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Fino
Critically acclaimed (and it's easy to see why), Fino represents the resurgence of Spanish cuisine in a London all too dominated by dreary and uninventive tapas bars. Set in a glamorous basement on one of the city's premier eating strips, Fino is a tapas restaurant with a difference. Try the Jerusalem artichoke cooked with mint, the prawn tortilla with wild garlic or the foie gras with chilli jam for a feast of innovative and delightful Spanish cooking.
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Fishworks
Spawning at a rate that can only discourage confidence, this Bath-based chain now counts 10 outlets in London alone, including an Islington branch. But as FishWorks was London's first truly French poissonnerie (fishmonger) with a restaurant attached, its entranceway counters piled high with shaved ice, crustaceans and fish, we return regularly, especially for the sublime Dartmouth crab eaten cold and the incomparable zuppa del pescatore (fisherman's soup; around £20 ), a symphony of delights from the deep.
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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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Food for Thought
This tiny vegetarian café is big on sociability and flavour, and small on price and space. Food ranges from soups and salads to stews and stir-fries with brown rice. Dishes might be vegan, organic and/or gluten-free. Food for Thought is earthy, unpretentious and deservedly packed.
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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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Fujiyama
This deceptively small Japanese place behind Dogstar , with its welcoming dark-red interior and communal benches, has a large choice of bento boxes, noodles, tempura, miso soups and sushi and sashimi on its lengthy menu.
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Gallipoli
A popular, cheek-by-jowl restaurant with fusty Turkish decorations and acceptable food (for its location), including everything from meze to spicy vegetarian moussaka.
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Garrison
The Garrison's traditional green-tiled exterior and minimalist (distressed, rather) beach-shack interior are both appealing and it boasts an actual cinema in its basement, but it's the comfort food (shepherd's pie, kedgeree, lentil and pumpkin vegetarian loaf) that brings the punters to this evergreen gastropub. If you don't fancy nearly bashing your neighbour's elbow every time you lift your fork, though, come for breakfast (weekdays to ) or weekend brunch ( to ).
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Gate
Widely considered the best vegetarian restaurant in town, Gate has a horrible location surrounded by wasteland and flyovers. But the inventive dishes (Cajun aubergine, shitake wonton and pumpkin laksa), friendly and welcoming staff and the relaxed atmosphere make the trek here all worthwhile. Surprisingly enough, it's the white chocolate and amaretto cheesecake that gets recurring rave reviews, as do the simple but inspired starters and the fine wine list.
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Gay Hussar
This is the Soho of the 1950s, when dining was still done in the grand style in wood-panelled rooms with brocade and sepia prints on the walls. And they serve portions only the Hungarians do: try the roast duck leg duck with all the trimmings (around £17 ) or the 'Gypsy quick dish' of pork medallions, onions and green peppers (around £15 ). Two/three courses lunch is £16.50/18.50.
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Geales
Gregarious Geales, established in 1939 and recently overhauled (both premises and menu), has become a popular fixture with locals and tourists alike. The menu now includes fish pie and even sirloin steak. Geales is, of course, more expensive than your everyday chipper, but it's arguably the best there is in London. There's outside seating.
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Glas
A favourite when it was in Borough Market, Glas remains a mecca in its new location perched above Upper St in Islington. It's still the best Swedish restaurant in town and its 'grazing' portions (from around £4 to £8 ) allow you to try a number of specialities, including the phenomenal herring three ways and salmon pudding with horseradish sauce. The three-course set lunch is around £15 . The welcome here is always warm and the service friendly.
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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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Golden Hind
This 90-year-old chippie has a classic interior, chunky wooden tables and builders sitting alongside suits. And from the vintage fryer comes some of the best cod and chips available in London.
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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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Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's
This match made in heaven - London's most celebrated chef in arguably its grandest hotel - will make you weak at the knees. A meal in the gorgeous Art Deco dining room is a special occasion indeed; the Ramsay flavours will have you reeling, from the pressed foie gras marinated in white port and the cannon of salt marsh lamb with crystallised walnuts and cumin all the way to the cheese trolley, whether you choose the one with French, British or Irish number plates. Consider the six-course tasting menu (around £75 ).
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Grafton House
The A-list of Clapham rub shoulders in this very stylish bar/restaurant with marble floors, tropical hardwood tables and curved leather sofas. The menu is modern international - simple but with that extra caress (pumpkin risotto, venison and plum burger, lobster, crab and salmon fishcake) - and brunch is a big deal here, served daily from to . There's live jazz on Sunday evenings.
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Green & Red
Mexican food is enjoying something of a renaissance in London and this bar and cantina is a welcome addition to Banglatown. The shack-like décor sets the mood for such authentic dishes as slow-cooked pork belly with chillies and orange salt and roasted vegetable in chilli salsa. In the bar downstairs choose your poison from among the more than 100 tequilas on offer.
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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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Green Papaya
This oasis just south of the landmark Hackney Empire music hall serves Vietnamese food of very high quality and tends to put a 'modern' spin on many of the dishes. Try the banh tom (lightly fried strips of sweet potato and king prawns), the banana flower salad and the 'Mama's Pork', slow-cooked with mushrooms and vegetables. The staff are enthusiastic and helpful.
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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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Gun
At Docklands, Gun is a restored dockers' pub that has Georgian fireplaces and a riverside terrace with front-seat views of the Millennium Dome. Modern British fare is on the menu.
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Hakkasan
This basement restaurant - hidden down a most unlikely back alleyway - combines celebrity status, stunning design, persuasive cocktails and surprisingly sophisticated Chinese food - it was the first Chinese restaurant to receive a Michelin star - to great success. The low, nightclub-style lighting (lots of red) makes it a good spot for dating, while the long, glitzy bar is a great place for truly inventive cocktails. For dinner in the formal main dining room you'll have to book far in advance and no doubt be allocated a two-hour slot. Do what savvy Londoners do and have lunch in the more informal Ling Ling lounge.
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Harlem
The funky feel, chunky chandeliers and smiling staff are just the first things that might impress you about this excellent restaurant serving black American cuisine. The menu is just as noteworthy, including such exotica as buttermilk fried chicken, fried catfish and chicken and shrimp gumbo. It's a great place for a meal, and breakfast is served until every day.
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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.
