a knife. Yours for £48.
Indeed, even in today’s economy, prices are large here, with starters in their late teens and mains resolutely not dipping below £30. It’s a special occasion kind of place, that’s for sure. Even so, it’s pretty wild that you won’t find a single bottle of wine on the menu for under £37. Phew.
In fact, everything is kinda massivehere, with the restaurant accommodating up to 600 guests. Booking is still recommended for the most sought after perches, such as the second floor terrace that overlooks the Thames. For those not in thrall to all things fish, there’s also three or four meat dishes on the a la carte, and a dedicated vegetarian menu, too.
If it’s your kind of thing to have a wandering piano soundtrack when sucking the head juices out of grilled Atlantic prawns, then check out the live jazz performances every Wednesday evening from 7:30pm to 10pm.
Ideal for great value Lebanese street food in an intimate setting…
Tucked away on George Street, just down the road from Richmond station, Beirut Street Kitchen brings an authentic slice of Lebanon to Richmond, proving that good things really do come in small packages. This compact two-floor eatery might be modest in size, but it packs a mighty punch when it comes to flavour and atmosphere.
The story here is one of passion and heritage – founders Layla and Tariq have transformed this 460-square-foot space into something that genuinely captures the spirit of a Beirut souk. The ground floor is dominated by the theatre of the open oven, where flatbreads are rolled and baked to order, their aroma filling the intimate space. Upstairs, a cosy dining room features a carefully considered design of terracotta, clean white tiles and warmly-coloured accents that manage to feel both contemporary and traditional.
The menu is refreshingly focused and remarkably good value. Build-your-own wraps and bowls form the heart of the offering – a steal at under a tenner – where you can pair your choice of succulent chicken shawarma, expertly spiced lamb kofta, or some of the best falafel we’ve had in London (properly crisp on the outside, herbaceous and fluffy within). The sides deserve equal attention: a silky hummus and particularly good moutabal, its smoky aubergine depth lifting everything it touches, are essential additions to any order.
Don’t skip the halloumi fries – they’re a perfect example of how simple food, done well, can be extraordinary. The house-made lemonade provides the perfect foil to all that savoury richness, though the traditional jallab with its date molasses and rose water is perhaps even more refreshing on a warm day.
For dessert, the baklava strikes that perfect balance between honey-sweet and nutty that makes this Middle Eastern classic so addictive. It’s best enjoyed with a pot of fresh mint tea on their small but pleasant outdoor seating area, watching Richmond life unfold. With most dishes hovering around the £3-7 mark, this is some of the best value authentic Middle Eastern cuisine you’ll find in West London.
Do be aware that this is a brunch to early dinner operation, with opening hours running from 10am to 6pm daily, and an hour’s later start on Sundays.
Ideal for a taste of Brittany by the Richmond riverside…
Another gem on the Richmond riverside, Chez Lindsay is a welcome thing here; a lowkey independent joint in an area often dominated by chain restaurants.
As you approach Chez Lindsay, it’s immediately clear what you’re getting yourself in for; a chalkboard with the simple mission statement of ‘crêperie’ hangs above the entrance, and tricolore bunting flaps gayly in the wind.
All promises are delivered once you’ve crossed that thoroughfare into Richmond’s own tribute to Brittany, with a dedicated galette menu – those buckwheat pancakes that the region is famous for – as well as a broader a la carte made up of country-spanning French classics.
We’re here for the former, and, perhaps predictably, the Complète – the absolute classic galette of egg, cheese and ham. It’s an exemplary version, and when paired with a crisp, gently cloudy Kerisac, there are few places we’d rather spend a Saturday lunch.
You know what? We think we might just stay here a while…
Ideal for artisanal Italian gelato that’s worth queuing for…
Not a restaurant, we realise, but it’s nice to end of something sweet, don’t you think?
Since opening in 2005, Gelateria Danieli has become a Richmond institution. Positioned on Brewers Lane overlooking Richmond Green, this gelato shop is run by husband-and-wife team Carlo and Bridget, who’ve mastered proper Italian gelato technique.
Their display case showcases around twenty flavours at any time. The classics are impeccably executed, but it’s their speciality combinations that really shine. The Crema Siciliana speaks of Carlo’s Sicilian heritage, whilst the pistachio is a properly nutty affair rather than that artificial marzipan backnote lesser gelaterias rely on. The texture throughout is gloriously smooth and dense, with that characteristic Italian kinda-chewy (chewy…is that the right word?) elasticity that marks out proper gelato from regular ice cream.
Their sorbets are a revelation – the chocolate sorbet is remarkably creamy despite being dairy-free. Pricing reflects quality: a single scoop is £4, two £5.50, three £7, or four £8.50. The affogato, at £5, offers a slice of Italian coffee culture at its finest.
The shop has gained additional fame as having appeared in the background of Ted Lasso scenes a couple of times, but don’t let that fool you – this isn’t a tourist trap trading on TV fame. This is simply exceptional gelato. On summer weekends, the queue often stretches down Brewers Lane, but it’s worth the wait.
Don’t miss their second location, Danieli on the Green, just down the lane. From Easter until summer’s end, you can enjoy their gelato alongside chocolates and sweets. Come October, it transforms into a chocolate lover’s paradise through to Easter.
Whether you’re in pursuit of a tranquil retreat for your family holidays or a savvy investment opportunity, purchasing a holiday home can be both an exciting and daunting endeavour. Of course, it goes without saying that the location of your holiday home plays a (perhaps the most) crucial role in determining its profitability.
As a savvy investor – apologies for making assumptions – it’s important to consider not only the price of the property but also its potential rental yields, tourist appeal, and long-term capital gains. With that in mind, here are some of the most potentially lucrative locations for Brits to own a holiday home.
Cornwall, England
Cornwall is arguably the UK’s quintessential holiday home hotspot and one of the South West’s most beloved staycation destinations. With its stunning coastline, charming villages, and mild climate, it is one of the UK’s most popular tourist destinations. Its strong holiday letting market is underpinned by a high demand for short-term rentals, particularly during the summer. It provides an attractive income stream, making Cornwall a profitable choice for holiday home investors.
The Lake District, England
Proudly named as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Lake District’s breathtaking landscapes and range of outdoor activities – both active and languid – make it a year-round attraction. This ensures the possibility of continuous rental yields, uninterrupted by the wants and whims of peak and off season. Buying a holiday home here could be a smart investment move, especially around Windermere and Ambleside, where property prices are high but so are rental rates.
Edinburgh, Scotland
If you’re considering an urban location, Edinburgh’s thriving tourism industry makes it an incredibly profitable choice. The city sees a consistent stream of tourists year-round due to its historical and cultural appeal, further boosted by events like the Edinburgh Festival. A holiday home in Edinburgh is not only a solid investment but it also offers the owner a cultural hub to explore.
Let’s bounce from the UK now, in search of pastures new and exciting on the continent. Financially viable and geographically desirable, the ancient capital of Cyprus, Paphos offers a robust holiday rental market with a continuous demand from European tourists. The city also offers favourable tax conditions for foreign property owners. An additional benefit is the potential for long-term capital gains, given Cyprus’ growing economy and rising property prices.
The city’s international airport provides excellent connections to major UK cities, and the year-round Mediterranean climate ensures a steady stream of visitors well beyond the peak summer months. Property prices in Paphos remain relatively competitive compared to other Mediterranean destinations, particularly in up-and-coming areas like Universal and Kato Paphos.
Costa del Sol, Spain
Spain’s ‘Sun Coast’ continues to be a magnet for British property investors, particularly around upmarket areas like Marbella and Estepona. Before diving in, you’ll need to obtain a NIF number (Spanish tax identification number) – a crucial first step for any property purchase in Spain. The Costa del Sol’s year-round sunny climate and excellent infrastructure make it particularly attractive for both personal enjoyment and rental potential.
The region’s proximity to Málaga Airport, with its extensive connections to UK cities, adds to its appeal. While property prices here can be higher than in some other Spanish coastal areas, the strong rental demand – especially during the extended summer season from April to October – can provide impressive returns on investment.
Algarve, Portugal
Portugal’s Algarve region is popular among Brits for its sun-drenched coastlines and golf courses. It boasts a thriving holiday rental market, which results in rewarding rental yields. Furthermore, Portugal’s Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) tax regime can offer tax benefits for British expats, enhancing the profitability of owning a holiday home in the Algarve.
The region’s excellent infrastructure, centred around Faro International Airport, makes it easily accessible for tourists throughout the year. Areas like Vilamoura and Lagos are particularly sought after, combining traditional Portuguese charm with modern amenities and strong rental potential.
Mallorca’s popularity as a holiday destination combined with its strong rental market makes it an appealing choice for investors. The island’s strong local laws protecting the landscape mean that new development is limited, increasing the value of existing properties.
The island’s exceptional transport links through Palma Airport ensure steady visitor numbers throughout the year, while its sophisticated infrastructure and high-end tourism sector attract a discerning clientele. Areas like Port d’Andratx and Pollença are particularly popular with international buyers, offering a blend of luxury living and strong rental prospects.
Or, also part of the Balearic Island archipelago and with an excellent culinary tradition and restaurant scene, more laid back atmosphere and slightly more affordable house prices, Menorca offers an interesting alternative.
Dalmatian Coast, Croatia
Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast has emerged as one of Europe’s most compelling holiday home markets. EU membership since 2013 has simplified the buying process for British investors, while the country’s adoption of the euro in 2023 has removed currency exchange headaches that once complicated rental income.
Split and Dubrovnik remain the headline destinations, but savvier investors are looking to islands like Hvar and Brač, or the increasingly popular Makarska Riviera, where property prices remain more accessible. The Croatian government has invested heavily in tourism infrastructure over the past decade, and Split Airport now offers direct connections to multiple UK cities throughout the extended summer season.
What sets Croatia apart is the length of its rental season – the Adriatic’s warm waters and reliable sunshine mean strong bookings from May through October, outperforming many Atlantic-facing alternatives. Property ownership laws are straightforward for EU and UK citizens, though engaging a local lawyer familiar with the market is advisable. With tourism numbers continuing to climb and coastal development tightly regulated, existing properties in prime locations stand to benefit from both rental yields and long-term capital appreciation.
Florida, USA
For those willing to invest further afield, Florida’s strong tourist appeal – with attractions like DisneyWorld and Universal Studios – ensures a steady rental demand. Florida also has favourable property laws for foreign investors and the potential for substantial long-term returns.
Top Tips For Creating The Perfect Holiday Rental
Of course, it’s not only about location. Your holiday rental also needs to look and feel the part if it’s going to be profitable.
Doing Your Due Diligence
Above all, and regardless of where you choose to make a purchase, you need to treat your holiday rental like a business if it’s to succeed as an investment. Handling all of your important details will help your tenants or guests enjoy their vacation, and will let you increase your revenue while maintaining your peace of mind.
Create separate business checking accounts for any property that you’re using as a holiday rental. Consider your financing resources and what price points will help you continuously get the best ROI.
Investing in another country is a much larger undertaking, and requires more of your time, money, and effort. The reward potential is also greater, so don’t shy away from doing your due diligence.
Make sure that you also get to know the banking system in the country. Understand interest rates, financing opportunities, and what is required to put these sorts of deals together.
Make It Somewhere You’d Want To Stay
Business aspects aside, make sure that you go all out to make the holiday rental somewhere that you’d want to spend a trip. This means fully furnishing it and making sure that you add art and decorative elements. Hire cleaning professionals to turn the rental over for you each time someone books. This way, they’ll have a clean and luxurious experience. Add little touches like providing people water and champagne on the first day that they check in. These little details make all the difference in the world and will help you get repeat visitors.
Blend Travel With Investing
The world is your oyster when you’re looking for travel-based investment opportunities. If you love to travel, have an interest in other cultures and attractions, or simply fancy the travel industry, these strategies can help you create the perfect holiday rental. Start with these words of advice as you grow your portfolio and travel opportunities at the same time.
The Bottom Line
When considering these locations, it’s crucial to remember that profitable holiday home ownership isn’t only about the potential rental income. Consideration should also be given to the potential capital appreciation of the property, the local regulations regarding property ownership and rental, the tax implications, and the desirability of the location for personal use.
Nevertheless, owning a holiday home can be a reliable and profitable investment when the location is carefully chosen, the local market is well-understood, and the property is well-managed. With these key considerations in mind, whether nestled in the idyllic landscapes of the Lake District or basking in the sun-kissed shores of the Algarve, your dream holiday home can become a tangible asset in your investment portfolio.
If the Vietnamese capital is said to run on coffee thick and sweet with condensed milk, then we think it’s fair to say that Hanoians bleed pho, with no two establishments serving the same bowl and the best versions closely guarded secrets handed down through the generations. Accordingly, finding purveyors of this national Vietnamese dish is the easiest thing you’ll ever do in the city. Finding the very best versions is another story, though…
Though beef pho is, to so many visitors, the headlining Hanoi dish, it’s actually chicken pho (the ol’ pho ga) that’s more popular in the city. It’s the city’s go-to, its day one, its every day. It’s the one that Hanoians crave when the weather changes, a source of replenishment and rehydration, a soul-soother and heartwarmer.
Where To Eat The Best Pho Ga (Chicken Noodle Soup) In Hanoi
Here’s where you’ll find the best bowls of chicken pho (pho ga) in Hanoi.
Pho Ga Nguyet, Hoan Kiem (Old Quarter)
Ideal for a dry version of the famous soup…
Light, herbaceous, restorative chicken pho in Hanoi is its own thing, a world away from the beef version’s assertive savouriness and rich mouthfeel. In fact, as a rule, if a shophouse or stall serves both chicken and beef pho, it’s reasonable to assume that neither is the greatest rendition, the two disciplines not interchangeable by any means.
Just outside of the Old Quarter proper, on Phu Doan, a stretch of road defined by garages and motorbike repairs, you’ll find one of Hanoi’s best versions of chicken pho at Pho Ga Nguyet.
Two key moves with your order here; one, and though the white breast meat is automatically allocated to non-Viets, you should request the dark chicken meat (the shophouse now offers a breakdown of the bird in diagram form, with the butt meat being the most prized and expensive cut), which is so much more flavourful.
Two, order the dish ‘tron’ – or dry. That’s where Pho Ga Nguyet really excels, the standard noodle soup turned into a gorgeous noodle salad, with a chicken fat and soy sauce spiked dressing that coats every damn noodle strand.
Images via @phoganguyet
The main man here, wielding the cleaver all evening in the shophouse’s entrance, speaks a little English, and is a charming presence. Owing to the shophouse’s daytime operations fixing motorbikes and revving engines, Pho Ga Nguyet is an evening only affair, though they have recently expanded into adjacent buildings to cope with increased demand after Michelin bestowed them with a Bib Gourmand award.
During the dinner rush (between 6pm and around 7:30pm), you might have to wait five minutes to get a seat. It’s worth it. Though we’re damn prone to hyperbole, the dry chicken pho here (pho ga tron) is our favourite bowl of pho in Hanoi, period. It is fucking immense.
A rare thing for Hanoian pho shophouses, this one stays open late, too, closing at around midnight.
Address:5b P. Phủ Doãn, Hàng Trống, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội 100000, Vietnam
Pho Ga Mai Anh, Hai Ba Trung District
Ideal for a cleansing bowl of chicken noodle soup that could dust off any hangover…
The Hanoi episode of Parts Unknown where Anthony Bourdain takes then-president Obama for bun cha will be familiar to anyone who cringes when they declare themselves a foodie, right? Well, following its broadcast and change of branding – to ‘Obama Bun Cha’, no less – the word on the street is that standards have slipped.
Not to worry. Give the tour coaches unloading onto Le Van Huu a wide berth and instead head next door for one of the best chicken noodle soups in the city, at Pho Ga Mai Anh.
This is one clean broth, boasting a crystalline flavour not far removed from a good chicken consomme. Aside from tender poached chicken meat, a couple of bouncy chicken balls and yielding rice noodles, only a few slices of the green of spring onions adulterate the bowl. Seemingly, a judgement has been made that any other herbs would only muddy the broth. We think it’s a good shout, as Mai Anh’s chicken pho really is a celebration of that replenishing broth.
A tall glass of iced jasmine tea is all you need now.
Address: 32 P. Lê Văn Hưu, Phan Chu Trinh, Hai Bà Trưng, Hà Nội, Vietnam
Pho Ga Tron, Hoan Kiem (Old Quarter)
Ideal for a local favourite…
Popular on a summer’s day, another dry (well, not dry, rather; ‘soupless’) pho to try is the banger at Pho Ga Tron on Lan Ong street. This is a legendary spot beloved of locals for the restaurant’s use of ga ta – chicken raised in the country that’s had a good run around and frolic, its flesh benefiting in flavour from its freedom. Or, as Hanoians more succinctly put it, “gym chicken”.
Any establishment serving industrial chicken is frowned upon and largely ignored by Hanoian patronage. Much like our free-range chicken, ga ta has a richer taste and the meat is firmer in texture. And so it is at Pho Ga Tron, where the chicken pho is present in tron format, what your Ottolenghi or your Oliver might call a ‘noodle salad’. There is actually a small bowl of soup served on the side when ordering pho tron – some might choose to spoon a little over the noodles to make them all silky and slippery. We certainly do.
Anyway, this one is really herbal, with bright, zippy notes and an enjoyable low thrum of sweetness from deep fried shallots and peanuts. The dressing is gorgeous; rich but light, and soy sauce defined. What a treat it is.
On special occasions (we’ve enjoyed this one during September’s Moon Festival), you’ll find black chicken served at Pho Ga Tron, a deliciously aniseed affair with delicate translucent noodles and promises of getting healed from a medicinal, bracing, but utterly gorgeous broth.
A little further down the road, you’ll find Pho Hanh which we hear also does a good version of Pho Tron, although we’re yet to try it. On their Facebook page, a recent post with Mark Wiens fills us with confidence that this place is the real deal.
Address: 65B P. Lãn Ông, Hàng Bồ, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, Vietnam
Pho Lam Nam Ngu, Hoan Kiem (Old Quarter)
Ideal for a chicken pho that celebrates the whole bird…
You’ll find Pho Lam tucked away down a pretty little lane that’s defined by unkempt but totally beautiful hanging greenery, the kind that clotheslines you off your motorbike and you don’t even resent it. Pick yourself up and dust yourself down, as there’s pho here to soothe your soul…
We say “you’ll find” but it’s easy to miss the red sign here, the bold caps of PHO LAM NAM NGU set back from the road and obscured by the Hanoi’s ubiquitous corrugated iron awning. You might be better off looking for the popular French restaurant La Badiane, which sits opposite Pho Lam, and then turning right.
The chicken broth at Pho Lam operates on a rolling boil over coals which sit at the front of the shop, big pots of forever ticking over, a reminder of life’s cyclical nature, but also, as the aunty sweeps another bowl directly through this bubbling cauldron, of things being finite.
Here you’ll find reliably flavourful dark chicken, no stinginess as it’s packed high on its plinth of tightly wound noodles. Though the menu is prosaically delivered – a single white sign that declares ‘Pho Ga 50K’ – there’s actually a fair bit of customising to be done here if you’ve got your Vietnamese (or confident pointing) down.
On the counter that Pho Nam’s cooks diligently draw from, a big bowl of dark and white flesh and slices of yellow skin are all mixed together in equal quantities – and then you can add more of your preference, be that dark or white meat. It looks like a lot of skin going into your bowl, but when the fat from the skin melts into the bowl, you’re in for a truly delicious, unctuous broth. There are big bowls of msg, too, which you can ask to be omitted if you don’t value flavour.
Boiled organs are also all spread out on a tray – blood cake, eggs, chicken feet – which are available on request. However you play it, this is a hugely herbal bowl, with whole spring onions, garlic chives, delicate baby coriander and dill all piled high.
Though it feels – in our mind – better suited to beef pho, the quay at Nam Ngu is excellent, with plastic bags full of the stuff hanging from random coat hooks across the joint. The homemade hot sauce is some of the best you’ll find too, thick and deep rust in colour. A vinegar pot brimming with freshly sliced chillies and a few quarters of lime seal the deal.
Yes indeed, this is one of the best bowls of pho in Hanoi, beef, chicken or otherwise.
Address:7 P. Nam Ngư, Cửa Nam, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, Vietnam
Image @ a 1 u c a r d
Pho Ga Tien, Ba Dinh District
Ideal for a breakfast institution with Michelin-approved broth…
Near picturesque Truc Bach Lake on Nguyen Truong To, Pho Ga Tien is a family-run operation that’s been perfecting the same chicken broth for nearly 40 years. For all the street food soup searchers, those four decades of familial heritage should be music to your ears – such a tagline usually leads to a pretty good bowl. This should appeal, too; the 65-year-old matriarch still makes the broth in the back kitchen, simmering free-range chicken bones with grilled shallots, ginger and shiitake mushrooms to create an exceptionally clean, golden soup that’s naturally sweet without cloying.
The current space – all large glass windows and warm yellow walls – opened in 2023, though the family had been selling from a sidewalk stall across the road for years before. From 6am to 1pm, all 60-plus seats are reliably filled, with motorbikes piled up outside. Another good sign, we think…
What marks this one out is a minor but impactful touch: the finely sliced makrut lime leaves scattered across each bowl, lending a distinct citrusy fragrance that’s unmistakable. You can choose your cut of chicken at the counter – dark or white, thigh or breast – and add hard-boiled eggs, offal or gizzards if you fancy. Regulars go for the dark thigh meat and a couple of slices of offal, which punctuate the broth with a hint of suave bitterness. For those gripped by the paradox of choice, we have more bad news; you’ll need to choose your noodle, too, from pho, bun or mien. Pho is the default (obvs.) and does the job perfectly, for us.
Owner Duc Khanh recognises regulars even during the breakfast chaos and is a charming presence. Prices start at 50,000 VND and haven’t changed in a decade, which has us romanticising that these guys aren’t in it for the money. A foolish notion, but when the steam is kicking up from our bowl and misting up our glasses, we do start feeling a little whimsical.
Interestingly, Michelin have selected the place twice now, in 2023 and 2025 (what the hell happened in 2024?!). Let’s see what happens later this year in their 2026 announcement.
Address: 103 P. Nguyễn Trường Tộ, Quán Thánh, Ba Đình, Hà Nội, Vietnam
Pho Ga Cham, Ba Dinh District
Ideal for a golden, consomme-like pho broth…
Wow, this is one clean bowl of the good stuff, over at Pho Ga Cham, just off picturesque, cinematic Truc Bach Lake.
Pleasingly, here the bouncy yellow skin is left on the slices of breast, rather than being served separately or, heaven forbid, removed entirely and discarded, lending a gorgeous mouthfeel to every bite.
The option to add an egg yolk to the broth is one that many locals avail themselves of. Do the same, though don’t mix that yolk into the soup; that’s not the done thing and muddies the broth. Instead, allow it to set gently before eating the whole yolk in one.
Go further, and order the house special, which sees a clean, consomme-like golden pho broth with absolutely no herbs added, just a few bobbing slices of chicken breast and four or five egg yolks. One for the ‘gains’ crowd perhaps, but bloody delicious, too. The gratis iced tea here is excellent – bitter and refreshing.
Address:64-68 P. Yên Ninh, Quán Thánh, Ba Đình, Hà Nội, Vietnam
By Muk photo via Canva
Pho Ga Dac Biet, Hoan Kiem (Old Quarter)
Ideal for a rich, offal-spiked broth in the OQ…
Dac Biet means ‘the house special’ in Vietnamese, and at Pho Ga Dac Biet the chicken pho house special is very much the signature. It’s a bowl that’s absolutely heaving with dark thigh meat, organs, intestines, chicken feet, beaks…you name it. Please, don’t be put off; it is bloody fantastic, those offaly cuts lending a supreme richness and depth to the broth that is totally unique when compared to many of the other lighter chicken soups on our list.
Interestingly, you can order the scarcely seen pho tai ga here, which is a bowl of rare beef steak (cooked in the broth) and chicken, all bobbing about in a broth that combines the two stock bases. It works… kind of.
Address: 1 Hàng Điếu, Phố cổ Hà Nội, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, Vietnam
By minddream via Canva
*Pho is traditionally a breakfast dish and pretty much all of the shops on this list open from early until sold out. Many won’t stay open much past lunch, which ends at around 2pm. A couple of the spots on our list of the best pho in Hanoi do stay open late into the night, though it’s always a little unpredictable in Hanoi. Always check Google’s opening hours, but do not put 100% faith in that information.
Every bowl on our list clocks in at between 50’000 and 100’000 VND (between £1.50 and £3), with the exception of the duck versions, which are a little more. Regardless, all are absurdly good value for the skill, effort and heritage involved in making them.*
