London Westminster Restaurant Guide

2018 Review: The House of Commons now opens this august chamber (created in 1867) to the public, and bookings must be made on the website (max 8) – expect rigorous security checks! “It’s a wonderful day out” and even if elements of the experience are a bit “clunky”, it’s worth it for the chance to dine in the hallowed halls of Westminster. Only a set menu formula (currently £75pp) is available; bookings currently only open up 90 days in advance.

“A great addition to the area” – the reason to re-evaluate this hotel Japanese at County Hall includes the CV of chef patron Daisuke Shimoyama, who joined in early 2020. Daisuke spent six years as head chef at UMU under the immensely talented Yoshinori Ishii. At lunch you can eat for as little as £17 from the bento box selection, but aficionados of Japanese cuisine will go for the evening omakase tasting menu. Staff are “very pleasant and efficient” and the “zingy” cuisine is “really imaginative and delicious”. More reports please!

Named for a pioneering suffragette, this July 2021 arrival marks a new determination by the Conrad St James’s Hotel to put itself on the map. At the stoves – Sally Abé – who recently arrived from the Harwood Arms to oversee the hotel’s kitchen generally, with this her showcase. It offers an ambitious menu with classic British overtones. Did no-one tell Sally the unwritten rule that good British restaurants are just not allowed in Westminster? Early social feedback suggests she may – at last – break the mould! (See also The Blue Boar.)

The arrival of Sally Abé from Fulham’s stellar Harwood Arms has majorly upped the cred of this recently relaunched pub-restaurant – one of four eateries set to open in summer 2021 in a newly refurbished Westminster hotel (see also The Pem). In line with her time in Fulham, Sunday roasts are a big feature, as are Scotch eggs and other ribsticking British fare. Some early feedback is positive, but too limited for a rating.

The Old War Office – the Grade II listed building in which Winston Churchill made many of the most important decisions of World War II – was sold in 2014 to the Hinduja Group and will open in 2022 as a luxury, 125-bedroom hotel (and apartments). The hotel will be run in partnership with Raffles (their first venture in Europe) and it is fair to assume a pretty ambitious level will be set for the nine restaurants and bars it will house.

With the September 2021 arrival of Swedish star chef Nicklas Ekstedt, this five-star Hyatt off Whitehall is continuing its creative, north European theme with this “godfather of wood-fired cooking” stepping into the shoes of The Yard by Robin Gill (RIP). It will feature Ekstedt’s “old Nordic” cuisine, which sees seasonal ingredients cooked over wood-grills in a (very) open kitchen.

On the site of the original Metropolitan Police HQ, this 100-seater hotel (owned by an Indian entrepreneur and operated by Hyatt) opened in December 2019. The comfortable, ground-floor lounge – with Raj-inspired decor – serves a contemporary take on afternoon tea, with added spice; there are spicy chai options and tea-based cocktails too.

2018 Review: This hotel dining room, tucked away in Westminster, is still readjusting to Adam Handling’s departure in May 2016 and reports tend to include highs and lows. It’s a characterful space however, that’s worth remembering.

2021 Review: “Ignore the lobbyists feeding MPs and enjoy this for what it is” – a smart, traditionally decorated corner-spot that’s one of the only restaurants in Westminster worth going to eat in! “Italian through and through”, it features “many regional dishes” and “unusual takes on traditional pasta and main courses (including crab, rabbit and quail)”; plus an interesting, all-Italian wine list.

2021 Review: “Fine if you’re staying in the hotel, but not a destination restaurant”, is a common verdict on this “elegant” chamber, which is currently most often tipped by non-residents as a “perfect business lunch venue”: “comfortable, with good food, and you’re always well looked-after”. It’s an impression the management of this beautiful five-star hotel, near the Embankment, is keen to change, however, and the arrival of André Garrett at the stoves from Cliveden in late-2018 was a statement of intent to zhoosh things up, as they have done with Kerridge’s (see also). Since André’s arrival its food rating is, in fact, little-changed (good but unmemorable), but perhaps that’s all about to change: in a June 2019 interview with trade website ‘Big Hospitality’, he promises ‘something big’ including a name change, refurb, and a new dedicated restaurant entrance.

TV-star Tom’s first London outpost – a wonderfully impressive-looking brasserie in a happening five-star near Embankment – wows many reporters thanks to the “lovely dining room”, “delightful and varied menu” and “an appeal that extends to all ages, from 15 to 75”. (It also incorporates in the same space “a good bar for a quick meet-up pre-theatre”). Ratings came under pressure this year, with a number of reporters finding the experience “massively overpriced” for “high-quality gastropub-level food at eye-watering prices”. For an equal number, though, it’s an investment well made and “a firm favourite”.

2019 Review: The potentially “lovely room”, just off Trafalgar Square – part of a monumental, much-marbled Victorian hotel (which spent most of the 20th century as part of the MoD) – and “good-value set menu” can make this an “excellent central London location”, although its “rather cavernous” nature can mean there’s “not a great ambience”; “very nice wine list”.

“Utterly delicious Neapolitan-style pizza” – the highest rated in town – is to be found here, where you’d least expect it – bang in the middle of the West End, just off Trafalgar Square. Neapolitan master pizza-slinger Ciro Salvo’s UK offshoot occupies a huge, “buzzy and lively” space in a hotel with its own entrance. 50 Kalò signifies ‘good dough’ in Napolitano, and Salvo’s secret is ultra-high hydration and long fermentation for a super-light crust.

2018 Review: Will Ricker (of Bodega Negra, E&O, Eight over Eight) brings this new American BBQ venture to Victoria’s gigantic Nova development; customers can choose their cut of meat at the counter and pay according to its weight; also offering breakfast, brunch and Sunday roasts.

“Super ramen” constitutes “a top meal at a great price” at these Japanese-style fast-food bars. In early 2021, the brand opened on Putney High Street in a former branch of Byron and later announced ‘Wing Daddies’ (a virtual chicken wing delivery option at all its London stores).

“Juicy, tasty, moreish” – New Yorker Zan Kaufman’s “great dirty burgers” are, say fans, “the best I have tasted anywhere”. Starting out from a van 10 years ago, she has graduated to five permanent sites including the biggest yet, at Westfield White City, which has an all-female management team. With the Bloomberg Arcade branch in the City closed during the pandemic, the brand linked up with Deliveroo to open three delivery-only kitchens in Battersea, Bermondsey and Canary Wharf.

Off a “beautiful open courtyard”, the ambitious café of Lambeth’s Garden Museum is “well worth a trip”. The “fresh, seasonal cooking” – both “well-executed classics and more unusual, interesting dishes” – is prepared by a kitchen headed by chef George Ryle, formerly of Padella.

Is this a rival for the nearby Cinnamon Club? Celeb Indian chef Atul Kochhar is in collaboration with the former commercial director of The Cinnamon Collection, Tina English, for this bold 2021 opening. Transforming a big (5000 square feet), old fire station building in Victoria, it has 200 covers and will focus on the cuisine of India’s north eastern states (the Seven Sister States).

“Still a great place for a glass of wine, any time of day” – this ancient wine bar near Embankment tube (London’s oldest, dating from 1890) has a superb interior, including a cavern where it’s hard to stand vertically, and a huge outdoor terrace. Its buffet-style food offering of cold cuts, cheese, salad and dishes of the day is primitive but at least relatively cheap, and in summer there’s also a BBQ on the terrace. Just about every London office worker has visited it at some point… in many cases, though, recollections are hazy…