Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in London Kensington
Hardens guides have spent 31 years compiling reviews of the best Kensington restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 31 restaurants in Kensington and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Kensington restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Kensington Restaurants
1. Maggie Jones’s
British, Traditional restaurant in Kensington
6 Old Court Pl - W8
Named for Princess Margaret – who used to slip away from Kensington Palace and eat here under this pseudonym – this romantic, golden oldie bistro provides a dated but very cosy and comforting combination of solid Anglo/French cuisine, country kitchen decor and wine sold out of a magnum bottle with a measuring stick (although finer vintages are available). It’s not dis-similar from its much better known sibling, La Poule Au Pot.
2. Apadana Restaurant
Persian restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
351 Kensington High Street - W8
Apadana Restaurant is a 5 Star Award-winning chic restaurant that uses family-kept recipes to craft authentic, sumptuous Iranian classic dishes in the heart of London's trendy Kensington high street.Indulge your senses in our family kept recipes passed on for generation...
3. Clarke’s
British, Modern restaurant in Kensington
124 Kensington Church Street - W8
“Have never had a bad meal over the 30 years I have eaten here!”. “You feel spoilt and well treated” at Sally Clarke’s Kensington HQ, established in 1984 – she was a very early exponent of Californian-influenced cuisine in London, a formula she has stuck by ever since with “forever outstanding dishes from seasonal produce” (“fresh-tasting and beautifully prepared”). Opinions differ on the understated decor, which is “a bit cold” for some tastes, but “calm and relaxing to others”. In any case the “lovely and helpful” staff add further vim to the experience.
4. Romulo Café
Filipino restaurant in Kensington
343 Kensington High Street - W8
“Personal service from a family-owned business” adds to the appeal of this Kensington fixture (owned by the grandchildren of a famous general), whose menu offers a good introduction to Filipino cuisine.
5. Oree
Sandwiches, cakes, etc restaurant in Kensington
147 Kensington High St - W8
2019 Review: “Fabulous breads and pastries” (as well as “better coffee than some of the favourites”) bring a taste of ‘the boulangeries and patisseries of rural France’ to the three west London sites operated by this outfit from Nantes.
6. Yashin
Japanese restaurant in Kensington
1a Argyll Rd - W8
Despite designer interiors and posh locations (the ten-year-old original in a Kensington backstreet; the ‘Ocean House’ spin-off in South Kensington, in a quirky building built as Brompton Library), this off-radar duo perennially inspire surprisingly little feedback. Not only that, such reports as we do get typically say something like “one of the most delicious Japanese restaurants in town”. Perhaps it’s because they are not cheap?
7. Five Guys
Burgers, etc restaurant in Kensington
183 Kensington High Street - W8
2021 Review: “When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.
8. The Ivy Kensington Brasserie
British, Modern restaurant in Kensington
96 Kensington High St - W8
“Always ambient and fun” – Richard Caring’s stretching (twisting?) of the Ivy brand is easy to snipe at but has so far avoided degenerating into farce. For sure, “the food is certainly nothing superior”: fans may claim it’s “more than adequate”, but its overall ratings nowadays are only just the right side of poor. That said, even critics of the cooking often feel that the “lovely” interiors and “welcoming service” provide compensation, and fit the bill for making an occasion of a meal. In the capital, the most mentioned outlets are The Ivy Chelsea Garden (“delightful garden tables and ideal for a noisy girls’ night out”); and The Ivy Kensington Brasserie (“huge fun, loads of buzz” and “always a treat”). The Ivy City Garden and Canary Wharf’s Ivy in the Park follow along in terms of volume of feedback. The newest member of the spin-off family is The Ivy Victoria – a vast space with 300 guests over two floors.
9. Dishoom
Indian restaurant in Kensington
The Barkers Building, Derry Street - W8
“The new Covent Garden branch of Dishoom is spectacular and the food is still ace” – our poll’s most commented-on chain continues to win overwhelmingly rapturous reviews. It helps that the “very different” Indian menu is a winner: “super-tasty” and “excellent value”, with the “out-of-the-box” breakfast options a particular fave rave (“have a bacon naan and a cup of chai, and the world feels a better place”). But, actually, the stand-out feature is the “always buzzing and fun” atmosphere at its individually designed branches; and post-lockdown, WC2 took the wraps off a successful makeover, which mines the heritage of Bombay theatres and early Bollywood talkies. It helps that service is “slick”, from “courteous and attentive staff who never push what they want to sell”. The catch? “painful and lengthy queues” for walk-ins which have, if anything, worsened since they introduced reservations in all locations.
10. Akira at Japan House
Japanese restaurant in Kensington
101-111 Kensington High Street - W8
“This showcase of Japanese culture” – an upmarket restaurant within the Japanese government’s Japan House cultural centre in Kensington’s former Derry & Toms department store building – “delivers an on-the-whole good dining experience”, which includes “beautiful food, beautifully presented and it’s all delicious”. The main caveat is that it is “a little pricey” Top Tip: “the sake menu is worthy of the cultural centre”.
11. Pascor
Mediterranean restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
221 Kensington High Street - W8
On the site of Melabes (RIP), the new occupant since December 2020 of this mezzanine site, with large windows overlooking Kensington High Street, offers an eastern Mediterranean menu (inspirations from Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Turkey) with many of the main dishes from the mangal (BBQ).
12. Kitchen W8
British, Modern restaurant in Kensington
11-13 Abingdon Road - W8
“The cuisine’s always delicious, seasonal and inventive” at this smart venue in a sidestreet off Kensington High Street – a “top local” more akin to “West End quality” due to the input of stellar chef Phil Howard (of Elystan Street and formerly the Square), who is a part owner, alongside Rebecca Mascarenhas, who has a long history in running excellent establishments. Not everyone agrees about the low-key interior, though – what is “a little souless” to some folks, is, to others, “lovely”.
13. Chakra
Indian restaurant in Notting Hill
33c Holland Street - W8
2018 Review: “Beautiful cooking with a high-level modern twist” wins consistent praise for this comfortable Indian, “in a pretty locale” near High Street Ken tube – not at all a standard curry house.
14. Megan's on the HIgh Street
British, Modern restaurant in Kensington and Chelsea
204 Kensington High Street - W8
With their very “pretty interiors” and “great brunch” – this “reliable chain” of “cheerful” all-day hang-outs has emerged completely undaunted from the pandemic, expanding beyond its south west London heartlands as far as Islington, Marlow and St Albans. With new openings scheduled for late 2021 in Dulwich and Richmond, the roll-out shows no sign of slowing down. They’re very “dog friendly” too.
15. The Abingdon
British, Modern restaurant in Kensington
54 Abingdon Rd - W8
This unusually chic gastropub in a Kensington backstreet (champagne buckets on the bar) is a “locals’ favourite” for good reason, having entertained them in style and fed them well for almost 25 years. The bright interior is particularly striking, with red-leather booths adding an element of privacy.
16. Locanda Ottomezzo
Mediterranean restaurant in Kensington
2-4 Thackeray Street - W8
2018 Review: “Excellent, genuine Italian cuisine” helps makes this an “atmospheric” local in a backstreet near Kensington Square Garden. “Everything is homemade from the grissini to the pasta”, and they also do a “great breakfast and top pizzas”.
17. Il Portico
Italian restaurant in Kensington
277 Kensington High St - W8
This “lovely neighbourhood restaurant” opposite the Design Museum on Kensington High Street has welcomed customers with “delicious family cooking” from Emilia-Romagna for 55 years. Current owner James Chiavarini has driven its modernisation since the retirement of his father, Pino, who now runs the family farm in Kent. “It’s not cheap”, but “there’s a reason it’s packed every day without having done a marketing drive”.
18. San Pietro
Italian restaurant in Kensington
7 Stratford Road - W8
In a very quiet Kensington backwater, this small Italian occupies the cute site that was for years Chez Patrick (RIP) – it’s more stylish nowadays, serving high-quality fish and seafood either at the downstairs counter, or upstairs main dining room.
19. Zaika of Kensington
Indian restaurant in Kensington
1 Kensington High Street - W8
This plush modern venue occupies a “lovely space” – a former banking hall near Kensington Palace Gardens – and is the less well-known stablemate of the vaunted Tamarind in Mayfair. It serves “beautiful” and “innovative” dishes inspired by the historic cuisines developed for royalty in Lucknow, northern India.
20. Stick & Bowl
Chinese restaurant in Kensington
31 Kensington High Street - W8
“You get no airs and graces and wouldn’t spend hours here”, but this Chinese dive on Kensington’s main drag provides “great value food that has luckily survived in an expensive area” since the 1950s. “Long may it continue!”
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