London Bayswater Restaurant Guide

“Fish stew and oysters to die for”, washed down by a pint of Guinness, makes Tom Conran’s Irish-style pub on the Notting Hill-Bayswater border an enduring favourite. “The food is always delicious, with a great emphasis on seafood”.

“If you like chicken this is your place” say fans of this affordable Gallic two-year-old, on the fringes of Notting Hill and Bayswater: “simple mission (rotisserie chicken), well delivered; chicken itself good quality, tasty and wholesome”. In April 2018, the French owners opened a new branch in Hoxton Square.

La-La Land comes to W2 at this brightly converted pub, with garden – nowadays a haven of immunity-boosting, locally-sourced, charcoal-grilled, seasonal fare – “a top neighbourhood option”, ideal for breakfast (including with kids in tow). It takes some flak, though, for “meagre portions priced at Notting Hill-banker levels”.

“A fabulous little local French restaurant/bistro/wine bar” on the borders of Bayswater and Notting Hill that’s “always busy”. “There’s a great wine list which you can sit and work your way through with a selection of good, reasonably priced light dishes or more substantial fare.”

“Handy in the culinary desert that is Paddington” – this well-appointed venue is the ground floor of a club dedicated to war reporters (expect some eye-catching photo-reportage on the walls). It’s a “comfortable setting” for food that’s “relatively simple” but “remarkably good in the context of the general quality of restaurants in the vicinity”.

“Excellent” seasonal British cuisine – and “modestly priced” too, especially given the quality of the ingredients – is complemented by a “thoughtful wine list” at chef/patron Tom Pemberton’s “wonderful neighbourhood restaurant” in Bayswater. The odd reporter feels “ambience is lacking”, but the majority say “the comfortable modern design and overall atmosphere is really conducive to a great meal”.

An “uninspiring location” – a Paddington Basin basement – has not held back this large and attractively decorated Cantonese: nowadays very well-established and “always very crowded”, especially at weekends, for its “amazing dim sum”, of a quality “really quite different to the majority of Chinese restaurants”. Top Tip: “lobster noodles also brilliant”.

“An oasis in a part of London ill-served by good restaurants”, this attractive Lancaster Gate venue is a “pub converted into an art nouveau bistro” by ex-Gavroche sommelier, Thierry Tomasin “with a wine cellar to match”. Tomasin’s team provide “great old-fashioned service” (“they welcome you like a regular even if you’ve never been before”) and “though you eat cheek by jowl” the Gallic cuisine “makes it worthwhile”.