London North Kensington Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: On Ladbroke Grove, this big landmark pub was taken over by Harcourt Inns, with chef Ruairidh Summers at the stoves, and re-launched in mid-2019, too late for survey feedback.

“A go-to place for consistently good-quality kebabs” and “good Turkish food” in Ladbroke Grove. There’s a “lively atmosphere” – “more civilised upstairs” – and the BYO policy keeps the bill under control.

2022 Review: This expensively refurbished Ladbroke Grove pub quietly opened in late summer 2019 – when we added it to the website it already had over 20k followers on Instagram, which can be explained by its backing… some guy called Ed Sheeran. Early reports of the diverse menu suggest that Ed’s lyricism hasn’t infused the cooking with any magic – quite the contrary – but that his upbeat style is more evident in its party vibe.

This family-run taverna in the heart of Portobello is “always a winner” for its classic Greek dishes served in a warm atmosphere – sometimes with live Greek music on the side.

2021 Review: “A little corner of authenticity in an ever-more-gentrified bit of London”, this Portuguese café in North Kensington’s Golborne Road has been famous for its pastéis de nata for more than 20 years – and, despite increased competition, fans swear they’re “still the best custard tarts in town”.

Well into its third decade as a Notting Hill stalwart, this “buzzy neighbourhood Italian” provides “a friendly welcome” and “reliably consistent” if pretty “standard” cooking from a wide menu that incorporates a broad selection of pasta dishes as well as more substantial meaty and fishy options. It has two stablemates on the same street, Essenza and Osteria Basilico.

This “old-school” Notting Hill Italian has been “a great crowd-pleaser for the whole family” for more than 30 years. According to one local: “you will not have a great meal but on the other hand I’ve never had a bad one” – as a result it can be “extremely busy, but the service is great” and keeps on top of things. Essenza and Mediterraneo in the same street (see also) are its younger stablemates.

“Great coffee and artisanal bakery” again win high ratings from a small but enthusiastic fan club for this bright haunt in a unit at the foot of a newish block, at the north end of the Portobello Road.

A bold arrival in the featureless tracts of North Kensington, near the top end of Ladbroke Grove – this conversion of a huge (43,000 sq ft) and graceful Beaux-Arts former car factory (the Sunbeam Talbot Motor Company built in 1903) creates a new showcase for renowned art dealers, Carpenters Workshop Gallery. They moved here from Mayfair in a £30m refurbishment creating a huge arts space, as well as a concert venue, event space… and restaurant! This latter occupies the vast marbled lobby: a “great space” says one early report, but an interior the Daily Mail’s man, Tom Parker Bowles, found so monumental as to be “cold”. On the menu: a chic contemporary take on Italian cuisine by well-travelled chef, Emanuele Pollini (voted Italian chef of the year by Gambero Rosso magazine in 2020). We have rated the venue on initial feedback of “top-notch Italian cuisine” – a view supported by favourable feedback from Tom PB and also (mostly) from William Sitwell in the Telegraph (who found a “classic menu to satisfy the purist Italophile”, if one he felt needed a little more “guts”). Top Tip – check out the space without paying a fortune by eating from the simpler brunch or all-day menu (of panini and salads).

“Fantastic Greek and Turkish dishes, including unusual items, create a memorable meal” (buoyed up by wine from Turkey, Greece Georgia and Armenia) at this “very popular and buzzy (if also crowded and noisy)” two-year-old ocakbasi near the top of the Portobello Road from chef Kemal Demirasal. In April 2024, he opened a sequel in Soho’s Kingly Street (with an ‘Under the Counter’ basement bar), where a variety of cuisines from around the Eastern Mediterranean are the inspiration.

Insta-star (3M followers!) chef Thomas Straker’s “packed” two-year-old off Portobello Road wins praise for its “convivial” style and “excellent” Med-inflected menu, including signature flatbreads that are “the best ever”; plus starters like burrata, carpaccio or pasta followed by seafood and steaks ordered by the 100g. Launched on the back of social-media success under lockdown, there’s a minority criticism that it’s “oh so trendy (so I’m told) – but frothy, superficial and ultimately boring and expensive”. Top Menu Tip – “knockout duck gnocchi”.

“Real quality pizza, good portion sizes and reasonable prices” have driven the rapid growth of this Chelsea-based group, launched five years ago by Carmelo Meli and Emanuele Tagliarini. A couple of reports also give a shout out to the “short but reasonably priced wine list”.

“In a scruffy but lovely part of London, in the shadow of the Trellick Tower”, this year-old, Portobello-fringe bar/restaurant is “top notch”. It serves “small plates of interesting combinations charred on an open grill” and “bar seats offer great views of the actual cooking”. Beyond the food, it’s an “excellent night out” all round thanks to its “warm ambience”, helped along by a brilliantly curated vinyl collection.