London Holland Park Restaurant Guide

“Stunningly beautiful interiors and location” make this seventeenth-century former ballroom in Holland Park a “lovely” setting for a meal – from restaurateurs George Bukhov-Weinstein and Ilya Demichev of Goodman and Wild Tavern. Service is “friendly and good humoured” – “but it’s definitely an expensive trip out” for Italian cooking that is generally rated as “decent”, but which can also prove “disappointing” at the elevated price-level.

For well-heeled locals, this smart Sardinian on busy Holland Park Avenue is the ideal quality neighbourhood Italian. “All elements combine, after more than 20 years, to make it a favourite” – there’s “great food and wine”, and, especially if they know you, “Alberto, Franco and Roberto ensure it’s always a fun affair”.

“A reassuringly old-fashioned experience”, the Chiavarini family’s Italian restaurant across the road from the Design Museum in Kensington is still flourishing after almost 60 years – neither fading to irrelevance nor trapped in nostalgia. The cooking is inspired by the traditions of Emilia Romagna with plenty of game from the family farm in Kent, while “the service is excellent”.

Jesse Dunford Wood’s “tiny” Holland Park bistro is a “big local favourite, and deservedly so”. “While cramped, it’s full of atmosphere” and there’s “a regularly changing menu of interesting food” realised to a very “competent” standard and delivered by “friendly staff”.

“Yummy mummy hangouts” that have proliferated across the capital and its surrounding high streets over the past few years, with “relaxed and colourful décor” and “friendly waiting staff”. They are very accommodating to families, both “child-friendly” and “pooch central, with snacks and water” – although if you don’t bring your own, you might find there are “too many dogs”. The eastern Med-style cooking varies between “fresh and well prepared” at best to “adequate, sometimes slow” – while “bottomless Bloody Mary or Mimosa on a Sunday can be dangerous!”.

Nowadays a veteran among ‘modern’ Italian restaurants – Gino Taddei & Sally Eidlitz’s timeless and high-quality dining room tucked away between Kensington and Olympia no longer generates the buzz it did in its 1990s heyday, but for many regulars who go out of their way to visit, it remains a “lovely local restaurant… wish it was nearer me”.

Yasuhiro Minemo & Shinya Ikeda’s odd but “excellent” duo are over a decade old but little known, perhaps due to the “somewhat sterile” nature of the interiors: both in Kensington backstreets (“cramped seating on high stools on the bright ground floor, or in the downbeat ‘Siberia’ of the dark basement”); and in the ‘Yashin Ocean’ younger sibling in the potentially cute old Brompton Library on the fringes of South Kensington. If you like “top sushi” however, this is some of the best in town: not cheap, but without the second mortgage required at the Mayfair omakase restaurants. Top Tip – “the set lunches are top quality!”

2024 Review: “Terrific posh Levantine food with a twist” is the story of this Kensington High Street three-year-old, whose kitchen is run by former Palomar head chef Tomar Amedi. The menu can seem “confusing” to first-timers (“what’s a starter? a main? a side? did we order enough?”) but the small plates are “interesting and all very tasty”.

In one of London’s most ‘Mary Poppins’ settings – a tucked-away, Regency square close to the Design Museum in Kensington – this flower-bedecked mid-Victorian tavern has a “great atmosphere”. It excels as a convivial gathering place over a drink or two, with a terrace that gets busy in the summer, and a dependable menu of classic pub dishes. Famous patrons over the years include Princess Di in days of yore to Piers Morgan (who lives nearby) more currently.

No-one would quibble that this “gem in a sidestreet off High Street Kensington” is a “great local high-end place” – in the vein of a “lovely neighbourhood-style venue” but with “always fabulous” cuisine from chef Mark Kemson (with input from afar from co-owner Phil Howard). Having possessed a Michelin star since 2011, it’s quite “serious” in style, with “an air of calm”, “knowledgeable” service and “well recommended wines to accompany the meal (never had a bad bottle!)”. Even so, ratings remain stuck in the middle-ground here, being capped by the ratings of some diners, who either feel the food is “solidly good rather than exceptional”; or who find the room too “unadorned and plain”. Top Tips – look out for game in season; early evening and lunch set menus are excellent value.

2024 Review: “Fragrant and tasty dishes” win approval at this cute Indian hidden away in a Kensington backstreet. Its siblings in Little Venice, Barnes and Kingston get very little notice from reporters.

“Pretty much any Asian dish you fancy is available” (“where else can you get sushi, ramen, laksa and char kway teow in one place!”) at Ding Chu’s five canteens in central and west London, which celebrate their 30th anniversary this year. They are “terrific value, especially for areas of town where restaurants are generally overpriced”. You wouldn’t choose them for a romantic supper though: each interior is a “bit of an overly bright space”.

This early Victorian pub, just off Ladbroke Grove near Holland Park Avenue, has a long track record as one of London’s more civilised and agreeable watering holes, with “an always buzzy atmosphere” in its elegant interior and pleasant outside terrace too – even if “service suffers a bit when very busy”: an “excellent choice for steak and chips, among other interesting pub-grub standards”.

“We lived in Greece for 10 years and this comes recommended if you want authentic Greek food and the cramped ambience of a taverna (although without the authentic fluorescent lighting!)” – this Hillgate Village haunt has “beautifully cooked and presented Greek cuisine” that’s super-sophisticated by holiday-taverna standards. “The small space and number of diners means it can be noisy”, although it has “an excellent back terrace for sunny days”. Top Menu Tip – “leave room for the loukoumades (honey doughnuts) for dessert”.

2024 Review: The “delicious and interesting modern Greek food” is enjoyed by all who visit this “fun” if “slightly cramped and noisy” Notting Hill four-year-old – the “less formal sister to Mazi” nearby. (Founders Christina Mouratoglou and Adrien Carre were inspired by the cuisine of northern Greece, and named it after a film character who has passed into contemporary Greek folklore.)

2022 Review: The “incredibly tasty food” at this Anglo-Indian hybrid, in “small but lovely” premises near Trafalgar Square (with a newer offshoot in Notting Hill), draws an appreciative crowd. “It doesn’t have curries, but specialises in tandoori-baked meat”. Top Tip: “you have to order the lamb chops, they’re brutal!”

“An Irish pub called the Churchill Arms that has a Thai kitchen inside may sound strange… but it works!” – this big, 18th-century, corner-boozer near Notting Hill Gate catches the attention of passers-by with lavish external “floral displays that are a highlight of the area”; (originally the Bedford Arms, it was renamed after WWII on the basis that the great man’s grandparents used to frequent it). Behind the pub proper sits a large, upbeat dining annex, which for more than 30 years has pioneered the ‘Thai-in-a-pub’ format. “It’s not quite the bargain basement pit-stop it once was” – relatively “unambitious” now, but “full of flavour, never expensive… what’s not to like?”