London Pimlico Restaurant Guide

“This tapas bar/restaurant has been around forever” – 30 years, to be precise, of serving solid Hispanic cuisine to a happy Pimlico clientele – “but the standard is hard to beat”. “The place is a delight. It doesn’t rock, but it does everything else brilliantly!”.

This “cosy, traditional and relaxed bistro” celebrates its 60th anniversary next year, and is proudly resistant to change: the wooden furnishings remain intact from the original £300 fit-out in 1964. It makes for “an unstuffy environment where you feel at home from the moment you walk in”, and the food – solid, old-school British bistro fare – is “excellent” by the standards of “cheap ’n’ cheerful” scoff.

2019 Review: This “friendly and stylish Italian in Pimlico” with “very good pasta dishes” was launched two years ago by Florentine Enrica Della Martira as her first restaurant project. It’s rated a “sound choice” with a “menu that changes frequently”. Top Tip: “the signature cacio e pepe (pasta with cheese and pepper), served in a parmesan basket”.

“The smell of the ocakbasi barbecue transports you to the eastern Med” at this good-value Turkish-Cypriot grill near Victoria station in Pimlico. It has satisfied appetites for nearly two decades with “flavourful and plentiful lamb dishes, plus piquant salads and salty rice to set them off”.

2021 Review: “Like a home away from home”, this Pimlico stalwart keeps regulars happy with a “lovely range of tapas” and Spanish classics, “supervised brilliantly by the amazing host, Issy”. “In an age of ever-changing restaurants, it’s a great pleasure to enjoy such consistency over many years.”

“Great fish” and “friendly staff” attract a steady crowd of regulars to this veteran Pimlico fish specialist, run by the same family since 1961. It’s been modernised in relatively recent times, and serves classic fish ’n’ chips alongside more elevated seafood options, including octopus, lobster and Dover sole meunière.

“A Pimlico gem for so many years now, and even better than ever” – this “good-value” joint serving “good, honest Turkish food” celebrates its 21st anniversary this year. It’s “heartening to see it so popular (deservedly so) since the latest lockdown ended”, although it now operates on just one side of Wilton Road, having had two venues for years.

“Fabulous Katie Exton and her team never disappoint” at her “lovely, small and intimate Pimlico restaurant”, which “is coming into its own despite all the terrible setbacks when it opened” (including a flood closing it for months) and “hits a sweet spot of value and reliability”. A major attraction is the “clean and well-executed modern European cuisine” – “with interesting ingredients and dishes on the right side of edgy” – but the rarer attraction is her “endearing” personal style and “enthusiastic gentle guidance to the right wine pairing” from the “supremely clever and wide-ranging wine list” she has assembled as “one of London’s top sommeliers”. Top Tip – “there is a great glassware selection too for a restaurant of its size, which is often overlooked in guides!”

2019 Review: Down a side street near Victoria station, Egyptian restaurateur Omar Shabaan has teamed up with well-known Mallorcan chef Vicente Fortea to launch this well-designed Pimlico venue – a stylishly converted former pub serving Mediterranean small plates and wine. On limited feedback to date, results are excellent.

A “solid performer”, this “reliable Italian occupies an area not over-blessed with good places” – between Westminster Cathedral and Victoria station in Pimlico. “Lovely wild boar ragu with pappardelle”.

“The place I return to over and over again” – this popular Pimlico spot in a hotel near Victoria station excels for its modern Venetian cicchetti (“Italian small/sharing plates”) and “demon cocktails”. Top Tip – “the airy room comes out best at lunchtime”.

2021 Review: The “lovely Thai food” at these reliable cafés is “impressively authentic given that they are a chain” – “excellent value” and “fast”, if occasionally let down by “iffy service”. Founded in 2008 by Saiphin and Alex Moore, who inherited the name of their first East End site, the group has 18 branches in London and expanded to Liverpool, Manchester, Reading (delivery only) and Leeds following the sale of a majority stake to US investors. The couple also have two spin-offs, Lao Café in Covent Garden and the new Chinese noodle bar Hoh Sek in St Katharine Docks.

“Top-quality food from third-year students at ridiculously low prices” is the term-time offer at this Vincent Square venue operated by Westminster Kingsway College. “Service by first-years can be very random but is always entertaining!” Choose between the formal Escoffier Room and the more relaxed brasserie. Top Tip – “excellent sourdough bread also at knockdown prices for sale in the foyer”.

“Superb with meat, especially the steaks: simply the most perfectly grilled ever…” – the Jones Family (formerly in Shoreditch) are making a good go of this steakhouse “oasis in busy Victoria” – a “fabulous, bright space with great art” (part of the stylish new Eccleston Yards project), where service “is delivered with a smile”. “The ambience of its outdoor courtyard is very pleasant in summer” too.

“Much better than the long-established, tired pizza chains!” – the Elliot brothers’ growing group is the most-mentioned of London’s more artisanal pizza multiples in our annual diners’ poll, inspiring joy with their “authentic Neapolitan preparation, with quality ingredients” and featuring “yummy crusts and interesting flavour combinations”. And you get “consistent quality irrespective of the branch visited” too, even if conditions can be “a little cramped and chaotic”.

2019 Review: Jemima Jones and Lucy Carr-Ellison – the duo behind Tart London (the catering company favoured by London’s top fashion brands) – are set to open in a very cool site in a new development near Victoria – an old Victorian space featuring the original arched roof and skylights.

“A Westminster institution loved by its regulars” – this “greasy spoon experience” occupies a site that’s little changed since its opening in 1946, and continues to “plough its furrow regardless of modern fashion”. “Fishy Fridays are a must” but, most vitally, it’s “a great choice for a cheap breakfast, any time of the day”.

2022 Review: Caffeine aficionados should truffle out this all-day dining spot and coffee house from sisters Juliana and Valentina Beleno, who import green beans from their native Colombia and roast ’em themselves. It’s a pleasant spot, too – for a snack or brunch on the likes of poke bowls and Latino-inspired salads – located in the attractive Eccleston Yards development.

“It’s easy to walk past” these “unassuming” Japanese canteens, but “don’t – go on in!” There’s a “great choice on the menu of both cooked plates and sushi”; “the food is always delicious” and prices are keen for a cuisine that can be very expensive. After two decades in Soho, the group has now pushed into Balham, Kennington and Finchley, with Pimlico and Walthamstow scheduled for late 2022.

“This cosy little restaurant behind Victoria station serves tasty home-style Nepalese cuisine”. It’s “well hidden, and surely dependent on word of mouth” – which makes it all the more impressive that it’s “mostly full”. “So book to avoid disappointment” – they’re “welcoming and keen to help diners explore the non-standard menu choices”. They also have a lunchtime food truck at the Merchant Square market in Paddington.