West Kensington Restaurant Guide

A handy “cheap ’n’ cheerful” option – these traditional Turkish venues, near West Kensington tube and on Fulham Broadway are a favourite stop-off for a freshly BBQ’d kebab. (The West Ken branch is not to be confused with ‘Best Mangal 1996’ – a similar venture at 66 North End Road).

A handy “cheap ’n’ cheerful” option – these traditional Turkish venues, near West Kensington tube and on Fulham Broadway are a favourite stop-off for a freshly BBQ’d kebab. (The West Ken branch is not to be confused with ‘Best Mangal 1996’ – a similar venture at 66 North End Road).

2021 Review: “Just around the corner from Olympia”, it’s worth knowing about this well-rated pub, in the not-particularly-auspicious northerly reaches of the North End Road. In the same stable as Earl’s Court’s excellent Atlas, it delivers “a very enjoyable meal, with a good quality menu and a lovely atmosphere”.

“Where else can you get ramen and laksa in the same place?”, ask fans of this “efficient and friendly” pan-Asian chain founded almost 30 years ago in Bloomsbury’s Brunswick Centre and now with branches in Ealing, Putney, Kensington and Chiswick plus two delivery-only kitchens.

2021 Review: Backing onto the rear of Queen’s Club in Baron’s Court (and with a cute small garden for sunny days) – “a good, standby local pub” given a very stylish revamp a couple of years ago, and serving “a decent array of dishes”. “The ambience varies a bit depending on where you are sat in the dining room”.

“A pioneer in championing dishes from the Philippines” – this Kensington feature opened in 2016 and helped pave the way for what’s nowadays a healthy level of interest in the cuisine in the Capital. It’s named for a well-known Filipino diplomat whose grandchildren own the venture; and who also run a number of similarly branded cafés back home in Asia.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, chef Ben Asamani’s “very good vegan” on Fulham’s trafficky North End Road (near its crossroads with the Lillie Road) provides “a lovely dining experience” – “you certainly don’t miss eating fish or meat”. Top Menu Tip – the “veggie burgers” – made with asparagus and petits pois on gluten-free bread – “are the best!”.

An “attractive riverside setting” (incorporating a 45-cover outdoor terrace, complete with retractable roof) is a major selling point at star chef Robin Gill’s second opening under the ‘Maria G’ banner, on the ground floor of a shiny new residential development, in the deepest, darkest Fulham no-man’s-land near Imperial Wharf (by the big Sainsburys). Despite its out-of-the-way situation, it’s already attracting more feedback than the first Maria G, which opened two years ago. That’s also hard to find, and also in a glossy new block – this time part of a retirement village on the Kensington/Olympia borders. At both outlets, the culinary theme is Italian although SW6 concentrates more on its raw bar and pasta, with reports praising “some innovative dishes” (The Telegraph’s William Sitwell was also a fan, proclaiming it a “chic oasis” with “delicate and authentic Italian food”). Reports in our annual diners’ poll on W8 were scant (but the Daily Mail’s Tom Parker Bowles found it a “lush, lovely Italian oasis… [in] the sterile, anodyne surroundings of those deluxe flats”).