London Bankside Restaurant Guide

2024 Review: With its “great view over the river”, the sixth-floor restaurant in this converted power station opposite St Paul’s Cathedral is a “really rather splendid place for a decent set lunch”. The food is “better than expected, perhaps better than it needed to be” – “appropriately arty”, too, with dishes inspired by artists on display in the gallery. (Over at Tate Britain, “the Rex Whistler dining room is sorely missed and a real loss” – its closure brought about by a combination of Covid and dilemmas about the depiction of slavery in its Whistler murals, nowadays deemed ‘unequivocally… offensive’.)

“Unbelievable views” of the Thames and across to St Paul’s Cathedral are reason enough to eat at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre’s in-house restaurant. But the modern British menu is well-constructed around carefully sourced ingredients, and the Shakespeare-themed afternoon teas also go down well.

This 15-strong London noodle chain (now with branches in Brighton, Birmingham and Bristol) is “a good stand-by” – perhaps it’s “not as good as some of its competitors”, but it is widely seen as “good value”: in particular “the lunch-time meal deal” is a winner.

“Delicious and innovative pizzas” using seawater (said to produce a lighter, more natural-tasting dough) is the USP of this smart Italian duo near Borough Market and in St James’s. They also provide “excellent fresh pasta” and “great service” – “the only downside is the noise”.

“The Saffer-style menu” (featuring “particularly excellent steaks” sourced from Yorkshire) “and even better Saffer wine list” make Neleen Strauss’s out-of-the-way venue, on the southern fringe of the City, “well worth searching out”, despite its “odd location below the Millennium (‘Wobbly’) Bridge”, directly opposite Tate Modern. Top Tip – “the cellar is a super place for a group”.

Swish rooftop Iberian seafood specialist on the 14th floor of a modern Southwark hotel. It remains solidly rated for its luxe seafood – including nine varieties of oyster, alongside lobster and caviar – with scores that stack up respectably against fashionable restaurants with a view. Pick carefully, and you could make an affordable meal here, but the more luxurious options are very punchily priced.

“A popular chain with an interesting and varied international menu” – “V.G. value too” – these Kiwi-run cafés are “still seeing off all of the competition” for their many fans. In particular, they do a “great brunch, and they’re right to boast about their filter coffee” – and given the volume of feedback they generate, there is remarkably little negative criticism. Depending on the venue and the time of day, they work equally well for a “working lunch meeting” or “families out for the day visiting the sights”. Top Menu Tip – “the cornbread is to die for”.

“Authentic tapas in rustic surroundings under the arches in Southwark” helps make this an extremely popular “old favourite” for many in our annual diners’ poll. “It feels unchanged over 20 years, with classic, tasty dishes much better than the ordinariness of the setting might lead one to expect; and with the boss always around to greet you and chat like he has over the years”. “Prices are reasonable, including the keenly priced wine list, described in idiosyncratic terms (such as ‘Ollie Reed in a bottle’)”.

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”.

For a glam rendezvous near Tate Modern, this Tom Dixon-designed lounge with terrace fits the bill, with its smooth design and variety of menus (all day from breakfast) incorporating tempting bites such as Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail, Crispy Chicken Burger or Surrey Farm Rib Eye. It’s predictably expensive though and nothing you eat is likely to dwell long in the memory.

“Excellent Portuguese tapas at a very reasonable price” and a “wide selection of Portuguese wines” are found at this bar bedecked with blue-and-white azulejo tiles near Borough Market, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year – founder Max Graham is from the Churchill port family. A second branch in the City’s Broadgate development is “a great option for lunch – if you can find it amid the construction site” (and is not listed).

“Still my favourite indian and can’t fault this place” – JKS Restaurants have hit an impressive stride at their City outpost, which cosies up its shiny Bloomberg Arcade location by modelling itself on an old-fashioned Indian Army mess. Not everyone loves that “half the site is a sports bar” (finding it “tacky”) but its (somewhat “male-dominated”) atmosphere is highly rated overall and the food is “brilliant” – a mixture of beer snacks, rolls, sizzlers, skewers, kebabs, chops and other fare. “A good spot for beers outside in the summer” too.

“Just simple and exceptional!” – Zan Kaufman’s fast-expanding chain still remains widely hailed for offering “the best burger in London”: a winning formula that’s bringing an eighth site in Soho in 2025 alongside recent additions in Seven Dials, London Bridge and – the biggest one yet (28 covers) – on Baker Street. All of the many reports we receive acclaim its “amazing burgers and amazing fries”. One caveat – “expect delays if you want to eat in the evening at the Bloomberg building outlet as they can be too busy fulfilling the constant Deliveroo orders for the starving investment bankers who are all still working until midnight!”

“A cut above your average wine bar”: this 20-year-old group remains highly popular in our annual diners’ poll thanks to its “decent wines at fair prices” in “jolly” settings. “The food can be terrific – but not always”, and the overall performance shows signs of steadying after a tricky patch when the business was sold out of administration.

“Love the udon, sitting at the single long counter” – Japan’s most refined fast-food noodle option (whose popularity dates from the early Edo period 400 years ago), is showcased at this 15-year-old Soho fixture and its satellites in the City’s Bloomberg Arcade and Hackney. “Best to go at an off-peak time to avoid the queue”.

2024 Review: Soren Jessen’s “slick, Nordic cafe in the City of London” occupies part of the Bloomberg Arcade and contributes to the development’s renown for offering “good food in the dry desert of the Square Mile”. It majors in Danish smørrebrød (rye bread with toppings): “nice for a change”, but “you can rack up a fair bill eating these delicate one-bite-and-they-are-gone appetisers” (though “there there are decent main courses such as fish, schnitzel and venison fillet”). On the downside, results can end up seeming “not as Scandi and varied as expected” – “I prefer IKEA meatballs, even if they are not as prettily presented!”

2022 Review: The name says it all about this new ‘Britisserie’ (an ‘authentic British patisserie’), which opened on a corner site near St Paul’s in December 2019. Owners Daniel Jobsz and his mum honed their classic pie-making skills at markets, festivals and pop-ups from 2015 before they found the site, which incorporates a small courtyard. Full English breakfasts (in a tart, of course), plus epic mash and a good list of beers and other drinks complete the formula.

“Fantastic dim sum”, “excellent Peking duck” and “a surprisingly good (and good-value) set lunch menu” belie the “slightly sterile”, “hotel-restaurant” setting in the Hyatt Regency at Blackfriars (fka the Crowne Plaza). The unusual name commemorates the 2009 debut of China’s national cricket team.

Founded in 2011 by four friends, this interesting concept hit ten sites in London in April 2025 with its debut in Kensington (replacing Street Burger on the high street) and also has a Brighton outpost as well as a handful of footholds in the Middle East and Asia. Fans are still in the majority and say its posh comfort food (the clue is in the name) is “a surprisingly good offering”. But while there are few harsh criticisms, its ratings have over the years slipped to a level that’s only “OK”.