London Fitzrovia Restaurant Guide

“A genuine legend serving authentic South Indian food at reasonable prices” – this “long-established” Keralan near the Telecom Tower dispenses “tasty, high-quality” meals in dated surroundings (“don’t worry about the formica tables”). There is the odd concern raised that “the food is no longer what it was” but most reports are remorselessly upbeat. Top Menu Tip – “incredible masala dosa”.

“Difficult to book for, but if one succeeds it’s fabulous… and what a choice of Champagnes!” – A good proportion of best meals of the year feature in reports on a meal at the 19-seat U-shaped counter whose performance in our annual diners’ poll lives up to its renown as one of London’s top culinary destinations. Star chef, James Knappett provides a carefully sourced and foraged seasonal menu for £195 per person, with the wines curated by his wife, wine expert Sandia Chang (who offers a £250-per-person Champagne pairing amongst the variety of choices). Complaints about the vertiginous pricing here have featured in past years, but were largely notable by their absence in the latest survey.

“Top-class pizza at the new outlet by Kew Gardens” (on the site of Hawthorn, RIP) wins a particular thumbs-up this year for this “properly Neapolitan” chain (“down to the shrine to Diego Maradona on the wall” in TW9). It was well-rated this year, if not as stratospherically as days gone by, supporting those who feel: “I don’t seem as keen on this place as everyone else, but it’s fresh and friendly and local”. The group started in Ealing over 15 years ago and – as well as its Kew launch – also added a Paddington branch in 2025 to join those in Fitzrovia, Fulham and Islington.

Film director Guy Richie’s Fitzrovia pub is one of the capital’s hottest tickets for Sunday lunch, with bookings for its “top roast” selling out a full year in advance, according to a February 2025 report in The Times that cited its success with the ‘TikTok generation’ in addition to its more obvious celeb links. A vintage-feel revamp of a three-storey Georgian-era boozer, it offers an appealing menu of ‘contemporary English’ cooking supplemented by upmarket bar snacks like Maldon rock oysters and Creedy Carver duck scotch eggs (but no longer beer from the owner’s Gritchie brewery in Dorset, which has ceased production).

2022 Review: This ‘Philadelphia dive bar’ in Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia, has certainly “got the American vibe”, with “US-style beer and bar food” giving a real taste of the City of Brotherly Love. Philly street food classics such as the hoagie and cheesesteak are on the menu – and “it’s not health food, that’s for sure”. Reporters are divided on the results – “defining the category” for fans, “pretty underwhelming” for sceptics. There’s now a second site at Westfield Stratford, complete with baseball batting cages, but a 2021 crowdfunding bid to raise £150,000 for a massive bar under the railway arches in Leake Street, Waterloo, struck out.

“Presided over by the delightful, knowledgeable and gracious Mathieu Germond” – “MG and his staff make you feel welcome from beginning to end” at this “totally professional but wonderfully warm and genuine” Fitzrovia “gem”. Named for the Loire village where Le Patron’s grandparents owned a farm, the “well-spaced” room “gives you the feeling of being able to spread out and relax (try to be seated upstairs for the full experience)”; and “you aren’t rushed”. “Classic techniques with a modern twist” deliver some “excellent” modern French cuisine but an even greater attraction is the “incredible” selection of “heavily French-oriented but interesting and well-priced” wines: it’s “a true oenophile’s paradise run by someone who clearly appreciates the company and custom of those with a shared interest” (“we simply asked Mathieu to produce bottles that he thought we would like and that would go with our menu choices. We were introduced to some excellent vintages, including ones where he was happy to open a bottle that must have been quite costly just to see if we would enjoy it.”). “Splendid!”

2024 Review: “Awesome, thin and crispy pizza” has built quite a following for this “fast, simple, really cheap and really cheerful” Goodge Street spot – where, “unless strip lighting, functional metal tables and chairs are your thing, the ambience is forgettable”. Celebrating its quarter-centenary this year as ‘The People’s Pizzeria’, it now has a branch in Camden and ‘click & collect’ kitchens in Wood Green, Colindale and Croydon.

2022 Review: “A wonderful menu with a good choice of tapas to suit all tastes” again wins recommendations for this buzzy and good-value bar on Goodge Street.

“A jolly pan-Asian mish-mash that’s good value for the West End” inspires ongoing interest in this Fitzrovia venue. Most of the action is on the ground floor, but there’s also an outdoor bar and basement chef’s counter.

“Cheap ’n’ cheerful” Italian dining doesn‘t get much more authentic than this cosily traditional spot in Fitzrovia, which has been pleasing locals and visitors alike for more than 35 years.

“I’d move to the area to make this my local!” – Will Lander and Daniel Morgenthau’s urbane Fitzrovia corner site is a “casual sister restaurant to Portland just round the corner” and provides “a delightful welcome” alongside “a very high standard of dishes”. And to wash down the food, there’s “a wine list that seems to go out of its way to be interesting, including the chalkboard of options by the glass”. But while it’s “consistently a favourite” for most who report on it, the ratings they award are quite middling amidst a general acknowledgement that – “with prices not that far off its Michelin star sibling” – “the saving is insufficient given the disparity in food, experience and space”.

Back in the day (in 2004), Arjun Waney & Rainer Becker’s successful Japanese fusion-favourite on Charlotte Street helped forge new expectations for fashionable dining out – with its slick combination of sushi, sashimi and robata-grilled items – and “it’s still a winner, even if we have now seen it all before”. Over the years four London siblings have been added, alongside another nine in the eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf. A particular hit with business diners, some reporters visit several times a year, and say “it’s always an enjoyable experience, with delicious options like the black cod, crab gyoza and fillet beef”.

The food of Emilia-Romagna is the inspiration for this Italian duo in Shoreditch and Fitzrovia. They major in pasta, with sliced meats, cheeses and wines from the region as back-up, and all reports say the food is of a good standard.

2022 Review: Chef Krishna Negi (who first made his name when he launched Tangawizi in Richmond in 2004) opened this Fitzrovian basement spot in October 2019, with a menu featuring ‘nano plates’ (small plates and sharing bowls) inspired by 1947’s partition of India. Some initial reviews on its cuisine have been very upbeat.