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Don Fernando's
The Izquierdo family have been serving superb cuisine from their native Andalucía for nigh on 20 years now, and their enthusiasm shows no signs of waning. With an exhaustive list of tapas (from £4 to £8 ), Spanish beers, wines and culinary specialities, including (unusually) some vegetarian options along with cheerful service, this makes a great place for a good lunch or a slow supper.
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El Faro
An E14 address rarely signifies a destination restaurant but hop on the DLR (a picturesque and worthwhile ride) and travel the 'Lighthouse' for what are acclaimed as the best tapas and Spanish dishes in town. The location on a basin in the Docklands is quite restful and yet within easy walking distance of Canary Wharf.
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El Parador
This laid-back Spanish place has a generous selection of tapas - try the empanadillas de espinacas y queso (spinach and cheese dish) - from all over Spain. There's a walled garden for when the sun's out and you're feeling moderately Mediterranean; the reasonably priced rioja (from around £17 ) should help.
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Enoteca Turi
The atmosphere at this stylish place is serene, the service charming. Enoteca Turi devotes equal attention to the grape as to the food, which means that each dish, be it a shellfish tagliolini or saddle of new season lamb, comes recommended with a particular glass of wine (or you can pick from their enormous wine list if you have ideas of your own).
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Eyre Brothers
Geographically located in Shoreditch, but stylistically with one foot in the City, this dark-panelled, low-ceilinged den with lots of photos on the walls excels with an interesting range of fare inspired by the food of Spain and Portugal. Diners tuck into a largely vegetarian-unfriendly menu, including scallops with jamón (ham) Serrano , grilled Mozambique prawns piri-piri and Catalan-style rabbit stew. The Eyre brothers were behind London's first gastropub, the Eagle. They still know what they're doing.
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Fifth Floor Café
On the same floor as the food hall, sushi bar and glitzy designer restaurant, this cafe used to be one of the most fashionable places to be seen. These days it's less trendy and more practical. You can enjoy light and innovative Mediterranean meals beneath a stunning metal and glass ceiling canopy or out on the terrace if the weather is fine.
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Flâneur
Dining while shoppers browse in the delicatessen/greengrocer's around you may not sound appealing, but it's just part of the charm of this gourmet deli and unsurprisingly excellent restaurant. Beautifully attired in woods with high shelves stocked with all manner of rare and wonderful delicacies, tables are scattered around the shop, and diners keep the place busy for both lunch and dinner.
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Frankie's Italian Bar & Grill
Brain child of jockey Frankie Dettori and seminal chef Marco Pierre White, Frankie's has resuscitated that age-old formula for success in the catering trade: good, solid, old-fashioned food (in this case Italian) - and lots of it. The menu, popular with families, is top heavy with steaks and fish though burgers (around £7 ) and pastas (around £9 ) also figure.
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Glasshouse
A meal at this splendid restaurant is a great way to cap off a day spent at the botanical gardens in Kew. Its glass-fronted exterior reveals a delicately lit, low-key interior, whose unassuming décor ensures that the focus remains on the divinely cooked food. Punters choose from such mains as a rump of veal with caramelised calf's tongue and sweetbreads and roast fillet of cod with creamed white polenta that combine traditional English mainstays with modern European innovation. The Glasshouse is sister restaurant to Chez Bruce in Wandsworth.
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Gordon Ramsay
One of Britain's finest restaurants and still the only one in the capital with three Michelin stars, this is hallowed turf for those who worship at the altar of the stove and celebrity chef Ramsay's flagship eatery. It's true that it is a treat right from the taster to the truffles but you won't get much time to savour it all. Bookings are made in specific eat-it-and-beat-it slots and you dare not linger. The blow-out tasting Menu Prestige (around £110 ) is seven courses of absolute perfection.
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Green Olive
The Maida Vale cognoscenti hold this neighbourhood Italian place in high esteem. Dishes, although creative and very tasty, are rather daintily portioned. The plain brickwork, wood floors and art on the walls (all for sale) give the place an upmarket rustic kind of feel.
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Greenhouse
Located in an incongruously uninspiring building in a mews at the end of a wonderful sculpted 'garden', the Greenhouse offers some of the best food in Mayfair served with none of the attitude commonly found in restaurants of this class. Try the veal sweetbreads with hazelnuts and the hare with black truffles. The tasting menu (around £75 ) is only for the intrepid and truly hungry. The Greenhouse doles out so many freebies - from amuses-gueule (literally literally 'throat amusers'; snacks or appetisers) and inter-course sorbets to petits-fours at the finale - you'll never get up.
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Hoxton Apprentice
The poor man's Fifteen - in celebrity-pulling power, it must be stressed, and not in style or affordability - this is another training restaurant where worthy applicants do their time at the stove. It's pricey for what it is and serves, but we enjoyed a perfect saddle of rabbit with apple and black pudding on a recent visit. Weekday lunches of two/three courses start from £10 and, at the weekend, brunches are long ( to ). Have a look at the 'hall of mirrors' on the mezzanine level.
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Inside
With white and panelled wooden walls, modern art and linen tablecloths, inside looks quite stuffy, but they won't bat an eyelid if you turn up in jeans. The crisp food typically includes fresh pea and mint soup, smoked haddock and chives with risotto cake, and desserts such as rhubarb crumble. This is acknowledged to be Greenwich's best restaurant.
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Ivy
The Ivy's fame seems incidental compared to its magnificent menu and buzzing atmosphere, both intimate and exciting, in the heart of London's theatreland. The fare consists of glorious versions of British staples like shepherd's pie (doubtless the best in town, so probably the best in the world), steak tartare and kedgeree, and desserts are superb.
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Jason's
Jason's has cosy outside tables and a main dining room in a high wooden-ceilinged boathouse that feels almost alfresco. After a total overhaul and refit, the restaurant has moved away from serving predominantly fish and seafood dishes and has headed south to the Mediterranean. Weekend brunch (Saturday to , Sunday to ) is a treat here - especially in fine weather.
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Kensington Place
This restaurant has an impressive glass frontage, a design-driven interior and consistently good food, but seating seems cramped and the acoustics are bad. The attached Fish Shop and its mounds of fresh seafood should help you to make up your mind when ordering.
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La Fromagerie
This branch of a celebrated French cheese shop in Highbury has a small café attached that turns out exquisite French-inspired dishes at lunch. You can also enjoy breakfast from opening time and afternoon tea daily from .
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La Gaffe
This comfortable, family-run restaurant in an 18th-century cottage that is now a hotel is a Hampstead landmark and serves reliably good Italian dishes. The choice of fresh pasta dishes (from around £7 to £10 ) is especially good. There's a three-course set lunch (around £13 ) available weekdays.
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La Poule au Pot
Lit by candlelight even at lunch, the 'Chicken in the Pot' is a long-established country-style French restaurant that is long on romance and cosiness and somewhat shorter on what it serves. Still, the alfresco front terrace is a lovely spot in the warmer months.
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La Trouvaille
Just what its name suggests it is, the 'Find' is perfect for a romantic dinner. Here you'll find a gorgeous, warm space perfect for candlelit canoodling and an excellent menu of rich traditional French cuisine - quail and foie gras terrine, guinea fowl hotpot - on a quiet backstreet.
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Le Café du Marché
Tradition is a watchword at this quaint French bistro housed in an exposed-brick warehouse down a tiny alleyway near Smithfield Market. The food is mostly gutsy French fare - hearty steaks with garlic and rosemary flavours, fish soup with aioli - and there's piano playing and jazz upstairs. Meals are set-menu only.
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Lemonia
Some people's favourite Greek restaurant in London, this attractive and very popular taverna offers good-value food and a lively atmosphere. A selection of meze costs around £14 per person and the vegetarian moussaka is excellent. There's a two-course set weekday lunch for around £8 .
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Leon
A definite stand-out among Soho's budget eateries, Leon is delightful - cheap, friendly and perfectly located. Serving such delicious treats as chicken with herb oil and lemon, Moroccan meatballs and sweet potato falafel, Leon puts labels on everything so you know just what you're getting. What's more, it's licensed. There are five other outlets including a Spitalfields branch.
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Les Trois Garçons
Walk through the door of this enormous erstwhile pub and your jaw will surely drop: giraffe heads stick out from the wall at a right angle, stuffed swans wear tiaras, alligators are crowned and the mirrors are listed. The food - classic French with the likes of duck confit, riz de veau and plates of pork charcuterie (sausage) on offer - is good if not excellent and at least one of the eponymous 'three boys' is usually on hand to meet and greet. Service can sometimes be so attentive as to be almost overbearing.
