London Notting Hill Restaurant Guide

“Where’s a fourth Michelin star when you need one?” – Clare Smyth’s “world-class” Notting Hill luminary offers “a supreme gastronomic experience” and now dominates our diners’ poll, topping not just votes as top gastronomic experience and highest food rating, but also the most-mentioned restaurant this year: an incredible achievement for somewhere charging top dollar. “From the moment you walk in to the moment you leave, everything is perfect”, but “despite being in the top echelons of restauration, everyone is so friendly and unstuffy” and “Clare and head chef Jonny Bone always make time to say ‘hi’ from the kitchen doorway”. The service (led by Rob Rose) is so smooth and slick “it’s almost like a ballet” and “Gareth Ferreira’s ability to pair wines is also exceptional”. When it comes to the cuisine itself, the third Michelin star awarded in January 2021 was “well-warranted and overdue” thanks to the “unsurpassed levels of sophistication, technical expertise, and the sheer culinary pleasure of the majestic tasting menu”. Dishes are “consistently bursting with flavour” (“I have never been so excited by a potato dish!”) and “look like works of art”; while “vegetarians and pescatarians are clearly no afterthought”. “After two cancellations for Covid restrictions I finally made it… well worth the money!”.

The Notting Hill pub where Bill Clinton famously downed a half and scarpered without paying in the dying days of his presidency is now a vibey sleb-magnet frequented by the likes of Sienna Miller, Ed Sheeran and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, following a revamp and name-change (from Portobello Gold, RIP) under Nick House, the founder of nightclubs Mahiki and Whisky Mist. Now featuring an upstairs party room and a garden room with retractable roof, it serves ‘modern European’ food by former River Café chef Theo Hill. Reports diverge on the new venture’s qualities, ranging from enthusiastic – “great atmosphere” – to damning – “a place for posing, not eating”.

In the heart of Notting Hill, this East-Mediterranean café opened a couple of years ago and offers a range of Tel Aviv-inspired bites and sharing plates, as well as a brunch menu. Feedback so far is limited, but a couple of locals say it’s “always a great experience”.

This “enjoyable and reasonably priced” Italian in Notting Hill is “always full and busy” – perhaps because it delivers exactly “the sort of food one thinks one would have on holiday in Italy”. The same team is also behind two other Italian venues in the same street, Osteria Basilico and Essenza – so clearly they know what locals like.

“A good package of food and buzz”, this “classic Italian trattoria” has served Notting Hill for three decades – “and delivers the goods reliably and with panache”. It has two younger stablemates in the same street – Essenza and Mediterraneo.

2021 Review: Egg-citing Notting Hill arrival of a California-based chain majoring in… you guessed it… which beamed down from La-La Land into Portobello in late-summer 2019, too late for survey feedback. Signature dish is ‘The Slut’: a coddled egg on potato puree in a jar, plus sliced baguette.

“Outstanding fish and seafood” form the backbone of the menu at this Notting Hill two-year-old that celebrates the Hebridean island that supplies the name – where chef Jackson Boxer (of Brunswick House in Vauxhall) spent his childhood summers. The food is “delivered with great consistency” and there’s a “short but interesting wine list, too”. There’s a danger of the place being “over-hyped” – but Boxer brings it off and provides “a nice change from the surrounding Italianesque and fusion hangouts”. Top Tip: “Béarnaise sauce worth eating on its own” (but you may have to order one of the “fab steaks” to get a taste).

2021 Review: For “a perfect end to a Saturday morning on Portobello Road”, some still recommend this US-diner-style haunt. But while it’s fine if you’re a trustafarian working off a hangover, or just posing around Portobello, you wouldn’t cross town.

“A recent addition to Notting Hill – the London branch of an NYC original” – this cute ‘gastrothèque’ breezed into town in December 2020 via other spin-offs in Paris and Tokyo. In early reports, it’s best supported for its breakfast and brunch potential (from 8am, with croques, and scrambled egg also available on the later all-day menu), but – as the name hints – the long list of wines, beers, cocktails, cidres and other imbibements forms much of the offering.

“Delicious fresh Asian food” – a ‘greatest hits’ selection from dim sum and sushi via Thai green curry and crispy duck with pancakes to black cod in miso – once gave this “buzzy” Notting Hill haunt major profile, and it remains a “real favourite local”. Perennially accused of “style over substance”, most reporters actually view it as “good value considering the quality”. Its Chelsea sibling closed during the pandemic.

“Casual and inexpensive, but no compromise on the standards” – this Japanese noodle chain has become a firm favourite in London’s “competitive” ramen market, with 14 branches (and counting). “I can’t speak highly enough of the quality of ramen here, absolutely packed full of flavour and at a really good price.” The name is taken from the pork broth used, and the noodles are made daily in-house and cooked, it is said, for precisely 32 seconds.

2019 Review: Mixed and limited feedback on this smart Notting Hill Italian. To fans it’s a favourite with top class cooking (speciality black and white truffles) and a romantic interior – to the odd detractor it’s not bad, merely “forgettable”.

2019 Review: It still seems “very popular”, but Juan Santa Cruz’s “very bling-y” Argentinian hangout on the edge of Notting Hill saw ratings plummet this year. “Starters were great, but main courses slightly disappointing” is about as good as it gets. Others reckon it’s “the worst value for money” – “snotty, overpriced, Euroflash with dreadful service”.

The four London farm shop/cafés – in Brompton Cross, Notting Hill, Pimlico and Marylebone – supplied by Lady Bamford’s organic farm offer a reassuring taste of life in the Cotswolds. They serve “pleasant café food, but some of the prices are too much”.

“We’re so happy to have Julie’s back – the atmosphere is brilliant”, say long-time fans of this Holland Park veteran – a hugely characterful subterranean warren that’s a throwback to the louche 1970s and still under long-time owners Tim and Cathy Herring. Its reopening in late 2019 after four years of closure soon turned into a rebaptism of fire with the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, and eventual departure of launch chef Shay Cooper on reopening in May 2021. Overall, however, the impression this romantic destination gives is that it has been successfully resurrected much as before: “with a brilliant atmosphere, and food that’s a bit overpriced”.

This upscale, flower-bedecked gastropub, off the smarter end of Ladbroke Grove, is one of London’s more genteel-looking gastropubs (although it still draws a lively crowd). The food is “always good” and it’s an “enjoyable place for Sunday lunches” – it’s dog-friendly, too, so the perfect culmination of a walk in nearby Holland Park.

Chef Harris Mavropoulos opened this cosy modern taverna in the heart of Portobello at the start of 2020. It’s yet to garner much in the way of profile, but early feedback is encouraging and suggests it’s a cut above both the standard taverna experience, and also the often-disappointing standards of this chichi ’hood. (If you want to suss it out first, head to the downstairs Mykonos Bar).