43 Best Restaurants in London, England

One of only three three-Michelin-starred restaurants in the city, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester achieves the pinnacle of classical French haute cuisine in a surprisingly fun, lively, and unstuffy salon. Diners feast on a blizzard of beautifully choreographed dishes, including classic rum baba with Chantilly cream, sliced open and served in a silver domed tureen. Slick service is off-the-scale outstanding, while the sommelier is a brilliantly charming expert on all things vino.

Ask for a table in the dreamy, white blossom–filled conservatory at this warm, cozy, and seriously romantic Provençal country-style inn off Covent Garden. Once inside, you'll be won over by the old-fashioned but refined French cuisine. Options include Loire Valley rabbit ballotine, poached wild turbot, and Charolais beef cheeks with fine French beans. Lunch specials and pre-and post-theater prix fixe menus are an affordable way to experience the cuisine and celebratory atmosphere. With its warren of candlelit, oak-paneled rooms and open fires, Clos Maggiore never fails to enchant.

Currently the only British female chef with three Michelin stars, Clare Smyth fuses her classical French culinary training with a devotion to quality British produce. Must-try plates include her to-die-for signature dish of a baked potato delicately filled with dulse beurre blanc, herring, and trout roe. Watch the kitchen at work through a floor-to-ceiling glass partition as they conjure up their magic.

The last days of the Raj are invoked here at one of London's finest Indian curry emporiums, where top choices include dosas with fennel-rich Chettinad duck and the famed suckling pig vindaloo. Diners admire the whirring ceiling fans, rattan chairs, and other decor inspired by the colonial-era gymkhana sporting clubs of yesteryear. Other goodies include all-India delights such as Tandoori Masala lamb chops and Lasooni wild tiger prawns. A £100 tasting menu is the most extravagant way to sample the range of the restaurant's delights. 

There's a decadent Roaring Twenties vibe here at celeb magnet Louie, set in a glamorous town house that hides a warren of beautifully stylish dining rooms, cocktail lounges, and conservatory terraces. Exceptional Mississippi-inspired Creole delights include seafood gumbo, turbot with beurre blanc, and barbecued New Orleans lobster with Creole-spiced butter, but it's the slick cocktails and hedonistic vibes that make Louie such a blast.

This winning mix of modern Italian classics is made from the very best in British seasonal produce. Add to that the super-chic setting—from the art deco--esque dining salon to the marble-top bar and the stunning glass-walled conservatory—and this popular Clerkenwell haunt is very much a case of both style and substance. Dishes include cappelletti of potato and sage with seasonal mushrooms and cannon of Hebridean lamb with tema artichokes and bagna cauda. 

Here chef Anna Haugh showcases the produce and food of her native Ireland while elevating its traditional cuisine to the level of fine dining. The small selection of dishes includes black pudding rolls wrapped in crispy potato strings with Irish black butter pearls and pearl barley, pecan, and Bramley apple puree; pan-fried duck breast served with mushroom puree and a duck fat potato waffle; and Irish Carlingford oysters. Service is attentive and it is clear the staff really cares about the food.

Fans of top French food and fine wine flock to this gorgeous wood-paneled Georgian town house for masterful dishes like roast chicken with morel mushrooms and creamy vin jaune sauce alongside a marvelous 28-page French-focused wine list. Dark oak floors, soft brass lights, and cut-crystal glass decanters help guests bliss out on one of London's finest and surprisingly most accessible wine lists, with numerous rare gems available by the glass.

One of London's most spectacular dining rooms is set in a soaring glass-ceilinged conservatory at the chic NoMad London hotel, located opposite Covent Garden's famed Royal Opera House. Don't miss the signature Creedy Carver roast chicken with foie gras and black truffle or the leisurely weekend brunch where you can enjoy eggs Benedict or chili avocado toast.

Consistently brilliant modern European fare in a low-key setting characterizes this Michelin-starred restaurant located just northeast of Oxford Circus. Marvel at the chef's brigade in the open kitchen busily turning the inventive seasonal produce–driven menu into delicious reality. Dishes feature superior British produce such as succulent Cornish cod served with a smoked eel rosti or smoked celeriac and whipped ricotta with apple, capers, and almonds. Desserts are always worth a second look; try the dark chocolate device with poached pear, coffee, and cashew. 

Opened by Thomas Rule in 1798, London's oldest restaurant is still perhaps its most beautiful. The epitome of High Victorian design, overflowing with antique portraits, prints, cartoons, busts, and taxidermy, here you can indulge in traditional British fare like jugged hare, steak and kidney pie, or roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. For a taste of the 18th century, choose game from the restaurant's High Pennines estate, including roast grouse, mallard, or pheasant. Snag a table in one of the skylit rooms or the spot where the  Victorian-era Prince of Wales had trysts with the famed beauty and actress Lillie Langtry. 

Trailblazing Australian chef Skye Gyngell worships the seasons at her pastel-hued dining destination in majestic Somerset House off the Strand. Housed in the building's 1865 neoclassical New Wing, Spring offers exquisite root-to-stem, produce-driven Italian dishes in an airy light-drenched dining salon. Expect everything from a tousled heap of biodynamic Fern Verrow Farm salad leaves to egg yolk–rich crab tagliolini. Free of single-use plastic, you'll find all the bread, butter, ice cream, cordials, vermouth, and tonics are made on-site. Also look for Spring's brilliant zero waste £30 "Scratch" menus, available in the early evening Tuesday through Saturday.

Downton Abbey meets The Crown at this quintessentially English, old-school dining salon located within an Edwardian-era hotel down the road from Buckingham Palace. A favorite with royalty and courtiers, here you can enjoy daily specials like traditional beef Wellington or antediluvian quirks such as Eggs Drumkilbo (a hard-boiled egg/lobster seafood cocktail with caviar)—a onetime favorite of the late Queen Mother.

Acclaimed Aussie chef Brett Graham and his team are known for modern European cuisine at its finest, and the sheer inventiveness and quality of the food on offer make for a very special night out. This relaxed, intimate restaurant now serves a range of six- and eight-course tasting menus with seasonal produce very much dictating what ends up on the menu, although classic Graham game staples, such as Berkshire muntjac, often make an appearance. Advance booking is essential.

A-listers head straight for 34, off Grosvenor Square in Mayfair, simply because all the other celebrities seem to hang out here, too. It must be the plush Edwardian and art deco dining salon, the neat fish, game, and steak-focused menu, and the smooth Upper Manhattan–style service. Appetizers like Devon crab and shrimp cocktail face off against chunkier delights from the Argentine parrilla charcoal grill—think 28-day Scottish Bridge of Allan rib eyes, USDA New York strips, and Japanese Wagyu fillets. Top crowd-pleasers include a luxurious surf and turf and truffled lobster macaroni. When done with mains one can opt to see the dessert menu or the cigar menu—or even both.

A sophisticated crowd enjoys the clubhouse vibe at this classic brasserie at the back of the royal grocer, Fortnum & Mason. An old-school trolley trundles up table-side to serve Siberian Sturgeon caviar with scrambled eggs, baked new potatoes, and blinis, while creamy beef Stroganoff and whole duck with elderberry sauce get the full table-side-flambé treatment. Truffles that are shaved at the table are another specialty. The popular Welsh rarebit toasty has a punchy mustard kick, while nostalgic desserts include a fleet of alcoholic ice-cream floats.

Mark Jarvis’s cool, unpretentious fine-dining establishment in the historic Hatton Garden jewelry quarter in Farringdon is focused on food that is both seasonal and ethically and locally produced. Five- or ten-course tasting menus are offered at lunch and dinner, with each dish as much a feast for your eyes as for your palate. Menu descriptions are kept consciously simple and understated but there's no disguising the symphony of flavors and textures that dishes deliver.

All the cool cats swing by this grand brasserie at Ian Schrager's insanely trendy London Edition hotel near Tottenham Court Road. Enter the monumental Edwardian dining salon, where you might swoon over a Herdwick lamb rump with mashed potatoes and white onion purée. Exquisitely appointed with framed pictures, paintings, and Grand Central Terminal-style bronze chandeliers, the sheer elegance of the place will soon have you feeling like a million dollars, too.

Variety is the spice of life, and it's also the modus operandi of this airy Charlotte Street eatery where an ever-changing roster of guest chefs from around the globe roll into town with their exquisite seven-course tasting menus. One week it might be Japanese trout roe with egg yolk and koshihikari rice, while the next week will feature skate wing bilbaina from the Basque country. Whatever the cuisine, the one constant is the sheer quality of the dishes on offer. Alternatively, there's also a wine bar that serves delicious tapas-style plates–don't miss the fried chicken with habanero and honey.

Revel with the A-listers in the glamorous buzz at this upscale Italian brasserie wedged between Cork Street, Savile Row, and the Royal Academy of Arts. It's perfect for a pit stop during a West End shopping spree or after browsing the nearby Mayfair galleries and auction houses, with diners spilling out onto pavement tables for breakfast, brunch, and cicchetti (Italian tapas)—and then returning later in the day for something more substantial. The luxe green-and-brown interior is a tony backdrop for classics like red mullet carpaccio, veal Milanese, and tagliatelle bolognese, and don't forget the pick-me-up tiramisù.

It can be quite tricky to get into Chiltern Firehouse, but if you do snag a table, you're in for a treat. Set inside a sensationally converted 1888 redbrick fire station, this place sets the bar for glamour-chic dining. Sit at the raised open-kitchen counter and watch the chefs plate up, while taking in the buzzy buttermilk-hued decor that's part mid-'70s Parisian brasserie and part industrial heritage–chic splendor (including a firefighter's pole). Pick winners from the knock-out menu—like slider-style crabmeat "donuts," charred octopus with cep mushrooms, or red prawns in almond milk—and get down to the serious business of major league celeb spotting.

A largely corporate crowd comes here for the Manhattanesque views of The City and chef Jason Atherton's masterful but straightforward cuisine. Impressed diners look out from Level 24 of Tower 42 on a majestic panorama that takes in illustrious buildings like the Gherkin and the Walkie Talkie. Dinner options include sea bass and Jerusalem artichoke or a generous hunk of beef "Josper cooked" on the grill. The soufflé is a total winner for dessert, while the service—like City Social itself—is stratospheric.

Austrian-born star chef Wolfgang Puck amps up the stakes at this ultraexpensive steak house on Park Lane. Set against a luxe backdrop of Damien Hirst artwork and globe lights, carnivores go crazy for the pricey prime cuts from England, Australia, Japan, and the United States. Options include impeccable 35-day Creekstone filet mignon, Black Angus New York sirloins, and an 8-ounce rib eye of pure Kagoshima Wagyu beef from Kyushu in Japan. Add bone marrow, French fries, chimichurri, or creamed spinach with a fried egg on top for the whole nine yards.

Medieval English cuisine meets molecular gastronomy in this reassuringly luxurious Blumenthal flagship, with two Michelin stars, within the Mandarin Oriental hotel. Try the signature "Meat Fruit" appetizer (last popular in the 16th century, it's a ball of ultrasmooth chicken liver parfait encased in a citrus-flavored gel "peel") or the much-more-appetizing-than-it-sounds "Rice and Flesh," a 15th-century dish of yellow saffron rice with beef cheeks and red wine. For dessert, don't miss the signature Tipsy Cake (circa 1810)—brioche soaked in Sauternes, brandy, and vanilla cream, with slices of pineapple slowly roasted on the restaurant's open-fire spit. A three-course set lunch (£75) offers good value, relatively speaking.

Chef Philip Howard is committed to seasonality, bringing together well-matched ingredients in this relaxed, loftlike space that leans toward the modernist and minimalist. The deeply flavored, accomplished dishes have earned the restaurant a Michelin star (their vegetarian game is especially strong).

With three popular restaurants in Paris, star French chef Grégory Marchand brings his highly colorful and daring dishes to London at this sleek eatery not far from the historic Covent Garden Piazza. Everyone loves the effortlessly ebullient offerings like stone bass, bisque, and borlotti beans or Welsh lamb with sweet corn three ways, all served in a bustling and modern brasserie setting.

This Manhattan-themed, Russian-owned swanky steak house, named after Chicago jazz legend Benny Goodman, has everyone in agreement: these truly are some of the best steaks in town. USDA-certified, 150-day corn-fed, and on-site dry-aged Black Angus T-bones, rib eye, porterhouse, and New York bone-in sirloins compete for taste and tenderness with heavily marbled grass-fed prime cuts from Scotland and the Lake District. There's also grilled cauliflower steaks, tuna tartare, and a superb burger, but everyone at this sultry mecca has only one thing on their minds: the sizzling 250 g–400 g Josper chargrilled steaks, which come with truffle chips and creamed spinach, plus Béarnaise, pepper, or Stilton sauce.

The city's wealthy flock to French virtuoso Hélène Darroze's restaurant at The Connaught for her dazzling regional French haute cuisine, served up in a stylish Edwardian wood-paneled dining salon. Taking inspiration from the Les Landes region in southwestern France, Darroze sallies forth with a procession of magnificent dishes like lobster with carrot, coriander, and tandoori spices. A beautiful venison Wellington is served with hispi cabbage and quince.

Mayfair is home to more than its share of fussy fine-dining restaurants, so HIDE is a welcome alternative, charming with experimental dishes that make the new-Nordic, produce-focused modern European menu shine. Look out for art-like dishes strewn with wildflowers on the seasonal eight-course tasting menus served in a fairy-tale setting. There's also an in-house bakery, and a menu that includes breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and cocktails; be sure to explore the 6,500-bottle strong wine list, one of London's finest.

Tom Kerridge made his name earning Michelin stars at rural gastropubs, and there's still a sense of pub grub about the menu here, at his first London restaurant, despite the glamorous high-ceilinged dining room, flawless service, and rather steep prices. That's no bad thing, however, when you've got a chef as skilled as Kerridge—think rich, meat-focused dishes served alongside unusual twists, such as gherkin ketchup or black cabbage purée.