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Six 13
Central London's poshest kosher restaurant, Six 13 (the name comes from the 613 mitzvots, or commandments, that are binding on religious Jews) is certified glatt by the Sephardic Kashrut Authority of the UK. Dishes are relatively inventive but authentic; a three-course set meal is around £43 .
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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 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 around £20 ) 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-starred Michelin chef Pierre Gagnaire attract an exclusive crowd. Upstairs you'll also find the East Bar, with a dozen of London's most unusual individual loos.
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Skylon
This cavernous restaurant on the top of the refurbished Royal Festival Hall is divided into grill and fine-dining sections with a large bar in the centre of the room separating the two. Floor-to-ceiling windows offer stunning views of the Thames and the City, and the decor of muted colours and period chairs harkens back to the 1951 Festival of Britain when the hall opened. Try the stuffed baby squids with preserved lemon and the smoked halibut with spring artichokes. Weekday lunch is around £20 for two/three courses.
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Smiths of Smithfield
After the hubbub of the cavernous bar and cafe on the ground floor, where you can grab breakfast (all day from around £5 ) and lunch, there are two quieter places to dine: the wine rooms on the 1st floor (small plates and sandwiches), brasserie (mains all around £12 and around £13 ) on the 2nd floor and the rooftop dining room (around £17 to around £29 ) above that, which has great views of Smithfield Market and St Paul's Cathedral. The linking factor is a focus on top-quality British meat and organic produce.
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Snazz.Sichuan
As one London-based hack who knows a thing or two about Chinese food put it, 'Snazz is almost too authentic'. And we know what he means; tongue in hot oil, pig ear with ginger and special cooked pig blood in casserole just don't cut the mustard even with old China hands like us. But other Sichuan favourites - twice-cooked pork, gong bo chicken with chillies and peanuts, a noodle dish with mince called 'ants climbing trees' - are also available at this very authentic restaurant catering almost exclusively to Chinese people. Look for the rickshaw out front.
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St John
Clerkenwell's most famous restaurant and its famous carve 'im up pig logo has spawned its own book ( Nose to Tail Eating, by chef Fergus Henderson), and indeed this much-acclaimed, enduringly hip place really is for adventurous carnivores who want to sample old-style English cuisine. The signature dish is roast bone-marrow salad with parsley, and the changing daily menu includes such specialities as chitterlings and chips, calf's brain terrine and smoked eel with beetroot. There are more familiar choices, including the odd vegetarian dish, but St John, with its minimalist white dining room and patient staff, remains a Rabelaisian experience.
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St John Bread & Wine
Little sister to St John in Clerkenwell, this place is cheaper and more relaxed but offers similar 'nose to tail' traditional fare (duck hearts on toast, jellied ham, salt lamb and turnips) in an austere (though airy) space popular with Spitalfields creative types. There's also excellent British cheese and puddings.
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Stara Polska
As authentic a restauracja polska as you'll find west of Warsaw, 'Old Poland' serves up simple but well-made favourites to veteran and newly arrived Polish London residents alike. Surely this is just the start of a trend towards 'mom and pop' Polish eateries across London.
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Sweeting's
Sweeting's is a City institution, having been around since 1830. It hasn't changed much, with its small sit-down restaurant area, mosaic floor and narrow counters, behind which stand waiters in white aprons. Dishes include wild smoked salmon, oysters (in season from September to April), potted shrimps, eels and Sweeting's famous fish pie (around £13 ).
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Taman Gang
This basement restaurant just metres from the traffic chaos of Marble Arch is an oasis of tranquillity, suffused with incense and buzzing with a smart yet surprisingly informal Park Lane crowd. The interesting menu fuses Indonesian and Malaysian with Chinese and Japanese classics. On our last visit, the crispy aromatic duck roll was superb, while honey-glazed lamb cutlets with crispy lotus was of a similarly high standard but low size.
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Taqueria
You won't find fresher, crispier tacos anywhere in London and that's seguro because the 'Tacory' (for lack of a better translation) makes it own fresh corn tortillas next door as you'll see through the window. It's a small casual place serving the American version of Mexican food as enjoyed in Texas and California.
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Tas Pide
Tas Pide, part of the small chain of Tas restaurants, distinguishes itself with lower, carved chairs and tables and Turkish pizzas.
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Thyme
As at Clerkenwell's Club Gascon, dishes are starter size only, and served tapas style. So, although the prices look low, this is a mid-range place if you're in any way hungry. It's still worth the outlay, though, because the tastes at this multi-award-winning gem are innovative, subtle and divine. Book ahead.
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Tinseltown
Tinseltown is an American-style basement diner, serving pretty average pastas, burgers and grills. But its big advantage is the fact that it is open 24-hours a day, seven days a week, which is a boon to the after-club crowds who are looking for no-frills recovery food rather than an exquisite gourmet meal.
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Toff's
This one-time British chipper of the year is renowned for providing large quantities of fresh fish, beautifully battered and flawlessly fried. It's a friendly place and they do takeaway as well.
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Tokyo Diner
Everyday Japanese food at everyday prices is what Tokyo Diner's all about, and you can't ask for fairer than that. The waiters are all Japanese; they are discreet and graceful in their service, and very knowledgeable about the food. The miso is ordinary but the Japanese-style curry is tops, as are the noodle dishes.
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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. The tasting menu is around £80 (or around £140 with accompanying wines).
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Tom's Kitchen
There's never been any question about chef Tom Aikens' technical skill, but his cooking has sometimes been criticised as overly fussy. In this new brasserie-style 'diffusion' restaurant, however, this Michelin-starred genius is not only bringing good, more affordable food to the mass market, he's sticking to uncomplicated fare such as soups, casseroles and pies, plus classic fish, meat and poultry dishes.
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Trojka
This cafe/restaurant serves good-value and pretty authentic Russian and Eastern European, with a wide variety of zakuski (Russian tapas-like starters) from around £3 to around £8 and mains like Russian pierog (a pie of sauerkraut and vegetables), bigos (a cabbage 'stew' with mixed meats) and salt beef, in an attractive skylit restaurant frequented by local bohos. Avoid the house wine by bringing your own. There's live Russian music at the weekend.
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Tsunami
The food at this celebrated restaurant exhibits the style and taste you'd expect from an ex-Nobu chef. The sushi is exquisite, but it's the more unusual dishes, like ebi prawns wrapped in Greek pastry and butternut squash, and especially the mint-tea duck with pear and sweet honey miso, that will really bowl you over.
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Tugga
The psychedelically floral wallpaper and cerise and purple cushions in this King's Rd restaurant make it a favourite with the Chelsea set, who come to enjoy the Portuguese cuisine (which is sold as modern but is actually more classic). The long menu of pestiscos (starters; around £5 to around £8 allows you to sample such classics as roasted chorizo, caldo verde (Portuguese green cabbage soup) and bacalhau à Brás (dried cod with potatoes, egg and onion).
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Twelfth House
This lovely Notting Hill coffee house has a kooky astrological edge. The bar is dominated by an amazing astrological clock and the owner, Priscilla, is an astrologer who comes in three times a week (phone to find out when) and works out your chart or reads your 'tarot card of the day' on request (for an around £5 charge). If she's not in, the waitress can provide you with a card detailing the characteristics of your star sign.
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Ubon
Ubon gets as many rave reviews as its big sister, Nobu, which is of course its name spelt backward. While customers argue over whether you really get value for money here (set lunch is a snip at around £21 to around £31 ), the selling point has to be the breathtaking Thames views from every corner, including the fabulous sushi bar. The restaurant has its own dedicated entrance next to the Four Seasons hotel and its own lift.
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Veeraswamy
Having opened in 1926, this upmarket curry house can lay claim to being the oldest Indian restaurant in Britain. It's now owned by the same people who run Masala Zone and the standards are as high as ever, with the kitchen producing such crowd-pleasers as slow-cooked Hyderabad lambbiryaniand Keralan-style sea bass.
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Verso
This unpretentious neighbourhood restaurant serves consistently excellent pizza (around £6 to around £9 ), including such unfamiliar varieties as rocket, grilled prawn and courgette pizza bianca (without tomato paste). Pasta (around £8 to around £11 ) is also excellent, as are the seafood dishes and terrific homemade desserts.
