Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in London City
Hardens guides have spent 30 years compiling reviews of the best City restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 148 restaurants in City and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing City restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured City Restaurants
1. Angler, South Place Hotel
Fish & seafood restaurant in City
3 South Pl - EC2
Gary Foulkes’s “classy” cuisine – “always perfect” fish and seafood, from a menu showcasing sustainable British Isles produce – maintains this “City gem” as the culinary star of D&D London at present. Occupying the “cool and refined” top floor of a hotel near Broadgate, it’s “a great place for a business lunch, with excellent light”: “one wall is virtually all window, overlooking the neighbouring blocks” (and there’s a terrace for sunny days). “It’s pricey, but you are slap bang in the heart of the Square Mile.”
2. Cinnamon Kitchen
Indian restaurant in City
9 Devonshire Sq - EC2
2019 Review: “Indian favourites imaginatively recreated” and “fusion food such as steak with masala chips” comprise a “superb menu that is hard to choose from” at the Cinnamon Club’s offshoot in the City. The setting – a large atrium near Liverpool Street – is a real bonus, because “you can sit outside in a covered courtyard in virtually all weathers”.
3. Boisdale of Bishopsgate
Scottish restaurant in City
Swedeland Court, 202 Bishopsgate - EC2
“A complete contrast from the exterior bustle of Bishopsgate” – this Caledonian-themed wine bar (ground floor) and restaurant (basement) provides the same gutsy (some feel “heavy”), meaty Scottish fare of the Belgravian original, and is consistently decently rated food-wise.
4. M Restaurant Threadneedle Street
Steaks & grills restaurant in City
2-3 Threadneedle Walk, 60 Threadneedle Street - EC2R
Martin Williams’s glossily-glam steakhouses have a touch of Vegas-glitz to their ritzy design, and particularly win nominations as impressive venues for business, boosted by the range of top-quality meat (the highest grades of USDA, Wagyu and Kobe beef) and an extensive wine selection. Since the top man returned to rescue Gaucho as CEO, however, some reporters feel “it’s lost its way since the wonderful early days”.
5. Fenchurch Restaurant, Sky Garden
British, Modern restaurant in City
20 Fenchurch St - EC3
“It is rare to encounter a five-star ambience, as well as welcoming service, and a high standard of food, all at once in the City” and, on pretty much all accounts, there’s “no better place if you’re looking for an exceptional evening location” than the 37th floor of the ‘Walkie Talkie’ (“go for a walk in the garden... with a drink... take in the amazing view…”). As the survey was concluding in June 2019, chef Dan Fletcher left for Somerset, and a new chef, George Farrugia (ex-Bob Bob Ricard) joined this operation run by caterers ‘rhubarb’ – hopefully the good all-round performance will survive the upheaval.
6. La Dame de Pic London
French restaurant in City
10 Trinity Square - EC3N
“A truly world-class representative of London dining” – the Pic family’s “plush” three-year-old, within a monumental five-star hotel (the Port of London Authority’s former HQ), provides a “stunning-if-pricey” destination that nowadays ranks in London’s culinary top tier; and its heart-of-the-city location by Tower Hill makes it a natural for wining and dining particularly important prospects. The “calm, white-walled dining room” provides a “chic” and “beautiful” setting for a meal, service is “attentive but un-pushy”, but its highest rated feature is its “sensational”, “superbly refined” modern French cuisine.
7. Mint Leaf Lounge
Indian restaurant in City
Angel Ct, Lothbury - EC2
“Light and delicate” Indian-fusion dishes and “nice cocktails” continue to maintain a fanclub for this snazzy-looking haunt, tucked away near the Bank of England. Its Trafalgar Square sibling bit the dust, though, this year (RIP).
8. Treves & Hyde
British, Modern restaurant in City
15-17 Leman St - E1
2019 Review: At the foot of a new aparthotel near Aldgate East tube, this year-old venture comprises a coffee shop and terrace downstairs, and a restaurant and bar upstairs, which – under seasoned chef George Tannock – tries harder than you might expect in this location: “a welcome, local, go-to business lunch place, with an excellent and varied menu and staff who are efficient but welcoming”.
9. Bangalore Express
Indian restaurant in City
1 Corbet Ct - EC3
2018 Review: “Always good tastes and good value” win fans for this “reliable” contemporary-style Indian, right in the heart of the Square Mile.
10. Café Below
British, Modern restaurant in City
St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside - EC2
“Escape the feel of the City for very reasonable home cooked-food” in the ancient crypt of Bow Bells church. “There are no better dining establishments in the Square Mile: affordable, great service, good food with delicious daily changing salads” including “excellent veggie and vegan options”. Depending on when you go, it’s either a “quiet” space or quite a “noisy” one.
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