London Swiss Cottage Restaurant Guide

Simon & Jacinta Bradley’s “reliable neighbourhood restaurant” near Swiss Cottage station is one of the capital’s stalwart local champions, offering an unfailing combination of “well-presented dishes, friendly service and well chosen wines” for 32 years and counting. “Rarely busy at lunchtime”, it’s also a “very useful pre-theatre restaurant” for those heading to the Hampstead Theatre around the corner. Ratings, though, remain capped by those who view it as “a venue that’s convenient but dull”.

A Swiss Cottage institution for more than half a century, this local Chinese venue (est. 1972) is in the classic (for London) Cantonese mould and still dependably well-rated on the food front.

2021 Review: “Fun and lively, with a management who make you feel extremely welcome” – this simple, ‘Italian kitchen’ in Swiss Cottage serves pizza and pasta plus somewhat more ambitious dishes: it’s all “delicious and good value for money”.

2022 Review: “A sushi bar in a shop” may not sound appealing, but these cafés operated by a Japanese food importer – in Ealing, Swiss Cottage, Golders Green and Marylebone – provide fresh, “clean-tasting” sushi, and they’re “good-value”.

“So consistent after all these years” – this “old-school local Malaysian-Chinese” in Swiss Cottage has “been going for ages”, but “you never tire of dining here” because “you know what you’re going to get and you enjoy it immensely”. Giles Coren, restaurant critic for The Times, was born in the next street and is a long-term regular, returning again and again for the “superb Singaporean laksa”. But while it’s “a cut above” and one of north London’s most popular destinations, don’t go expecting the earth (“everything is done well but it’s not amazing”).

“Everything is flame-grilled – including the olives!” at this Belsize Park three-year-old from chef-patron Jake Finn (ex-LPM and The Ritz), whose second branch in St John’s Wood is equally highly rated. They are “buzzy, sometimes noisy” places, “famous locally for their triple cooked potatoes”. Top Menu Tip – “the standout chargrilled leek salad with ricotta and hazelnuts”.

“Owner/front-of-house Giuseppe is Sicilian, chef Antonio is Sardinian, and the cuisine is a mix of the two” at this cute Primrose Hill corner-site, praised for its “fabulous cooking and charming service”. An impressive wine list explores biodynamic bottles from the two islands.