Chigwell Restaurant Guide

Our mission: make delicious pizza, served with care, in beautiful spaces.In the beginning we were just Matteo and Salvatore, two brothers from Calabria. We moved to Bologna to study economics, and – like all penniless students – ate a lot of...

Ahoy there! Step aboard a 120-year-old barge when you eat at this waterside venue, permanently moored on the canal in Hackney Wick. Its Floating Bar may be a magnet for summer drinkers, but the focused modern bistro menu in its interior restaurant is much more than incidental (and Sunday Roast is also a feature).

“The odd 70s decor will not be to everyone’s taste” (“hello, what looks like Meccano and some random ornaments”), but many diners are pleasantly surprised by this offbeat Italian (“in looks, somewhat like an American diner”) which sits “inside the multi-coloured Megaro Hotel, bang opposite St Pancras station”. The Italian food is “surprisingly good”, staff are “super-helpful” and “on-point” and – despite the quirks of the “unprepossessing location” – the kind pricing helps lead to an experience that fans say is an “all-round hit”. Top Menu Tip – “the pasta dishes in particular are very good (proper Italian)”; “beef shin risotto, arrancini and the black pudding croquettes are excellent”.

2024 Review: “If you are not planning a return to the office, the largest selection of whisky ever seen” helps round off a business lunch at this Canary Wharf branch of Ranald Macdonald’s Caledonian group. “The restaurant prides itself on good Scottish ingredients… shellfish in season… excellent fillet steak” and “tables are sufficiently spaced for private conversation”. Top Tip – “regular visitors may join a club which gives discounts on wines and they host musical events in the evenings”.

Open in early 2024, Joe Haynes & Ben Butterworth’s “delightful townhouse in Smithfield” is one of the most commented-on arrivals of the last eighteen months in our annual diners’ poll. Tucked away near Smithfield Market in a Dickensian alleyway, it occupies the ground floor of a cute old building that escaped 1666’s Great Fire, and which was once part-occupied by the poet laureate, John Betjeman. Some find it “so crowded”, but most diners find the “hustling and bustling” interior is “buzzy, cozy and romantic” and make it “a great place for lingering over a long lunch”. Chef Tom Hurst’s “well-sourced” British cooking “manages to feel rustic and yet at the same time have some real finesse about it” and there’s also “a well curated wine selection”. Top Menu Tip – “Light, yet rich Pig’s Head croquettes; universally enjoyable Mackerel and Crab starters… likewise the Beef Shin ravioli and the Pork Chop; the Chips with Espelette pepper are amazing. Even if you’re not a particular fan of white chocolate, the Rhubarb and White chocolate dessert is perfect!”

At the foot of the 100 Bishopsgate tower, this London outpost of a small Brazilian-inspired national chain opened a couple of years ago. You can order à la carte, but the main event is their ‘Churrasco’: a continuous, eat-till-you-bust service to your table of steak, lamb, chicken and pork, carved onto your plate with fries, rice and salad. Feedback on the experience isn’t huge in volume but all-good.

“Having walked by it for years, I’m sorry I’ve not started eating here a long time ago!” – “A fabulous waterside location in the swanky development around historic St Katherine Dock” sets the scene at Livebait and Real Greek founder, Theodore Kyriakou’s latest venture, now over five years old. “A small restaurant, it focuses on seafood brought fresh from the coast each day; and there is a lovely buzz about the place, not least because of the charming owner who clearly has a passion for hospitality” and sets up a “warm, inviting atmosphere”. “Affordable by London standards”, it provided some diners with their best meal of the year: “fresh, quality seafood” provided by “chefs with a high level of skills”. “Well worth seeking out!” Top Menu Tips – “octopus butter is insanely good, as is the crab risotto”; and they do an “exemplary blue cheese ice cream”.

The freshest Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP is paired with other Italian produce in pasta, pizza, salad and panini dishes at this international chain. There are outposts throughout Europe as well as the US and Japan, although the UK is now only represented by its smart Canary Wharf branch. Reports are not huge in number, but rate it strongly all-round.

The aims are classical at this Italian four-year-old near the Bank of England, where the elegant interior is provided by a converted Edwardian banking hall (built in 1902). There’s a wide variety of menus and eating options, including a good-value set lunch at £30 for two courses and £34 for three. Feedback is limited but all positive.

“Worth it just for the Cassoulet”, say fans of Pascal Aussignac and Vincent Labeyrie’s “super, very inventive southern French cuisine” – their homage to the gutsy cuisine of Gascony, opened in a fine marbled hall near Smithfield Market in 1998 (originally built as a Lyons Tea House). There was some unusually critical feedback this year though which dragged ratings down, with quite a few reports along the lines of: “hadn’t been for a while, but my return visit was below what I expected…”; “went with high hopes but the food was just OK”.

“Quite a find in the heart of the City” and “deffo worth a trip from beyond the Square Mile” too – this “simple and unpretentious restaurant with exceptional wine” would be welcome in any postcode, but is a particular boon in the still-arid wastelands of the Square Mile. Established in 2017 by Master Sommeliers Xavier Rousset and Gearoid Devaney, its “highly knowledgeable and attentive service” is a particular strength; but it’s a good all-rounder too, whose elegant interior and “beautifully presented” modern French cuisine help make it “perfect for lunch with colleagues or clients”. As you’d expect, however, its prime feature is the “sublime wine selection, with a particularly fine selection from Burgundy”: “an offbeat list guaranteed to tantalize the interest of enthusiasts”.

“Still top street food IMO” – this oven shaped like an old steam locomotive is an eye-catching fixture in Spitalfield Market and delivers “amazing meats that melt in the mouth”.

“Bustling, noisy and delicious” – Vivek Singh’s City spinoff from his flagship Cinnamon Club provides a “fun” opportunity to sample some superior Indian cooking. Its newer Battersea stablemate is less commented on and a little tamer – but fans say the food is “every bit as good”, while both branches have outdoor terraces for al-fresco dining. A third Cinnamon Kitchen opened in Leeds in summer 2025 – the chef’s first foray ’up North.

Oui Madame is an evenings-only modern European restaurant in Highbury and Islington, serving seasonal sharing plates and a thoughtful wine list in a cosy, intimate setting. Expect warm hospitality, confident flavours and an easy rhythm that suits everything from date night to ...

Ten minutes’ walk south of Greenwich BR, this Georgian corner tavern is more gastro than pub, with a stylishly updated interior and a “beautiful garden”. Much of the menu – for example, steak, fish, chicken skewers – is prepared on the robata grill, and is “a cut above your usual pub grub”.

“Continuing to be a favourite” – this family-friendly local Italian restaurant opened in 1996 as part of the gentrification of Wapping and remains a “consistently good neighbourhood spot”. “Portions are huge” and there’s a wide range of pizza and pasta as well as more substantial fare (“excellent calves’ liver” for instance). It helps that “service is always fast and efficient”.

There’s a Sicilian spin on the menu of Fabrizio Zafarana’s “decent old-fashioned Italian”. It’s easily missed on an unlovely section of the Grays Inn Road, but those who report on it are uniformly upbeat on its cuisine, and loyal support has sustained it for over a decade now.

“Twenty years old and still a reasonable choice” – this duo serving Spanish/Italian tapas “remains a cut above the average”, at both the original Fitzrovia original venue and a newer site in Borough Market (an outpost at Westfield Shepherd’s Bush was short-lived). However, “there are now many more similar places available” than when quality tapas seemed a rarity in the capital, and some long-term fans dwell on the fact that they’ve “gone downhill” over the decades, now feeling “slightly more expensive than they should be”.

2024 Review: Dazzling views from the 48th-floor of a Canary Wharf tower help create a sense of occasion at this family-run, five-year-old Italian restaurant and ‘Sky Bar’. Its long menu of pasta, pizza, grills and other fare doesn’t inspire a huge volume of feedback, but the limited amount we have is all upbeat.

“Such a shame not more people recognise this as a top Indian” – so say fans of Roop Partap Choudhary’s lavishly decorated venue in Holborn’s spectacular old town hall. “They seem to have observed the leading groups and copied the best bits” and the result is “really well-executed food” (if perhaps “with few surprises”). Last year, he also debuted in the large space off Trafalgar Square that was formerly Jones Family Project (RIP): “a well-designed if cavernous space” but sometimes “a little raucous due to its seeming popularity with big work groups”.