Bankside, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2024 Review: With its “great view over the river”, the sixth-floor restaurant in this converted power station opposite St Paul’s Cathedral is a “really rather splendid place for a decent set lunch”. The food is “better than expected, perhaps better than it needed to be” – “appropriately arty”, too, with dishes inspired by artists on display in the gallery. (Over at Tate Britain, “the Rex Whistler dining room is sorely missed and a real loss” – its closure brought about by a combination of Covid and dilemmas about the depiction of slavery in its Whistler murals, nowadays deemed ‘unequivocally… offensive’.)

“Unbelievable views” of the Thames and across to St Paul’s Cathedral are reason enough to eat at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre’s in-house restaurant. But the modern British menu is well-constructed around carefully sourced ingredients, and the Shakespeare-themed afternoon teas also go down well.

“The Saffer-style menu” (featuring “particularly excellent steaks” sourced from Yorkshire) “and even better Saffer wine list” make Neleen Strauss’s out-of-the-way venue, on the southern fringe of the City, “well worth searching out”, despite its “odd location below the Millennium (‘Wobbly’) Bridge”, directly opposite Tate Modern. Top Tip – “the cellar is a super place for a group”.

“A popular chain with an interesting and varied international menu” – “V.G. value too” – these Kiwi-run cafés are “still seeing off all of the competition” for their many fans. In particular, they do a “great brunch, and they’re right to boast about their filter coffee” – and given the volume of feedback they generate, there is remarkably little negative criticism. Depending on the venue and the time of day, they work equally well for a “working lunch meeting” or “families out for the day visiting the sights”. Top Menu Tip – “the cornbread is to die for”.

For a glam rendezvous near Tate Modern, this Tom Dixon-designed lounge with terrace fits the bill, with its smooth design and variety of menus (all day from breakfast) incorporating tempting bites such as Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail, Crispy Chicken Burger or Surrey Farm Rib Eye. It’s predictably expensive though and nothing you eat is likely to dwell long in the memory.

“A cut above your average wine bar”: this 20-year-old group remains highly popular in our annual diners’ poll thanks to its “decent wines at fair prices” in “jolly” settings. “The food can be terrific – but not always”, and the overall performance shows signs of steadying after a tricky patch when the business was sold out of administration.

2022 Review: The name says it all about this new ‘Britisserie’ (an ‘authentic British patisserie’), which opened on a corner site near St Paul’s in December 2019. Owners Daniel Jobsz and his mum honed their classic pie-making skills at markets, festivals and pop-ups from 2015 before they found the site, which incorporates a small courtyard. Full English breakfasts (in a tart, of course), plus epic mash and a good list of beers and other drinks complete the formula.

“It’s a staple for entertaining visitors to the capital due to the sensational view”, but – predictably – the cooking is “very very average and very very overpriced” at this quintessential, ’90s- minimalist brasserie atop the South Bank landmark, on which we have written pretty much the same dire review since it first opened in 1996. If you want to visit, maybe “just get a drink” at the bar or eat in the (better rated) adjoining cheaper brasserie.

The cheaper section of this South Bank landmark doesn’t generate as much feedback as its slightly grander adjacent sibling, but it occupies a similar rooftop space with large outdoor terrace and – on admittedly limited feedback – escaped its customary drubbing in this year’s annual diners’ poll, making a visit here the better bet: “visited for a work lunch… glad I wasn’t paying, but the simple food was excellent (if eclipsed by the view on a sunny day)”. Another highlight: “the superb team in the bar”.

“Fabulous small plates” which “combine simple ingredients to produce lovely food” inspire nothing but rave reviews for this “calm and quiet” venue on the South Bank from chefs Lucy Pedder & Natasha Cooke (an ex-professional event rider), who met working at Medlar. It’s “a small restaurant with quite a limited menu” but results really pack a punch: “delights like clams and savoy cabbage, grilled king oyster mushroom, or potato, bacon, smoked eel & boiled egg” – and service is “very friendly” too. Top Tip – “the weekday no-choice set menu is a bargain after a visit to Tate Modern or before an Old Vic matinee”.

The Bread Street venue near St Paul’s is the most popular of Gordon Ramsay’s pretty “average” chain which has six London branches (plus Liverpool and Edinburgh). With striking views over the cathedral from an atmospheric unit in the mall, the “ambience is good” and it “feels sufficiently special without being intimidating”, winning it nominations for both client-account and personal-account dinners. Actually, it’s a pretty nice experience all round, just one dragged down by “excessive pricing”.

An “extensive list of natural wines, niche grapes and producers, with regular changes to keep it interesting”, draws regulars back to Brett Redman’s bar and restaurant at Borough Market, where it was an earlyish arrival 15 years ago (a spinoff opened in Hackney three years ago). The food, much of it sourced from the market, is smartly cooked, with many plates available in two or three sizes to ease sharing. Top Tip – “get a window table and watch the market hordes go by”.

James Dawson’s half-dozen wine bars are “super venues to try interesting new wines in”, with “informative service” – “food is something of an after-thought, but pretty good for all that”, and comes into its own with a “fantastic Sunday roast menu: lamb and beef are high-quality and cooked perfectly”. Top Tip – “great deals on a Monday when most others are closed”.

“The daddy of gastropub experiences, amazingly still firing on all cylinders” – this famous and “fabulous” pub near to Waterloo Station and the Old Vic (“so perfect for a pre-theatre supper”) is “still as good as it gets after so many years”, according to its large army of fans. “It’s hard to choose from the varied and ever-changing” Med-meets-modern British menu which “continues to come up trumps and still pulls something new out of the bag”; and “the knowledgeable front of house help you make an informed decision from a selection full of delights”. “It’s kinda noisy, but it’s a pub… what do you expect?”

2024 Review: “A unique experience!” – “For a dinner with a twist, sit ‘outside’ within Borough Market and enjoy a set menu with wine pairing” at Tomas Lidakevicius’s offbeat venture, attached to a greengrocer’s stall. “You’ve no need to choose anything and everything is good”: “the lovely setting helps for sure, but the great food from a tasting menu with seasonal veg as its centrepiece speaks for itself”. “Loved it!”.

2022 Review: In late 2019, the team from well-known café, 26 Grains of Neal’s Yard, opened a big sister over the road from Borough Market. It’s a casual, tastefully decorated haunt serving simple food; and where at night, the vibe is less café, more wine bar. In late 2020, Tom Cenci (the ex Duck & Waffle head chef, whose own Loyal Tavern venture did not survive the pandemic) took over what has become an extended residency. The cooking (by him and one other chef) centres on sustainability, and less-used cuts of meat (particularly Irish beef).

“A popular chain with an interesting and varied international menu” – “V.G. value too” – these Kiwi-run cafés are “still seeing off all of the competition” for their many fans. In particular, they do a “great brunch, and they’re right to boast about their filter coffee” – and given the volume of feedback they generate, there is remarkably little negative criticism. Depending on the venue and the time of day, they work equally well for a “working lunch meeting” or “families out for the day visiting the sights”. Top Menu Tip – “the cornbread is to die for”.

“Exceptional food cooked by Cordon Bleu students” helps win high marks all-round for this culinary institute’s stylish, light-filled dining room: part of its HQ which shifted in 2022 to the Lutyens-designed building that was once the UK base for Reuters. In particular it’s often recommended as “a winner” for business entertaining: “set lunch offers good choices; portions are just right; dishes are prettily presented and taste delicious; and there’s a nice range of wines by the glass”.

2023 Review: “Imaginative Caribbean fine dining” is an unlikely find at any time – particularly considering the bland location of Anguilla-born Kerth Gumbs’s Bankside newcomer, which opened in early 2022 amidst the anonymous glass-fronted offices behind Tate Modern. The Evening Standard’s Jimi Famu thought his east Caribbean-inspired tasting menu to be “dumbfoundingly good… laser-honed… top end” cuisine, while one early reporter questions “is this a potential Michelin star at some stage”. Definitely “worth trying”.

2023 Review: “This low-key wine bar is an absolute gem”, “hiding” in the new waterside Westin Hotel, “with a huge window looking across the Thames” to Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe theatre (“spending the evening watching the river drift by with a glass in hand is a really great way to end a tough week”). The interior has a contemporary Scandi look and the menu is put together by Jorge Colazo, ex-head chef at Aquavit. Feedback is too limited for a rating, but initial reports are upbeat, talking of “interesting wine and imaginative small plates”.