Visiting London? Sejal Sukhadwala names ten food venues that are unmissable.
London's food scene is always changing, so trying to put together a list of 'best' places for food is always a challenge.
A list such as this is bound to be arbitrary: where are the revered Hawksmoor or Le Gavroche, for instance; or any of the burger joints, ramen bars or trendy street food trucks that define London’s current dining scene?
After scribbling down an initial list, I changed my mind several times before settling for places that I not only love, but which also happen to be iconic, highly acclaimed, or innovative.
So here’s my current top ten.
Pollen Street Social
Acclaimed chef Jason Atherton was one of the first in London to introduce ‘small sharing plates’ at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze some years ago – an idea that’s been copied relentlessly ever since. At Atherton’s own bistro, pictured above, he offers ‘casual fine dining’: beautiful and intricate dishes prepared with wit and a light touch in smart yet informal surroundings.
Expect Cornish turbot roasted with capers, brown butter, samphire, cobnuts, grapes and caper gnocchi; and a small vegetarian menu featuring pearl barley cooked in cep mushroom milk with roasted goat’s curd and fried courgettes.
Lina Stores
Established in 1944, this legendary deli sells imported Italian products and food freshly cooked daily on site. Here you’ll find classic and unusual antipasti items such as lilliput capers in Champagne vinegar, freshly baked cakes, cheeses like the best-selling 24-month-aged parmesan, robusta coffee beans and Italian branded coffees.
The shop is renowned for its own-made pork and fennel sausages, and fresh egg pastas in classic and adventurous flavours.
The Ledbury
Try Herdwick lamb with salt-baked turnips, ewe’s milk and garlic shoots or, from the vegetarian menu, crisp quail’s egg with chestnuts and perigord truffle. There’s an emphasis on game meats and unusual vegetables and herbs. The wine list is hugely impressive too.
Brindisa Food Rooms
The handsome venue is modelled on Catalan llesqueries – sort of ‘bruschetta bars’ – and showcases traditional cured, salted and seasoned foods from small Spanish producers and rural cheese-makers. Here you’ll find Iberico pork products, boquerones (fresh pickled anchovies), mojama (salt-cured, air-dried tuna slices), and cow’s, goat’s and sheep’s milk cheeses. There are Spanish groceries too, such as piquillo peppers, marcona almonds, gordal olives and calasparra rice.
Polpo
Leading restaurateur Russell Norman took the idea of ‘small sharing plates’ a step further when he opened Polpo five years ago. Very simple food made from top-notch ingredients served tapas-style in fashionably rustic surroundings was somewhat ground-breaking at the time, and created an instant buzz on London’s rapidly-evolving dining scene.
Polpo now has restaurants in Covent Garden, Smithfield and Notting Hill, but the original Soho branch has just been refurbished and remains my favourite. The menu of this Venetian-style bacaro is focused on cicheti (tapas) like crab and chickpea crostini, pizzette in flavours like cured pork shoulder and pickled pepper, and meatballs including veal and porcini.
William Curley
But it’s his Belgravia store, which has a dessert bar that hosts a five-course dessert menu at weekends and offers chocolate-making classes, that’s noteworthy. Chocolates come in flavours like award-winning rosemary and olive oil and, as Curley’s wife Suzue is from Osaka, Japanese influences abound in apricot and wasabi chocolates, green tea cake, and white chocolate and miso ice cream.
Curley, who’s won ‘Britain’s Best Chocolatier’ award several times, also specialises in choc-tastic French patisserie.
Maltby Street Market & Spa Terminus
Somewhat confusing for first-time visitors – and located close to the better-known Borough Market – this increasingly popular weekend artisan food market started in 2010 under the railway arches in Bermondsey. Over the years, it’s spread out to Ropewalk and Druid Street, and some of the original traders have moved to the nearby Spa Terminus.
Look out for African Volcano, Tozino, Maltby & Greek and Little Bird Gin in Maltby Street. In the Spa Terminus, The Kernel Brewery, O’Shea’s Butchery, St John Bakery, Kappacasein, The Ice Cream Union and Fern Verrow are all worth a visit.
Natoora
Their French history, combined with premium Italian products and local British ingredients, puts them in a unique position to sell carefully-sourced, top-quality, natural, seasonal produce that might otherwise be hard to find.
They have a Saturday stall in Spa Terminus, and a shop opened in Chiswick more recently. Although they sell free-range meats, fish, and charcuterie, it’s their fruit and veg I get truly excited about. Currently they’re selling strawberry fragolina grapes, fresh wet walnuts, purple kohlrabi and baby white beetroot.
Gymkhana
Dishes include achari roe deer chops with seekh kebab, mooli pickle and keema naan, and a vegetarian tasting menu featuring tandoori broccoli with green chilli raita. Don’t miss spicy cocktails in the basement bar, modelled on 17th century East India punch houses.
Stelle di Stelle pop-up at Harrods
From this month to January 2015, five of Italy’s best chefs are taking up residency in the Harrods’ wine cellars. This pop-up restaurant will be redesigned every month, and each chef is serving their signature dishes.
Boasting 13 Michelin stars between them, the restaurants include Da Vittorio from Bergamo (October), Torre del Saracino from Naples (November), Enoteca Pinchiorri from Florence (December), and Alba’s Piazza Duomo (January), which is on the ‘world’s 50 best’ list.
Carlo Cracco from Milan’s Ristorante Cracco kicks off the proceedings this month (September), with a five-course menu that includes green tomato risotto with langoustines and toasted pine nuts, and marinated egg yolk with beef tartare, white truffle and pomegranates.
You can locate all of the above on the map below.
Do you agree with my choices? What are YOUR favourite places to eat in London? Let me know in the Comments box below.
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