34 Best Restaurants in England

There may only be 28 table seats and nine counter stools at this stripped-back Modern European Soho eatery, but the consistently great and unpretentious food, cheap wine, affable prices, and tremendous service more than make up for it. Once seated, expect deceptively simple starters and punchy Modern European mains like butternut ravioli with sage, slow-braised beef ribs, or slip sole with lemon butter. Flavors are big, bold, and brassy and sway gently with the seasons, while thoughtful desserts are only £9 a pop.

Candlelit at night, with a haunting Dickensian vibe, Andrew Edmunds is a permanently packed, old-school Soho dining institution. Tucked away behind Carnaby Street in a charming 18th-century town house, it's a cozy favorite whose unpretentious and keenly priced dishes draw on the tastes of Ireland, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Desserts like warm treacle tart or bread-and-butter pudding offer few surprises, but the wine's superb and famously reasonable. It could be larger, less creaky underfoot, and its wooden church pew seats more forgiving, but it's a deeply romantic way to get a taste of what Soho was like in days gone by. 

British restaurateur Keith McNally re-creates his famed New York–Parisian–style brasserie at this bustling corner spot off Covent Garden Piazza. The soaring grand café setting creates an enchanting white-tablecloth backdrop to enjoy the classic French brasserie menu, including dishes like duck and beef pie, moules marinière (mussels with cream and white wine), and ox cheek bourguignon (stew). Treat yourself to rock oysters and champagne while perusing the nearly all-French wine list, which carries everything from Chablis to Charmes-Chambertin, before polishing off a pile of profiteroles and chocolate sauce for dessert.

Fabulous handmade pasta at affordable prices characterizes this groovy Italian eatery off Soho's Golden Square. Sit at the bustling chef's counter to sample options like bucatini cacio e pepe or pork, fennel, and 'nduja ragù with twirly ribbons of mafalde pasta. Enjoy fine creamy burrata, Sicilian red prawns and samphire, and ample Soho people-watching from the row of raised curbside counter window seats.

One of London's favorite Spanish tapas bars, modeled after the famed Cal Pep tapas spot in Barcelona, has only a few raised bar stools within the open-counter kitchen just off Trafalgar Square. Lunchtime lines form from noon daily for a top-quality succession of impeccably sourced small plates, ranging from giant Spanish carabineros red prawns and Iberian pork cheeks to black squid ink risotto with cuttlefish. There's a neat selection of Spanish reds, whites, sherries, and sparkling white Cava, and be sure to leave room for noted desserts like the almond-based Santiago tart.

At this cult favorite Persian kebab hole-in-the-wall, it's best to sit at the raised counter overlooking the tandoor grill and clay oven and indulge in the expansive meze spreads, hot sesame breads, and richly flavored coal-cooked marinated lamb, chicken, and poussin kebabs. With exposed brick walls and a delightfully edgy atmosphere, you can sip non-alcoholic cocktails and sharbat cordials in cozy side booths or hide out in the green foliage backroom snug.

Enjoy the great value, prix-fixe menus of classic French dishes at Piccadilly's ever-bustling subterranean Parisian-style brasserie. Dripping with Beaux-Arts gilt mirrors and monumental marble pillars, you can enjoy satisfying French standards like steak haché, choucroute, Niçoise salad, and crème brûleé. Old-school waiters in dapper black uniforms glide across the vast parquet dining room floor, while the attached art deco-style Bar Américain cocktail lounge and late-night live cabaret provide wonderfully suave post-dinner shows.

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.

British comfort food like ham-and-cheese toasties, bubble 'n' squeak, and even the mighty potato chip are elevated into gastro showstoppers at this classy Covent Garden town house, just off the Piazza. Triple-cooked chips are squeezed, sliced, buttered, and deep-fried to perfection, while the famous crustless toasties are all succulent ham hock, Montgomery cheddar, and tangy house pickle. Understated jazz and blues music plays amid the elegant decor, from the antique table glasses and French-linen napkins to the tarnished mirrors and green-velvet banquettes.

Hidden beneath The Blue Posts pub in Chinatown, you'll find an intimate speakeasy vibe at Evelyn's Table, specializing in set tasting menus based on top British produce, Japanese technique, Scandinavian flair, and classical French training. A secret door with a peephole reveals a small but passionate chef's kitchen counter where chefs serve dishes like barbecued monkfish dashi or hand-dived Devon scallop sashimi. Enjoy friendly chats with the chefs, quality tunes, great wines, and a prime spread of south London Peckham-produced craft sake.  

Open since 1896, this timelessly elegant seafood haven is a favorite with neighboring Theaterland's top stars and theater moguls. Dripping with vintage black-and-white photos of bygone West End actors and movie legends, J Sheekey charms with a ravishing menu of fresh Atlantic prawns, Arctic herrings, salmon burgers, and the famous Sheekey Fish Pie. Better yet, sip pink Billecart-Salmon champagne and shuck half a dozen Lindisfarne oysters at the chic 1930s mirrored oyster bar for the ultimate in true romance.

Seemingly everyone involved in the West End theater world hangs out at this legendary subterranean spot for its ever-enchanting blend of New York comfort food, nightly jazz piano, and wall-to-wall signed theaterland memorabilia. Established in 1977, enduring classics include Joe's slow-braised smoked baby back ribs, New York strip steak, a not-so-secret off-menu hamburger, and a classic PB&J ice cream sandwich.

Earthy northern Thai cuisine bursts out of the charcoal-fired kiln and hot clay pots at this barbecue-focused wonderland in Soho. Take in the fascinating tiny open kitchen and you'll see sizzling cumin-dusted hogget lamb skewers and chargrilled chicken thigh bites, along with other local Thai village-style dishes that show influences from Laos, Myanmar, and the Yunnan province of China. Pick up hints of Thai parsley and Burmese wild ginger in a slew of authentic dishes such as lime-bathed langoustines or claypot-baked glass noodles with Tamworth pork belly and brown crab meat.

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.

Once frequented by the likes of Virginia Woolf and Karl Marx, locals still cherish this quirky 1871 French pâtisserie, vintage tea parlor, and occasional pop-up art space, where nothing seems to have changed since the 1920s. Colorful pastries, tarts, croissants, and sweet cakes are well loved and expertly baked on-site. You can choose from the gooey chocolate and fruit éclairs, Saint-Honoré and Black Forest gateaux, marzipan figs, and flaky almond croissants. Still run by Soho legend Michele Wade, Maison Bertaux also hosts a cheery retro afternoon tea service, which comes with savories like Dijon slice or broccoli quiche.

It's all beach coastal cool at this sleek Aussie stunner, tucked away in a modern courtyard enclave off Greek Street. The seafood- and vegetable-forward menu is inspired by the Sydney food scene and has wide-ranging hints of the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia, like a fine raw kingfish crudo bathed in macadamia milk or a crunchy gluten-free grilled aubergine karaage. At night, the lighting's low, the tunes are upbeat, and the fun and friendly service is relaxed but on point. 

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.

London's top modern Sri Lankan spot dazzles with Ceylonese spiced prawns, Aylesbury duck leg rolls, authentic Sri Lankan egg hoppers, and fabulous char-smoked chicken curries. Located on Rupert Street in the heart of Soho, the diminutive space is a brilliant study in brutalist modernism, with its polished concrete walls, brown-leather cushions, stainless steel counters, and hand-thrown Tamil and Sinhalese typography clay tableware.

Co-owner Missy Flynn and chef Gabe Pryce bring a joyous and playful spirit to Modern American dining to this spot on Soho's gastro-central Lexington Street. Sit at cute raised tables or the red-leather booths and enjoy densely flavored Americana like hearty baby shrimp boil, spicy chicken wings, or corn-crusted turbot with macha pico salsa. The wines are all organic, low intervention, or biodynamic, and you can't go wrong by kicking off dinner with a gorgeous gilda martini. 

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.

London's onetime most famous celebrity haunt and West End landmark is still so popular it receives more than a thousand calls a day. Established as an Italian café in 1917, today it's still a top destination to dine on deep-fried haddock and chips, Thai baked sea bass, and evergreen English classics like shepherd's pie and baked Alaska. Madonna famously once ate sticky toffee pudding with Hollywood actor Tom Cruise and British playwright Harold Pinter here back in the day. Perch at the coral onyx dining bar in pink mohair-backed seats, kick back with an Old Fashioned, and enjoy some of the best free theater and people-watching in town.

Scrub up like Eliza Doolittle and perch at the pewter bar sipping a My Fair Lady (with homemade gin and orange blossom) at this busy but laid-back little sister to the flagship The Ivy restaurant. You'll find bargains galore here on the something-for-everyone brasserie menu—from crispy duck salad and poached lobster cocktail to chicken Milanese and blackened cod. For dessert, be sure to try the chocolate bombe, a chocolatey mush of milk foam, vanilla ice cream, and gooey hot salted caramel sauce. The raucous salon atmosphere fits in perfectly with the green-leather banquettes, dark timber floors, and copious 19th-century brass lamps.

It's Palestine meets Jerusalem meets Beirut at this funky Arab-Israeli spot off Chinatown. Sit at the zinc open-kitchen counter and down shots of arak while trading quips with the brilliant Middle Eastern chefs, who offer an exuberant medley of Levantine delights, including Yemeni Jewish kubaneh (a light, fluffy pull-apart bread), Palestinian steak tartare, Jerusalem truffled mushroom polenta, and paprika-rich pork belly tajine with Israeli couscous. Look, too, for the lavish Kurdish-style mussels inspired by the head chef's beloved grandmother.

This legendary Italian coffee bar on Frith Street is Soho's unofficial beating heart and a 22-hours-a-day classic institution. Established in 1949 during the postwar Italian coffee bar craze and still run by the founding Polledri family, today an eclectic parade of locals grab an espresso or cappuccino made from the vintage Gaggia coffee machine, and wolf down a chocolate baci or a light snack at the mirrored bar counter. The walls are plastered with pics of old-time Italian opera singers, movie legends, and '50s world boxing champs, and it's the primo spot in town to watch Italy play during the World Cup.

French tapas may sound sacrilegious, but Gallic gem Blanchette hits the spot at this family-run hipster bistro where jazzy French sounds complement the charming bare-brick and oak table candlelit interior. Visually feast on the eclectic Paris flea market bric-a-brac and then order a host of smaller plates to share, like the crispy frogs' legs and truffle saucisson (sausage) or baked scallops with Café de Paris sauce. The cramped tables can be a touch intimate, but desserts like chocolate tart, tonka bean syrup, and macerated cherries are a fitting Left Bank finale.

Where else can you find an amazing three-course French meal right by Covent Garden for £21? The Côte Brasserie chain does just the trick, offering a pleasing menu loaded with classic French favorites: crêpes with mushrooms and Gruyère cheese, boeuf bourguignon, moules marinière, and iced summer berries and white chocolate sauce. Service is all fine and dandy, and if you're lucky enough to be attending the ballet or opera at the nearby Royal Opera House, this is perfect for a pre-or post-theater meal.

Everyone feels 100 times more glamorous just stepping inside this candlelit restaurant attached to the swanky Georgian-era hotel of the same name. Straightforward but enormously fun retro British faves include classic pea-and-ham soup, primary school–style mince and potatoes, smoked haddock soufflé, and sticky toffee pudding. You'll also find traditional English scones and buttered crumpets for afternoon tea, and nostalgic 1970s fish finger sandwiches for early evening high tea.

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.