London Angel Restaurant Guide

“Proper Kyushu-style ramen with a thick, silky broth” is the secret behind this small London noodle chain from former pro cyclist Kazuhiro Kanada. “Especially great on a typical cold, rainy London day”, it’s “a go-to for a quick, cheap and (relatively) healthy supper in town” (“I’ve stopped for ramen at all the main chains and a few indies, and for my money this is the very best bowl at a great price”). The sixth branch opened in summer 2024 at Westfield Shepherd’s Bush.

“What is better than an amazing breakfast?…” and you are certainly spoilt for choice all day long at this greasy-spoon-esque chain, which is celebrating its 20th year in 2024 with the addition of a St Pancras branch to its empire of 16 caffs (11 of them in the capital) and 3 pubs.

In a “brilliant setting” among the antique shops of Camden Passage, this “reliable, high-class stalwart has been going for over 50 years, and is never disappointing”. “The food is unoriginal but good quality and excellently prepared, while the staff are unfailingly efficient and welcoming”. There’s a “super bar, and garden dining is especially lovely come summer-time”. You wouldn’t head here for a rave, though – having recruited an army of regulars over so many years, it’s perhaps inevitable that “the restaurant vibe is large tables of posh pensioners having a jolly time”.

This “very Austrian” café-restaurant in Islington’s atmospheric Camden Passage is “a bit different from the usual” for London, with a menu of “schnitzel, noodles, Tyrolean breakfast, daily soups and various sausages” – plus of course “great coffee and exceptional cakes”. It’s “not a place for dieters... but the layered torte is worth the calories!”.

“Cajun and Creole dishes served pub-style” – including “delicious jambalaya” – share top billing with live jazz at this “really unusual and lively spot” – a colourfully converted tavern across the road from the Regent’s Canal in Islington, where restaurateur Jacob Kenedy (of Bocca di Lupo) channels his Louisiana roots.

Since the early 1990s, this tiny, two-floor canteen on Islington Green has been a popular local pitstop. Don’t expect anything foodie, but for a flavourful refuel at a good price, its small selection of simple curries is just the job.

“I used to be a regular, now I’m so sad”. The June 2023 reformatting of this “very handsome-looking” Wolseley Group outpost on Islington Green (which had closed in 2019 and then reopened in 2020 after failing to sell the site) is not going well. It’s a large site, evoking a fin-de-siecle Parisian haunt with a “newish design that’s pleasant enough” and a fairly traditional, French brasserie-style menu. For too many, though, “since reopening after a further refresh results are dire”. One reporter neatly summarises the mood: “This is written with huge sadness, as it was my favourite place for nearly any occasion in the Corbin & King days. Now it feels like a Café Rouge, with a cynical and over-priced menu and average service (I really feel for the staff, a lot of whom were there in the good old days). What a waste, and what a loss for Upper Street: it was such a godsend to have a grown-up restaurant in the area when it first opened, and then reopened”.

We’re “very lucky to have it as our local”, say regulars at this Islington gastropub with the unusual facility of an in-house butchery to ensure high-quality meat. “I’ve been dozens of times, and never had a bum meal”.

It’s “all about the wine, as you might expect” at James Dawson’s “relaxed” wine-bar group, whose branches boast a “splendid list” of “high-quality and well-sourced” bottles. The food is very much “second fiddle”, though “unobjectionable”, while the most interesting venue is the original one, off Fleet Street, “hidden in the vaults of St Bride’s Church”. Top Tip – “go on a Monday night for wine at shop rather than restaurant prices”.

This “well-established and reliable French bistro” with a “faux-rural dining room” in Islington is “good value, friendly and welcoming”, while the “simple and traditional cooking packs plenty of flavour in quite generous servings”. Top Tip – “go for the set lunch” (three courses for under £20).

This “buzzy and enjoyable location” for “very well-executed Mediterranean small dishes” is the more casual offspring of Sam & Sam Clark’s Moro next door in Exmouth Market – and now has its own spin-off in Hackney Road. The original Spanish/Moorish fusion has taken on additional influences from further afield, including Crete and the Middle East. Top Menu Tip – “good cheese fritters with Cretan honey and Cretan sausage and yoghurt with first rate flatbread”.

“They succeed in making vegan food interesting!” at this successful chain, founded in Soho in 1988 and which is no longer merely veggie but since 2021 fully plant-based. “While packed and buzzy in set-up, it’s nevertheless a good destination for a healthy stopover” according to the many who commented on it in this year’s annual diners’ poll: “as a meat-eater, I was taken under sufferance but impressed!”. In May 2024, they added a new branch near Victoria coach station.

“Still great even after all these years” and “still an absolute favourite” – Sam & Sam Clark’s inspired stalwart helped put Exmouth Market on London’s foodie map when it opened in 1997, with its “super-flavoursome” Spanish/North African food from an “ever-changing menu”, all “washed down with wonderful wines” (predominantly Spanish, and also from Portugal and Lebanon) and fine selection of sherries. Fans say there’s “a lovely buzz” too, but the room can be horribly “noisy”… “is it getting worse?”

“Just like a hole-in-the-wall in Hong Kong” – “if you can stand the long wait on grimy King’s Cross Road” and “are prepared to eat sitting on someone else’s lap because there’s no space inside (all part of the charm!)” then you can enjoy some “excellent” dim sum at this cheap eat of contemporary urban legend – “we just wanted to keep ordering and eating everything on the menu!”

“Sublimely executed feelgood nosh of the highest charcoal-grilled order” has attracted a “devoted fan base” for this Middle East/North Africa-inspired grill in a Haggerston railway arch, and its shawarma bar spinoff in Exmouth Market. Ten years on, its feedback – though consistently excellent – no longer scales the hyper-dizzying peaks it once did, perhaps because founder Josh Katz is increasingly focused on his newer, multi-site project, Carmel (see also).

A “buzzy” atmosphere and “welcoming service” are the strong suits of this “expanding group”, with 16 branches in London and another handful nearby. While nobody disputes that they’re “lovely to sit in” and offer “value for money”, the “Middle-Eastern-inspired cooking” divides opinion, with some reporters “pleasantly surprised by the tasty food” and others bemoaning “underwhelming” dishes that “sound better than they taste”.

You walk past “chiller meat displays” as you enter Roberto Costa’s Italian group. Macellaio means ‘butcher’, and the focus is on quality steaks, particularly the Piemontese Fassona breed, but also including cuts from the UK (from Herefordshire) and with tomahawk and Halal options; all matched with an “extensive wine list”. “For a great and reasonable dinner (including pre-theatre) and excellent steaks” it does still have fans. But its support has waned in both quality and quantity in recent years, and the group has halved in size since the last edition, shedding branches in Bloomsbury, Borough and Clapham (all RIP) to focus on Theatreland/Soho, Exmouth Market and the South Kensington original. All of the (relatively few) reports say the food is still mostly good but increasingly there are caveats: “Hmmm, the steaks are getting pretty… not bad, but no longer as good value”. Top Menu Tip – the “dessert theatre of tiramisu created at the table”.

A particularly solid choice for brunch – this “buzzy” Kiwi-run chain (with seven branches) fits the bill well, with “interesting small plates” of pan-global fusion food and an emphasis on notably good coffee (which they roast in-house). On the downside, the food is often “passable and no more” and their “lively” interiors (Granary Square in particular) can become “hopelessly crowded”, giving rise to incidents of “slapdash service”. Still, they’re “fun” and “reasonably priced”. (See also Vardo).

“More hit ’n’ miss than they used to be, but still a go-to chain” – the Elliot brothers’ successful group is heading towards 20 branches in the capital, but “still producing quality dishes despite becoming quite a brand”: “lovely scorched, pillowy-based pizzas with plenty of power in the ingredients” and “reasonably priced for the quality!” Latest to launch, in June 2024, was a branch by Euston.

“Empire Biscuits, school cake, and butteries the best you’ll have anywhere in Scotland let alone London” win raves for this “excellent new Scottish deli” south of Angel: the first bricks and mortar outlet for ‘Auld Hag’ (‘The Purveyors of Scottish Scran’, who started up in 2021 during lockdown). If you’re not a calorie-counter, rush now for the “morning rolls with square sausage and haggis”.