London Paddington Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: There’s an intriguing background to this quite smart venue near Paddington station, founded as a meeting place for international journos and snappers, and whose walls display iconic news photographs from around the world. Feedback has shrunk over the pandemic period, with the odd unsettled report, but it has in the past offered a useful dining option in this thin area, so we’ve included it but without a current rating.

“Service can be a little slow but the food makes up for it”, say fans of this Aussie brunch specialist: an affordable and attractive option particularly for a lunchtime get-together. The particular draw is its great location beside Regent’s Canal at Paddington Basin, making it a highpoint of the 20 venues across the capital in the Daisy Green Collection.

A South Ken fixture for more than 60 years, this curry house classic is a treasured neighbourhood asset to its local regulars (“it’s the only Indian we ever go to…”). Critics feel its performance is “very unexceptional”, but that somewhat misses the point that it is the venue’s very reassuring predictability and familiarity that’s so central to its appeal, not to mention its “reasonable prices” (“at some posher Indians in West London, the prices are insane”).

2022 Review: Hidden beneath Smith’s Bar & Grill in the Paddington Basin development – a spring 2020 Peruvian newcomer named for the Ayllu community of the Inca Empire, and serving Peruvian-Japanese fusion dishes and cocktails.

“The dim sum never disappoints”, with “V.G. examples of all the classics” at this Cantonese outfit in Paddington Basin, set in a large and modern basement that looks “stylish” to most diners, if “cold and boring” to a few critics. “Great for lunch with family and friends”, it also “copes well for a party of 20 in a private room, with efficient service and an excellent set menu”.

At the foot of a Bayswater apartment block by the entrance to Hyde Park Square, this datedly grand Indian has been a feature of the neighbourhood for decades, and is actually part of an international chain stretching from Beverley Hills to Kuala Lumpur. For decades, this was one of the top-rated Indians in our annual diners’ poll thanks to its interesting mix of Bombay buns, momos and tandoori BBQ dishes. Post pandemic, though, it’s been variable: “on occasions excellent, but on bad days pretty tasteless for Indian cooking”.

“A cheese-inspired fever dream (but definitely not a nightmare) for cheese lovers” – Matthew Carver’s engagingly bonkers double-decker floating restaurant, moored in Paddington Basin, is dedicated to snacks and full meals that celebrate the glories of British cheese. He also has more conventional venues on dry land called Pick & Cheese in Soho and Berlin, and Rind in North Yorkshire.

Towering over Paddington and the station, this new rooftop venue sits atop a new glass cube of a London landmark, open after our annual diners’ poll concluded in mid 2025; and was designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. It’s a biggie, spanning the 17th and 18th floors that makes it West London’s highest rooftop restaurant, with over 400 covers. On Level 17, the restaurant seats 180, with 124 in the bar/lounge, with a further 120 covers on the floor above. The operator has siblings in Singapore, Dubai, Taipei and Tokyo and the cuisine is modern Asian.

“Best burger for me”, declare fans of this independent group that started out 10 years ago with a stall on Broadway Market and a focus on grass-fed, dry-aged British beef – and the judges at the 2025 National Burger Awards share the view, crowning Black Bear’s Miso Bacon Burger as ‘Burger of the Year’. “Their seeded buns and wings are pretty good too”. The name refers to founders Stu & Liz Down’s working holidays in the Canadian Rockies. In April 2025, they opened their largest outlet yet, with 100 covers, at Westfield White City.

“Top-class pizza at the new outlet by Kew Gardens” (on the site of Hawthorn, RIP) wins a particular thumbs-up this year for this “properly Neapolitan” chain (“down to the shrine to Diego Maradona on the wall” in TW9). It was well-rated this year, if not as stratospherically as days gone by, supporting those who feel: “I don’t seem as keen on this place as everyone else, but it’s fresh and friendly and local”. The group started in Ealing over 15 years ago and – as well as its Kew launch – also added a Paddington branch in 2025 to join those in Fitzrovia, Fulham and Islington.

“Lunch and pub dining with a special atmosphere” is the promise of this early Victorian pub behind Lancaster Gate tube, which claims Winston Churchill and Tony Blair among its visitors over the years. “Only English food and wine” are served as far as possible (lemons are imported from Gibraltar, which almost counts) – although that means the wine prices are “quite steep”. “Beers are excellent”, though, and the food is “great value” – most notably a 2-course set lunch for under £15.

2024 Review: No less a figure than Queen Azizah of Malaysia (while she was over for Charles’s coronation) cut the ribbon for the May 2023 opening of this first European venture from one of Malaysia’s leading restaurant groups – a steakhouse in Craven Road, Paddington, that takes its name from the meeting of Eastern and Western food cultures. No alcohol is served and the meat is fully halal, with cuts flavoured by infusion in Asian marinades. Reports please!