Modern European restaurants in England
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A
Le Café Anglais
This bustling restaurant has a very eclectic menu (from gigantic roasts to Thai curries) that means to please everybody and usually does.
reviewed
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B
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…
reviewed
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C
Greenhouse
Located 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. The tasting menu (£90) is only for the intrepid and truly hungry. Greenhouse doles out so many freebies – from amuses-gueule (appetisers) and inter-course sorbets to petits fours at the finale – you’ll never get up.
reviewed
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D
Glasshouse
Round off a day at Kew Gardens at this superb restaurant. The glass-fronted exterior reveals a delicately lit, low-key interior, where the focus remains on the divinely cooked food. Diners revel in a menu from chef Daniel Mertl that combines English mainstays with modern European innovation. With a great weekend kid’s lunch menu, the Glasshouse is sister restaurant to Chez Bruce in Wandsworth.
reviewed
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E
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.
reviewed
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F
Wild Honey
Wild Honey receives consistently good reviews for its food and wine, stunning wood-panelled dining room and professional service. The menu is seasonal, so surprises await; you’ll generally find a combination of inventive dishes, such as salad of crab with white peach and almonds and classic mains like grilled rib-eye of beef with bone marrow and young spring vegetables, all cooked to perfection.
reviewed
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G
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.
reviewed
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H
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)
reviewed
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I
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.
reviewed
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J
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.
reviewed
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K
Skylon
Named after the defunct 1950s tower, this excellent restaurant on top of the refurbished Royal Festival Hall is divided into grillroom and fine-dining sections by a large bar (open 11am to 1am). The decor is cutting-edge 1950s: muted colours and period chairs (trendy then, trendier now) while floor-to-ceiling windows bathe you in magnificent views of the Thames and the City. Weekday lunch is £24.50/28.50 for two/three courses. Dress smart casual (no sportswear).
reviewed
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L
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).
reviewed
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M
Delfina
This white-walled restaurant in a converted Victorian chocolate factory serves delicious modern cuisine to a backdrop of contemporary canvases. Sunday roasts are popular.
reviewed
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N
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’, sweetbreads and artichokes or pieds et paquets (lamb tripe parcels with pig trotters) and don’t miss the bargain £16.95 for a three-course lunch or £17.95 for a three-course pre- and post-theatre dinner. Booking is essential.
reviewed
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O
Kensington Place
The impressive glass frontage and design-driven interior look a little corporate to our taste, but the food certainly has soul. The emphasis is on seafood, with the adjoining fishmonger’s providing the goods, although there are some very decent vegetarian and meat options, too.
reviewed
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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 Jamie Oliver was 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 excellent vegie options) ranges from wonderful to exquisite – at prices that puts other culinary stars to shame.
reviewed
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Q
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.
reviewed
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R
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.
reviewed
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S
Wapping Food
Stylish dining room set among the innards of a disused power station, creating a spectacular and unexpectedly romantic atmosphere. The high-quality, seasonal menu changes daily but might include guinea fowl wrapped in pancetta, or onglet with beetroot and horseradish. The owner is Australian, which accounts for the exclusively Australian wine list. The ‘Project’ (of which the restaurant is a part) also contains a regularly changing exhibition space (noon to 10pm Monday to Friday, 10am to 10pm Saturday), which is well worth popping into.
reviewed
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T
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.
reviewed
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U
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.
reviewed
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V
Launceston Place
This exceptionally handsome restaurant on a picture-postcard Kensington street of Edwardian houses is super-chic. The food, prepared by chef Tristan Welch, a protégé of Marcus Wareing, tastes as divine as it looks. The adventurous (and flush) will go for the tasting menu (£52).
reviewed
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W
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.
reviewed
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X
Andrew Edmunds
This cosy little place is exactly the sort of restaurant you wish you could find everywhere in Soho. Two floors of wood-panelled bohemia with a mouth-watering menu of French (confit of duck) and European (penne with goat’s cheese) country cooking – it’s a real find and reservations are essential.
reviewed
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Y
Royal Exchange Grand Café & Bar
This cafe sits in the middle of the covered courtyard of the beautiful Royal Exchange building. The food runs the gamut from breakfast, salads and sandwiches to oysters (from £11 a half-dozen) and duck confit (£13).
reviewed