London Westminster Restaurant Guide

This little-known “hidden Japanese gem” near the London Eye showcases the skills of chef-parton Daisuke Shimoyama, who spent six years as head chef at Umu in Mayfair before launching his own venture at this hotel in the former County Hall. His omakase “tasting menu is particularly impressive” and is matched by an interesting sake list selected by the chef, while budget options at lunchtime include a bento box.

Sally Abé has equalled the “superb” standard of British cooking that she achieved at the Harwood Arms at this Westminster yearling, named for a pioneering suffragette. But while the traditional hotel dining room she was imported to revivify is an “amazingly spacious and comfy space” – and benefits from “quietly super-efficient and knowledgeable staff” – it doesn’t yet generate the volume of reports it perhaps deserves: “why was it empty? This deserves to be one of London’s most popular restaurants!”

This ‘modern take on the British pub’ with food by chef Sally Abé, formerly of the stellar Harwood Arms, is “part of the huge improvement of the City of Westminster’s offering over the last few years”. “The food is good, particularly the meat” – but calling it a ‘pub’ can feel like “a hopeless misnomer” (“it is a hotel restaurant with formal service – OK, no tablecloths – but waiters standing to attention”) and at quiet times it can lack atmosphere.

Italian-Argentine megachef Mauro Colagreco, of Mirazur on the French Riviera, is the star gastronomic attraction of the late-2022 launch of the Raffles hotel and apartment complex, emerging from the Edwardian baroque shell of the Old War Office building opposite Whitehall Palace, owned since 2014 by the Hinduja Group. In all, there will be 11 restaurants and two bars on the sprawling site, with Colagreco responsible for ‘a brasserie with a twist, a fine-dining restaurant and an avant-garde private chef’s table’.

“Really amazing use of the smoke and fire they cook with” (“there’s practically no gas or electricity in the kitchen!”) “produces lots of novel flavours” at star Swedish chef, Nicklas Ekstedt’s Whitehall yearling, which well-travelled reporters say “lives up to the Stockholm original” with its “inspired Nordic cuisine” (matched with “a novel selection of wines”). And “the lovely staff are really engaged with what they serve you” at this dining room within the five-star Hyatt: arguably, the most interesting culinary arrival of the year. One gripe, though: “some rather mean portions”.

2022 Review: On the site of the original Metropolitan Police HQ, this 100-seater hotel (owned by an Indian entrepreneur and operated by Hyatt) opened in December 2019. The comfortable, ground-floor lounge – with Raj-inspired decor – serves a contemporary take on afternoon tea, with added spice; there are spicy chai options and tea-based cocktails too.

2021 Review: “Ignore the lobbyists feeding MPs and enjoy this for what it is” – a smart, traditionally decorated corner-spot that’s one of the only restaurants in Westminster worth going to eat in! “Italian through and through”, it features “many regional dishes” and “unusual takes on traditional pasta and main courses (including crab, rabbit and quail)”; plus an interesting, all-Italian wine list.

Despite its gracious, high-ceilinged interior, this luxury five-star’s comfortable dining room – with its own dedicated entrance, near the Embankment – is sometimes overlooked by reporters. Those who make the trip, however, say the cuisine (overseen by executive chef, André Garrett) is “good value” (especially the set option) and that, in particular, it’s “a great lunch location”.

“A little bit of Marlow on Embankment”, say fans of TV-Tom’s London HQ: a “smooth operation”, which occupies a vast, atmospheric chamber within one of London’s most glamorous five stars (well, if it’s good enough for Ivanka…). The posh brasserie food, overseen by chef Nick Beardshaw, is “quite heavy and meaty” and fans say “while it’s a bit pricey, you will have an enjoyable meal”. On the downside, there’s a disappointed minority for whom the atmosphere “is very hotel dining room” and who see this as “another disappointing experience from a TV-star branded establishment”.

“Invitingly tucked away off Victoria Street”, “it feels like stepping into Paris” at this “good little bistro”, where “helpful staff” deliver “a short but interesting” all-day menu of “simple but delicious fare” at “good value prices” (“excellent saucisson, and good bavette steak, duck leg… a very good tarte Tatin and reasonably priced house wine!”). Only fleeting mentions for the branch cutely located in the tourist hell of Covent Garden on the lower ground level of the market itself, but all good.

2019 Review: The potentially “lovely room”, just off Trafalgar Square – part of a monumental, much-marbled Victorian hotel (which spent most of the 20th century as part of the MoD) – and “good-value set menu” can make this an “excellent central London location”, although its “rather cavernous” nature can mean there’s “not a great ambience”; “very nice wine list”.

“Properly Italian pizza” – “the best in London, possibly in the UK” – is hiding in plain sight in the heart of the West End, just off Trafalgar Square. Ciro Salvo is a third-generation pizza maestro based in Naples, and his London offshoot showcases his secret-formula high-hydration and long fermentation ‘50 Kalo’ dough. “The dough is the fluffiest ever and every ingredient used is the best of the best, from olive taggiasche to Cetara anchovies to Piennolo pomodori. Incredible!”.

This ten-year-old rock ’n’ roll ramen concept is in expansion mode at the moment, having pushed into the southwestern suburbs with openings in Richmond and Putney in recent years, followed by High Street Ken and the former Eurostar terminal at Waterloo station in 2022. They “still do a very fine bowl of tonkotsu”, and the classic rock soundtrack stays the same.

The “fantastic food” is in a very different league to that of most museum cafés, in this attractive space off the gorgeous courtyard of Lambeth’s Garden Museum, where former Padella chef, George Ryle, is responsible for “fresh and interesting cooking” with an Italian accent. But not all the typical norms have been neglected: there’s also “delicious coffee and cakes”.

“Love it… I always feel like a spy when I drink there…” – London’s oldest wine bar (est. 1890), near Embankment tube, is worth a visit for its “great interior” alone, with ancient brick-lined vaults, but it also boasts one of the capital’s biggest outside terraces. You no longer queue for the cold cuts, cheese and pies – they bring them to you with waiter service. The “excellent selection of wines” is by far the greater attraction.

“In an old Fire station near Victoria”, Atul Kochhar’s October 2021 newcomer is “a massive undertaking (with over 170 covers)”. It inspires a wide range of reactions, none of them terrible, some of them rapturous, but many of them mixed. The “unusual” food has “amazing spicing, with a focus on fish”, but some dishes can appear “too ordinary” or “needing a rethink” and even fans note they are “expensive”. In a similar vein, the “friendly” service can be “iffy” in its efficiency; and “ambience can be lacking” despite the “stylish conversion”. Still, it’s an ambitious venture still finding its feet, and perhaps the fairest overall verdict at this stage is: “enjoyable rather than brilliant”.

A major new hotel for London sees the Old War Office being taken over by Raffles, no less, and with famed French chef Mauro Colagreco of Mirazur taking three of the 11 dining spaces, we'll have plenty of choice about where to eat. More information (and restaurant names) as we know them, but there'll be a "a brasserie with a twist, a fine dining restaurant, and an avant-garde private Chef’s Table". Opening now planned for Spring 2023.

2022 Review: This ‘Philadelphia dive bar’ in Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia, has certainly “got the American vibe”, with “US-style beer and bar food” giving a real taste of the City of Brotherly Love. Philly street food classics such as the hoagie and cheesesteak are on the menu – and “it’s not health food, that’s for sure”. Reporters are divided on the results – “defining the category” for fans, “pretty underwhelming” for sceptics. There’s now a second site at Westfield Stratford, complete with baseball batting cages, but a 2021 crowdfunding bid to raise £150,000 for a massive bar under the railway arches in Leake Street, Waterloo, struck out.