Notting Hill, Mediterranean Restaurant Guide

This September 2019 yearling on Notting Hill’s Kensington Park Road is an all-day restaurant riding the current wave of Tel Aviv-inspired diners, featuring healthy sharing-plates.

“Always enjoyable” local Italian that’s provided consistently well rated meals in Notting Hill for 22 years. Its two siblings, Osteria Basilico and Essenza, are near-neighbours on the same street.

“A feast for the eyes and always fresh, delicious” and full of “interesting flavour” – the “unusual salads” and habit-forming cakes at Yotam Ottolenghi’s starkly decorated café chain: an ongoing success-story particularly beloved of brunching yummy-mums and Guardian-reading types (“is this a restaurant or a cult?… some of the clientele on my trip seemed beyond parody”). “It’s only the food that makes it worth it” though – branches are “super-busy and never enjoyable” – and, given the prices, a visit can “feel like daylight robbery”.

“Absolutely the best new restaurant in the past year or so” – the Roux dynasty have come up trumps with this “great newbie in the Notting Hill ’hood”, on the site of Bumpkin (RIP). It’s the brainchild of Michel Roux’s daughter Emily Roux and her husband Diego Ferrari (former head chef at Le Gavroche). “Just around the corner from The Ledbury, but half the price and less formal” – it provides a “fabulous all-round experience”, founded on “outstanding” and “creative” cooking “born out of two great cuisines: French and Italian”. (However, “the unusual menu layout does take a moment to puzzle out”, with headings like Curious, Subtle and Greedy). “Impeccable service” and the “very comfortable” space, decorated with “quirky touches” complete the experience. Top Tip – “don’t miss the celeriac ‘cacio e pepe’”.