Modern European restaurants in London
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Boxwood Café
Renowned for its veal and foie gras burgers, Boxwood Café is another outing for the unstoppable Gordon Ramsay.
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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, notwithstanding the hot water Mr Ramsay seems to get himself into regularly. 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 sittings and you dare not linger; book as late as you can to avoid that rushed feeling. The blow-out tasting Menu Prestige (£120) is seven courses of absolute perfection.
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Le Café Anglais
After ditching Kensington Place, Rowley Leigh opened this bustling restaurant with a very eclectic menu a short distance to the northeast. With beef hash and poached egg sitting comfortably with Thai green prawn curry and gigantic roasts that would feed a large family, this place means to please everyone; and, with such excellently priced set menus, it certainly does us.
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Sketch
The stunning collection of bars and restaurants at what was once the Christian Dior headquarters in Mayfair remains a draw for fashionistas, the curious, the pretentious, and the downright loaded. The Gallery restaurant downstairs buzzes informally in shimmering white and features video art projections. The Glade on the ground floor is the place for affordable lunch (two/three courses for £20/26) and the stunning Parlour patisserie to the right of the main entrance is great for tea and cakes. The ultimate attraction is the more formal Lecture Room & Library upstairs, where the high prices and haute cuisine in sumptuous surroundings from three-Michelin-starred chef Pierre …
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Petersham Nurseries Café
In a greenhouse at the back of the gorgeously situated Petersham Nurseries is this award-winning cafe straight out of the pages of The Secret Garden. Well-heeled locals tuck into confidently executed food that often began life in the nursery gardens – organic vegetable dishes, such as artichokes braised with preserved lemon sage and black olives, feature alongside seasonal plates of, say, roasted quail with walnut sauce or white polenta with squid and sherry butter. Booking in advance is essential. There’s also a teahouse for sandwiches, tea and cakes. Because of local residents and council concerns about traffic increasing with the cafe’s popularity, patrons are aske…
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Greenhouse
Located in an incongruously uninspiring building in a mews at the end of a wonderful sculpted ‘garden’, 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 (£80) is only for the intrepid and truly hungry. Greenhouse doles out so many freebies – from amuses-gueule (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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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 decor 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, or roast fillet of cod with creamed white polenta, which combine traditional English mainstays with modern European innovation. The Glasshouse is sister restaurant to Chez Bruce in Wandsworth.
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Boundary
This is the extraordinary new venture for Sir Terence Conran, who was London’s most prolific restaurateur until the recent sale of his portfolio of some 29 restaurants. Boundary marks his re-entry to the capital’s eating scene – a combination of two eateries, a hotel and a fantastic rooftop terrace. The ground-floor cafe-cum-deli is great for a light meal (£3 to £6) or a posh cuppa, while the subterranean restaurant is the spot for a glamorous meal of French and British cooking, with a focus on seafood, cheese and charcuterie.
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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.
Busy for lunch, it's a real find in the evening, when you're always guaranteed a seat. It's fully licensed and serves vodka smoothies.
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Wild Honey
Wild Honey has had consistently good reviews for years now, for its food and wine, relaxed atmosphere and professional service. Sister to Arbutus, Wild Honey does inventive dishes, such as salad of crab with white peach and almonds, and straightforward mains like slow-cooked pork belly or roast chicken with veg, all cooked to perfection. The desserts range from wild-honey ice cream with crushed honeycomb, to delicious English wild strawberries in the summer months. The menu is seasonal, so surprises await.
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Wolseley
This erstwhile Bentley car showroom has been transformed into an opulent Viennese-style brasserie, with golden chandeliers and stunning black-and-white tiled floors, and it remains a great place for spotting celebrities. That said, the Wolseley tends to work better for breakfast, brunch or tea, rather than lunch or dinner, when the dishes (choucroute à l’Alsacienne, Wiener schnitzel) are somewhat stodgy and the black-attired staff more than a bit frayed. Daily specials are £15.75.
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Bibendum
Located in listed art nouveau Michelin House, Bibendum offers upstairs dining in a spacious and light room with stained-glass windows, where you can savour fabulous and creative food, and what, it must be said, is fairly ordinary service. The Bibendum Oyster Bar on the ground floor offers a front-row seat from which to admire the building’s architectural finery while lapping up terrific native and rock oysters (per half-dozen £12; mains £7.50 to £10.50)
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Bacchus
The speciality of chef Nuno Mendes - sous-vide cooking in which ingredients are slow-cooked in a vacuum for hours and hours - is put to the test at this smart erstwhile pub and succeeds. The rabbit mousse is just this side of absolute perfection but you must try the langoustines with Catalan mix to experience one of Mendes' signature foams (in this case a hot garlic one). For mains, expect the likes of warm cod wrapped in chicken skin and sesame-crusted squab with foie gras.
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Bermondsey Kitchen
As this is a great place to curl up on the sofas with the Sunday newspapers or enjoy brunch at the weekend, it’s hardly surprising that many locals seem to have made BK their second living room. The Modern European food (with a nod towards the Mediterranean) that comes from the open grill is as homely and unpretentious as the butcher-block tables, and the refreshingly brief menu (six starters and as many mains) changes daily. Set lunch can cost below £10 on weekdays.
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Capital
Of the eight restaurants in London to have been awarded two Michelin stars, the Capital behind Harrods is the least known, and so much the better. The modern yet warmth-inducing decor, welcoming and accommodating staff and chef Eric Chavot’s award-winning dishes (roasted lobster with chilli and coconut broth, a saddle of rabbit seared calamari and tomato risotto) all remain our secret. And now yours. Tasting menu is £70 (add £55 for accompanying wines).
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Hoxton Apprentice
This is another training restaurant where worthy applicants do their time at the stove. It may lack the glamour of Fifteen, but it’s still a sleek establishment with bubble lighting and seating on two levels. It’s tucked away and unknown to most people, on one of East London’s trendiest squares. The menu is a range of classic dishes, such as fishcakes, Cumberland sausages with mash and Navarin of lamb.
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Arbutus
This Michelin-starred brainchild of Anthony Demetre does great British food, focuses on seasonal produce and just keeps on getting better. Try inventive dishes such as squid and mackerel ‘burger’, slow-cooked lamb, sweetbreads and artichokes, and don’t miss the bargain £15.50 for a three-course lunch or £17.50 for a three-course pre- and post-theatre dinner. Booking in advance is essential.
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Kensington Place
Trailblazing chef Rowley Leigh has flown the coop, leaving Kensington Place in the hands of the successors to the Conran chain. But that’s not such a bad thing for the budget-conscious, with identically priced set meals served at lunch and dinner. The impressive glass frontage, design-driven interior and attached Fish Shop, which is always helpful for inspiration, remain in place.
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Vincent Rooms
Here you’re essentially offering yourself up as a guinea pig for the student chefs at Westminster Kingsway College, where celebrity chef and overall nice guy Jamie Oliver trained. Service is nervously eager to please, the atmosphere in both the Brasserie and the Escoffier Room is smarter than expected, and the food (including veggie options) ranges from well-executed to occasionally exquisite.
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Blue Print Café
Behind glass on the 1st floor of the Design Museum and aided by opera glasses at each table, customers have stunning views of Tower Bridge and the so-called Gherkin at 30 St Mary Axe. Food is simple but tasty, with the most straightforward dishes usually working best. Look for Jerusalem artichoke soup, beetroot salad and fish dishes such as bream with seakale, cabbage, clams and bacon.
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Tom Aikens
The Tom of the title made his name by picking up two Michelin stars at Pied à Terre by the time he was only 26. He returned with this handsome restaurant in 2003 and, three years later, the even more relaxed Tom's Kitchen nearby. The food here is excellent, with phenomenal starters like braised scallops with pork belly and partridge with truffled mash.
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Acorn House
We’ve enjoyed several top-notch meals at London’s first ‘totally ecofriendly’ training restaurant – a venture of the Shoreditch Trust, but one that in no way feels like a charity. Fresh seasonal ingredients, an inventive modern British menu and a sleek, buzzing space make for an excellent lunch or dinner spot.
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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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Launceston Place
This exceptionally handsome restaurant on a picture-postcard Kensington street of Edwardian houses is about the chic-est address in this part of town at the moment. The food, prepared by chef Tristan Welsh, a protégé of Marcus Wareing, tastes as divine as it looks. The adventurous (and flush) will go for the tasting menu (£52).
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Clerkenwell Dining Room
Up there with Club Gascon and St John in producing some of Clerkenwell's best food, the Dining Room is a little less formal and expensive than those two. Chef Andrew Thompson's menu here, although regularly changing, sticks fairly closely to classic combinations with dishes like salmon with sorrel sauce and lamb with rosemary jus.
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