London Fitzrovia Restaurant Guide

This Keralan veteran near the Telecom Tower is “still producing good food after all this time” (almost 40 years), offering “super value” and “friendly service”. The new interior “hasn’t made it a looker, but there are so many great dishes on the menu, so who cares?”

“Service from David, Monica and the team is always excellent”, say fans of their Fitzrovia basement where “everyone seems keen to make your visit a very memorable experience”. TV star Monica’s “top-quality cuisine strikes a great balance between classic and innovative” (“refined and packed with flavour but paradoxically, robust at the same time without being unsubtle”) and “the wine list is extremely well-curated and has a wide ambit, as you might expect from David as a former Gavroche Sommelier”. As with many top London restaurants this year, though, ratings dipped a fraction – the pressures of the times? – with more reports along the lines of “a very pleasant experience but slightly underwhelming”. But while the proportion of reporters saying they had their best meal of the year here has declined, more and more have taken it to their hearts as their “favourite” nomination.

“Sublime on every level… if only it wasn’t so expensive”. James Knappett and Sandia Chang’s 18-seater in Fitzrovia re-opened after a significant reformatting in July 2021 and “it’s both an exceptional meal and quite a show” – “the arrangement of the counter makes for a theatrical experience, with lots of opportunity to chat with the people cooking and running front of house”, while the multi-course menu (each course focused on a single ingredient) is, all reports agree, utterly “memorable”. Practically all reports also mention the pricing though – “OUCH!”… “it was amazing but the bill’s crazy…”

“Pizza of similar quality to those you’d find in a Naples basement” (with “authentic slow fermentation of the dough”) inspire followers of this growing, twelve-year-old group, which they say is “second-to-none for texture and flavour”. But the relocated original site in Ealing is “cramped” and seems “really dull” compared to the old one: “the pizza remains good, but it’s lost the sense that you were part of something special and secret”. (In recent times, they’ve also added an Islington branch and one in Brentford – not listed – that’s part of a car showroom!)

This faux-rustic pub in deepest Fitzrovia from Guy Ritchie and David Beckham is “a class act”, and serves some of the “best pub grub ever”, including venison from Ritchie’s Wiltshire estate. The pub has been around for almost 200 years and has previously been known as the Adams Arms and the Lukin. Two fires in the space of six months last year invited newspaper headlines about ‘two smoking barrels’.

2019 Review: No reports yet on this early 2018 opening – a ‘contemporary Japanese’ in fairly traditional style on Fitzrovia’s ‘restaurant row’, majoring in sushi. It has a good pedigree, with a head chef formerly of Chisou (Dham Kodituwakku).

2019 Review: This “fantastic, traditional-style tapas restaurant” in Fitzrovia was founded in 1985, well before the contemporary tapas boom. Family-run, “humble” and “down-to-earth” – it may lack the pizzazz of its more modern Iberian competitors, but is “very good value”.

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.

“A corner of France in London” – this “unassuming” but increasingly well-known Fitzrovia dining room “is brought to life by charming and attentive owner, Mathieu Germond and his team”. The “relaxed atmosphere is helped by widely spaced tables and the menu brought to the table on a blackboard” which delivers “classic French dishes from top-class ingredients”. The prime attraction, though, is the wine. “Matthieu has an encyclopaedic knowledge” and the “cracking list has something new to discover every time and at all price ranges”.

“It’s cheap ’n’ very cheerful, but with great-quality authentic pizzas” at this basic Goodge Street spot (“worth foregoing a fancier meal for, as its thin-crust pizzas are so good!”). You’ll find “very fast and friendly service”, and that’s it: “this place is all about the pizza and nothing else (unless you love Snapple drinks)”. Opened in 1999, it now has a branch in Camden and delivery outlets in Wood Green, Colindale and Croydon.

2021 Review: “Top ramen with great broth and good combinations”, win fans for this genuinely Japanese chain (originating in Fukuoka), which has branches in Holborn, Embankment and Canary Wharf. Ratings, though, fall short of the top heights at the hands of those who feel its food is “not bad, but not memorable”. A fourth branch is to open in Fitzrovia in autumn 2019.

“A variety of excellent tapas” (mixing Spanish and Italian inspirations) and an appealing, “buzzy” (if sometimes “loud”) atmosphere created huge interest in the original Fitzrovia branch, when it opened back in 2005. But while still retaining a loyal fan club, it can seem overhyped nowadays (“it’s always listed as a go-to place, but there are much better tapas available elsewhere now”). Having spawned various spin-offs (Dehesa, Opera Tavern, Ember Yard), since 2018 it’s been part of Urban Pubs & Bars who have decided to roll it out: first to Westfield in Shepherd’s Bush (which opened in July 2022) and coming soon to Borough Market if local planning objections can be overcome.

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.

Most (but not all) the diverse menu is of East Asian-inspiration at this 70-seater in Fitzrovia, complete with outdoor bar. The “excellent seafood” is worth a special mention – “some of the best calamari ever” – and it’s “good value, too”.