My Top 10 London Restaurants: West End Edition

When Time Out London published a list of its top 50 restaurants in London last year, I picked out some of my own favourites from the list. I thought they might pick a new top 50 this year but so far nothing has materialised so I thought I'd put together a list of my own, which includes the go-to places I consider when organising a meal in the West End. Most of these restaurants are located in Soho and Marylebone; it's probably no coincidence that they fall on an almost straight line from NoMaRo to the BFI.

I've arranged them into two rough categories according to style and ambiance but none of these places requires a jacket; nor are they stuffy or snooty. The list is roughly in order of preference, within the two groups. 

I tried to include a variety of cuisines, i.e. burgers, ribs and steak. Just kidding, veggies: most of these places offer a good range of vegetarian dishes, although I would avoid Meat Liquor, Pitt Cue Co and Le Relais de Venise if you don't like meat. So, without further ado, here are my favourite ten restaurants in London's West End.


View London Dining Favourites in a larger map

Casual cool to casual chic

• Meat Liquor. 74 Welbeck Street, W1G 0BA (Tube: Bond Street). Website. Mini-review. In 10 words: top burgers, great cocktails, cool vibe, long queues. Go now.
• Pitt Cue Co. 1 Newburgh Street, W1F 7RB (Tube: Oxford Circus). Website. Review. In 10 words: Ribs, ribs, ribs, burnt-end mash. Worth the wait. Go early.
• La Bodega Negra. 16 Moor Street, W1D 5NH (Tube: Tottenham Court Road or Leicester Square). Review. Upstairs: casual but cool Mexican caff with cocktails. Downstairs: smarter.
• Polpo. 41 Beak Street, W1F 9SB (Tube: Oxford Circus or Piccadilly Circus). Website. Mini-review. In 10 words: Tasty Venetian small plates, erratic service, great wine list.
• Mishkin's. 25 Catherine Street, WC2B 5JS (Tube: Covent Garden). Review. In 10 words: Polpo's LES Jewish deli-inspired cousin. Salt beef, gin, meatloaf.

Smarter

• Riding House Café. 43-51 Great Titchfield Street, W1W 7PQ (Tube: Oxford Circus). Website. Review. In 10 words: cool, friendly all-day dining. Great burgers, yummy puddings, delicious cocktails.
• Le Relais de Venise. 120 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2QG (Tube: Bond Street or Baker Street). Website. Mini-review. In 10 words: perfect steak, frites and salad. Er..that's it.
• Il Baretto. 43 Blandford Street, W1U 7HF (Tube: Baker Street). Website. Review. In 10 words: friendly but stylish neighbourhood Italian. Excellent sharing plates and pizzas.
• Hix. 66 Brewer Street, W1F 9UP (Tube: Piccadilly Circus).  Review. In 10 words: terribly English, painfully cool. I love the fish fingers.
• Dean Street Townhouse. 69-71 Dean Street, W1D 4QJ (Tube: Tottenham Court Road or Leicester Square). Website. In 10 words: Classy but unfussy. Mac 'n' cheese. Mince and potatoes.

I recently rounded up the best places to eat in King's Cross, and next on my list may well be an east of EC1 eateries

Istanbul IV: Food & Drink

In some ways, Turkish cuisine isn't a bad choice for me because the main courses tend to be very similar from meal to meal (grilled meat with some combination of salad, grilled veg, flatbread and bulgur wheat), with the more interesting variations coming in the starters or meze plates. Eating out is very reasonable in Istanbul, certainly compared to London and the price of our meals didn't vary much, even between small, low-key cafes and smarter restaurants. At most places, we paid about 9-18L (about £3-6) for a main course and about 6L (£2) for a meze.

Istanbul III: Adventuring

We were in Istanbul for five days and made two day trips during that time. If we had spent more time in Topkapı Palace, we would only have had time to go on one excursion, but the weather was so nice for most of our holiday that we wanted to spend as much time as possible outdoors.

Kınalıada, the small island

Istanbul II: Crossing Continents

I didn't have time to blog while I was in Istanbul, so I'm now putting together a short series of posts that highlight some of the things we did. My initial, in-a-nutshell post is here and I will also be writing about some of our excursions outside the city and some of our eating and drinking experiences.

Sunset over the Bosphorus and SoGoHo

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

After five days exploring Istanbul and its environs, I got home late last night. The gorgeous Turkish sunshine, meant the cold London weather was a bit of a shock to the system, although not much of a surprise. Despite feeling rather photographically uninspired during my trip, I still managed to take almost 400 photos, and I'll be sharing a few photos and experiences from my trip once I've gone through them all.

Istanbul by night, from the Galata Tower

What's in My (Istanbul) Suitcase?

Other than my brief visit to Bristol in March, I haven't managed to fit in much travelling so far this year and it's definitely time for another adventure. And today, I'm heading off to Istanbul, so I can experience two continents in one day, Turkish delight and, of course, the joys of agglutinative languages. 

I had planned to put together a proper what's-in-my-suitcase post but by the time I escaped from work, it was starting to get dark and I needed to eat dinner. Also, some of the clothes I'm taking needed a wash and aren't yet ready for packing. Instead, I've taken a few photos of some of the things I'm taking for a five-day trip to Turkey, starting with make-up and toiletries:

The Caffeine Chronicles: Ground Control Review

A few months ago, while trying to find a more interesting way of getting back to King's Cross from that no man's land between Islington and Clerkenwell, I came across a not-yet-opened espresso bar called Ground Control. I could tell from the font on the sign that it was going to be my sort of place. Its name was also reminiscent of the wonderful Ground Support in New York.

But it was only today that I finally got around to checking out Ground Control, which is the Ethiopian Coffee Company's "flagship venue." Based on Amwell Street, a surprisingly busy and quirky street filled with interesting independent shops and delis in an otherwise fairly residential neighbourhood, Ground Control is tiny, with only a few tables inside and not much room for perching outside. 

I tried the macchiato, which was very good, although I prefer my macchiatos to be on the dry side — just a dribble of milk and a splash of foam — but forgot to ask; also my macchiato bar has been raised recently by places like Prufrock, where you get extensive quizzing on your coffee choices. Ground Control does use the same blue porcelain cups as Prufrock, which I really like.

Two macchiatos

They also serve food — "breakfast, lunch and so much more" — and there were two different choices of sandwich today. It's so nice to have a good espresso bar in the vicinity of King's Cross and I'll be going back to Ground Control again soon to enjoy the lovely Ethiopian coffee!

Ground Control. 61 Amwell Street, London, EC1R 1UR (Tube: Angel or King's Cross). Website.