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Levantine
Levantine is an atmospheric Thousand and One Nights -themed restaurant (lots of red velvet cushions and brassy stuff) where the set menus (including a vegetarian one) are the best value. The fare is well prepared and delicious, including wonderful renditions of Lebanese staples such as tahini, hummus and muhammarah (mixed nuts crushed with red pepper) as well as more complex grills. The inevitable belly dancer makes an appearance at weekends.
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Lindsay House
Richard Corrigan is the Irish chef and character behind this superb restaurant, where you'll be won over to 'new Irish cuisine' - no sniggering, it's something to behold. Dishes are simple and hearty but exquisitely executed (like poached ballotine of sea bass with pickled cabbage and oysters).
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Little Georgia
A charming slice of the Caucasus in East London, LG is an excellent introduction to the cuisine of Georgia (as in Tbilisi, not Atlanta or midnight trains). Here the menu includes dishes such as nigziani (red pepper or aubergine stuffed with walnuts, herbs and roast vegetables), chicken satsivi in walnut sauce and the Georgian classic staple khachapuri (cheese bread). The café is a good place for breakfast and does takeaway lunch.
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Lobster Pot
This charming French-owned restaurant hidden in the wastelands south of Elephant & Castle turns out excellently prepared fish and seafood dishes à la française (think lots of butter and garlic) to an appreciative local cognoscenti. An eight-course tasting menu is around £40 .
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Locanda Locatelli
Co-founder, celebrity chef Giorgio Locatelli, has brought some of the best Italian cooking to London in the past decade and the menu here continues to show his inventiveness and attention to detail. It's still hard to get a table here without booking way in advance, but it's worth the effort, especially for the sublime pasta dishes (from £8 ).
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Lots Road Pub & Dining Room
No one has a bad thing to say about this tucked-away gastropub, aside from the minor affectation of listing prices in hundreds of pence. Light floods through the windows into the high-ceilinged, wood-lined curved dining area and onto the black and chrome bar, where choice wines are sold by the glass. The regularly changing menu reads as pretty standard fare - roast pork, salmon, lamb - but it's all delicious and dependable.
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Lou Pescadou
Simplicity and elegance meet at this wonderful seafood restaurant, an Earl's Court favourite among the many ordinary eateries on Old Brompton Rd. Should you have trouble understanding the mostly French menu, the staff are happy to help. The wine list is almost all French.
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Lounge Café
As much a bar as a place to eat, this self-styled 'original urban retreat' has breakfast, day and evening menus with everything from vegetarian fry-ups and burgers to meze platters. It's an excellent place for a cocktail and a nosh and there's live music.
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Lucio
One of our favourite Italian eateries in London, Lucio is decidedly top-end but not overly so. Try the exquisitely cooked pasta with clams, the crab ravioli or, when in season, the deep-fried courgette. The surrounds are understatedly stylish, the clientele subdued and the service seamless.
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Ma Goa
The speciality here is the subtle cuisine of Portugal's erstwhile colony on the west coast of India. Specialities include the homemade chorizo topped with a spicy onion sauce and fish caldin , a sour-sweet coconut-based concoction.
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Maison Bertaux
Maison Bertaux has exquisite confections, unhurried service, a French bohemian vibe and 130 years of history on this spot.
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Mandalay
Despite looking not unlike a greasy spoon and being located on this particularly grim part of Edgware Rd, Mandalay is actually one of the capital's most wonderful secrets, not to mention its only Burmese restaurant. Burmese cuisine is never going to win any awards on the world culinary stage but the crispy a kyaw fritters of vegetables and shrimps and the spicy bottle gourd soup with noodles make great starters, while the twice-cooked fish curry with tamarind and lime is delicious.
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Mandarin Kitchen
This popular Cantonese restaurant with the naff décor prepares some of the best seafood in town so be prepared to wait for a table at the busiest times (eg Sunday lunch) if you haven't booked. Lobster, prawns, whole steamed grouper - all is excellent and they have a particular way with what must be house-made XO sauce, a newfangled condiment made from crushed dried scallops, chilli, garlic and oil.
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Mangal Ocakbasi
Mangal is the quintessential Turkish ocakbasi (open hooded grill) restaurant: cramped and smoky and serving superb meze, grilled lamb chops, quail and lahmacun , Turkish 'pizza' topped with minced meat, onions and peppers. It's been here for almost 20 years and is London's worst-kept secret.
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Mango Room
With delightful pastel décor and genteel service, Mango Room is a kind of decaf Caribbean experience, although there's no holding back with the food: cod fritters with apple chutney, salt fish with ackee (a yellow-skinned Jamaican fruit that has an uncanny resemblance to scrambled eggs), and curried goat with hot pepper and spices. The early-ska/Jamaican-jazz soundtrack is wicked.
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Manna
Tucked away on a side street in Primrose Hill, London's most glamorous inner-city village, this little place does a brisk trade in inventive vegetarian cooking. The menu features such mouth-watering dishes as Kashmiri curry, aubergine tempura and organic fennel schnitzel (though some reports suggest that not all dishes are a howling success).
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Marine Ices
As its name suggests, this Chalk Farm institution started out as an ice-cream parlour (in fact, a Sicilian gelateria ) but these days it does some savoury dishes as well, including pizzas and hearty pasta dishes. Be sure to try some of the excellent ice cream, which has its own menu.
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Masala Zone
This spacious place with outside seating set back from Upper St in Islington is one of the best Indian budget options in London. Thoroughly modern in design, it serves up meals centred on its famous thalis, as well as tandoor and grilled dishes. There's also a Soho branch ( M04A6; 7287 9966; 9 Marshall St W1; ;Oxford Circus) serving equally authentic fare.
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Masaledar
If you're a true curry junkie and neither Brick Lane nor Whitechapel will do, the capital's contemporary hotspot is in the suburban wilds of SW17 - or Tooting. Near Tooting Broadway and Tooting Bec tube stations, you'll find rows of neighbouring curry houses, from Bangladeshi to Sri Lankan, including Masaledar, a tandoori house with East African specialities.
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Matsuri
This high-quality and very authentic Japanese restaurant on the fringe of the City can sometimes feel a little sterile, although the quality of the food is extremely high. With a sushi counter and stylish dining room on the ground floor and a large teppanyaki room in the basement where the meals are prepared in all seriousness by celebrated chef Hiroshi Sudo, there's plenty of choice.
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Medcalf
Despite its erratic kitchen hours (the bar itself is open all day), Medcalf is one of the best-value hang-outs in Exmouth Market. Housed in a beautifully converted butcher shop dating back to 1912, Medcalf serves up innovative yet relatively affordable British fare. Highlights on our visit were whelks and winkles with parsley and white wine, scrumptious devilled kidneys and goose with black pudding that was cooked to perfection.
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Mela
Despite its location in the heart of theatreland, this bustling Shaftesbury Ave eatery serves some pretty authentic dishes from across India (with an emphasis on tandoor) and there is magnificent choice for vegetarians. We love the décor too, with colourful papier-mâché Ferris wheels and naive paintings of carnivals and fairs ( mela means 'festival' in Hindi).
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Mesón Los Barriles
This restaurant inside Spitalfields Market serves up some very fresh fish main courses but hardly anyone comes here for those. The draw at the 'Barrels House' is the excellent selection of tapas (around £3 to around £8 ). Sawdust on the floor and air-dried hams overhead add to the rustic market feel of the place.
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Mestizo
If your idea of Mexican food is tacos and gluggy refried beans, think again. At this large and very attractive restaurant and tequila bar just down from the Latin Quarter guitar shop you'll find everything from quesadillas (cheese-filled pasties) to filled corn enchiladas . But go for the specials: pozole, a thick fresh corn soup with meat, and several different preparations of mole, chicken or pork cooked in a rich sauce containing everything but the proverbial sink (including chocolate).
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Metrogusto
This laid-back place with delightful modern art on the walls serves progressive, modern (if somewhat pricey) Italian cuisine. Choose something like pizza or pasta or more substantial mains such as the carne del giorno (meat of the day) and pesce di mercato (fish of the market). Seating is a bit cramped.
