Holborn, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

2022 Review: This independent fixture in legal-land (near the LSE) is a long-running staple of the area – welcoming, “always good value”, and with some interesting picks and bin-end deals on the wine list.

“Surely the best restaurant in London without a Michelin star!” Chef Anthony Raffo provides “modern British cooking at its finest” at this “tiny” Farringdon venture, with “novel flavours and combinations, cleverly incorporating a perfect balance of umami and other tastes; all whilst using seasonal ingredients and looking incredible”. Meanwhile, manager, Marie Danzanvilliers, presides “with great charm and hospitality”. “The venue itself is quite hipster-cool but pretty low key. At the end of the day, it is all about the food offer and they absolutely nail that!”. “It really is a hidden gem”… “No idea why the Tyre Man hasn’t come calling.”

2021 Review: “Surprisingly good food and charming service” make it worth remembering this historic hostelry (refurbed in recent times), near the Royal Courts of Justice. You can eat in the ground floor bar, or in the upstairs ‘Pig and Goose’ restaurant.

Robbie Lorraine has upped sticks from Brixton with his Del Boy-inspired pop-up – a witty, multi-course trip back in time to the cuisine of the 80s and 90s (duck-liver paté, prawn cocktail…). This new home is part of a Grade II listed pub just off the Strand: not to be confused with Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street, which is about ten minutes’ stroll away (although both claim Dickens as a former patron). No survey feedback as yet – reports please!

2022 Review: The former HQ of the Baptist Church provides the gracious quarters for this swish Holborn hotel, converted by design guru Jacques Garcia. Since Tony Fleming left in December 2019, the main food operation (formerly known as The Baptist at L’Oscar hotel) has shifted to this all-day ground-floor operation offering a more accessible, Parisian-café-style menu from breakfast through to dinner. Allan Pickett (former head chef at Orrery, and briefly chef-patron of Piquet) is the new head chef.

“Doing a grand job of showcasing the school” – “seemingly simple small dishes done with exemplary refinement” (“perfect pork belly and a delicate citrus tart slice”) impress diners at this year-old restaurant, where you can sample the work of the august Le Cordon Bleu culinary institute (founded in Paris in 1895). Set in an “well-spaced, light-filled” dining room in Fleet Street’s Grade II listed former Reuters building (designed by Lutyens), it also has a “clean lined and attractive” adjoining daytime café worth visiting for its “accurately toasted” sandwiches and cakes.

James Dawson’s wine shops/clubs/bars are “great places to catch up with friends over a bottle you might never ordinarily have tried”. “The staff are super-helpful, with lots of suggestions” of bottles from independent and sustainable producers. The food is “OK if a little uninspiring”, but “who cares when there’s one evening a week when you can drink wine at retail prices”.

A “magnificent” operation – Mark Andrew and Dan Keeling’s first venture has become one of the most popular destinations in London, hitting our Top 10 most-mentioned entries for the first time this year. Opened in 2015 – and named for the wine and food magazine they started in 2013 – it inhabits the “characterful” Bloomsbury premises that were for decades ‘Vats’, and its “dark, cosy spaces” are perfect for working through the “terrific wine list” they have assembled: very arguably “the best by-the-glass list in town”, with many “rarities preserved by the Coravin system”. The cooking is overseen by afar by executive chef, Stephen Harris of Seasalter fame: “slip soles in butter are almost as good as at The Sportsman, but the other dishes are a bit more standard” – the “food can be unexpectedly accomplished, but it’s really all about the wine list which caters to all tastes and budgets”. Service is “superb, passionate and friendly” (“but can be patchy during busy periods”). Fans say, of the three branches it’s “the original and the best”, but – though slightly less commented-on – its more recent spin-offs now actually outscore the mothership.

This conveniently situated mezzanine venue in a luxury hotel near Covent Garden is a real treat thanks to its “lovely setting” and “high standard” of cooking. The kitchen is “particularly accommodating for those with dietary restrictions” – “the wheat and dairy-free afternoon tea is joyous, with wonderful flavours and ingenious combinations, plus a wide selection of unusual teas”.

“Very decent” French-influenced food helps elevate this fine old Clerkenwell pub restaurant into being a “good all-rounder”, as does its attractive, glazed dining area. That said, it doesn’t attract the attention it did a few years ago when Henry Harris was at the stoves.

“Amazing steak (though the rest of menu is good too)” and terrific views over the City and St Paul’s share top billing at the flagship restaurant at the top of a handsome Grade II-listed former Smithfield market warehouse. It can be “a bit noisy”, but it makes for a “solid dining experience” that’s “always good for business”.

2021 Review: Promising, if limited, early feedback on this modern ‘wine parlour’ – recently opened by wine expert Andrew Gray (a merchant with a business at the Southbank Food Market) on a corner-site near Covent Garden (the erstwhile office-space of a Mr Charles Dickens); and with an excellent list of 70 wines: “limited food, but what they do is lovely; tiny space, but it’s gorgeous, and well worth a visit, especially as staff are so lovely”.

“Like being in an old fashioned Parisian brasserie”, this big venue, “centrally located by Covent Garden Piazza”, provides a “hectic but impressive” backdrop to a meal. Many reporters feel “it has a whole lot going for it”, but even they often acknowledge either “seriously poor” cooking, or the trade-offs that a visit entails: “Yes it’s on the pricey side and the food is average really, but it’s still a tradition that we enjoy.”

“Simplicity and style are in abundance” at Skye Gyngell’s dining room in Somerset House – not only “an absolutely beautiful space”, but whose “seamless service” and “wonderful food” make it “a delightful experience from start to finish”. Skye’s cuisine has a deft delicacy of touch, but the most popular option is the ‘Scratch’ menu – “lovely reimagined ‘leftovers’ from earlier services, provided from a no-choice menu between 17.30 and 18.30 at £25 for three courses” (“designed to reduce food waste, it’s a great idea and useful for a post-shopping pick-me-up before the train home or a pre-theatre supper”). Although this is the kind of venue that’s “gorgeous for lunch with a visiting mother”, it’s actually most nominated as either a gastronomic highlight or for client-entertaining: “the slightly zen nature of the food and purist environment makes it a brilliant choice for a certain type of business”; and “clients are always impressed with Spring”.

“A very special venue”; “hidden behind a nondescript door in Farringdon and accessed by an ancient brass lift, you pass beyond the heavy black curtain to a breathtaking dining room” at this “wonderfully atmospheric” two-year-old. “A historic setting” (mentioned in Dickens’s ‘Oliver Twist’) – its “high ceilings, distressed walls and candle light” come highly recommended for “an illicit date”. Fans of Florence Knight’s “inventive” cuisine say it “holds its own in the space” – is “magical” even – but to others it is “unspectacular” in comparison to the backdrop. “Booking a table requires military advance planning but it’s worth it”.

This historic Holborn tavern – dating from 1549, if rebuilt a century ago – deploys its wood-panelled Dickensian atmosphere to good effect, with appetising bites served in the bar and a more involved menu in the upstairs Oak Room, complete with dining booths and an open fireplace.

2023 Review: “Recently revamped” with eight ‘boutique guestrooms’, this handsome Clerkenwell establishment is one of the oldest public houses in central London. There are too few reports for a rating as yet, but it looks promising and “the Sunday roast sharing board is pretty impressive”.

Opened in November 2023 inside the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, the once 'Naked Chef' made his return to the national restaurant scene with a menu devoted to British classics. He promises there will be "something for everyone".