London Primrose Hill Restaurant Guide

“Surprisingly good after so many years” – star Welsh chef Bryn Williams’s intimate 40-year-old Primrose Hill fixture (10 under his ownership) “has a loyal following” and under this stewardship delivers ambitious British cuisine that’s “never less than delicious”.

“Always packed to the rafters” and “buzzing, buzzing, buzzing” – this “busy cheerful hub of Primrose Hill” – a sprawling mega-taverna – has been a “warm and comforting” north London phenomenon for about as long as most folks remember. Even many fans accept the food is “tired and boring” yet “still we all love it and come back every chance we get!” The secret to its enduring (to a few sceptics “mysterious”) success is that “Tony and the staff have been here for decades and a genuinely warm welcome is assured”. “Our newborn son had his first restaurant experience here, followed thirty four years later by our newborn grandson’s. The whole restaurant recently joined in with Happy Birthday to a 104 year old! This is a family run restaurant with a loyal family clientele.”

Michael Nadra makes “a talented and charming chef/patron” and his duo of neighbourhood restaurants – in Chiswick and Camden Town (right next to the Regent’s Canal) – both provide a “welcoming” venue and “surprisingly good value for sophisticated modern French cooking”. On the downside, both inhabit awkward sites – NW1 is “cavernous” and slightly “remote”, while W4 is low-ceilinged and tightly packed.

“Very French and lovely” – the new NW1 branch of this ‘bistronomic-driven’ duo of rustic-style outfits serves creative, modern Gallic cuisine; and there’s solidly good ratings, too, for the cosy café/deli original, just around the corner from Exmouth Market. (Also to be seen with stalls selling French dishes and produce at numerous London food markets).

“Amazing sushi” and a “fantastic range of hot dishes” enable these “great value” Japanese cafés to stand out in the marketplace. They are “ridiculously small”, though – “you might not get a table”.