uk · Year round · best Apr–Oct
Mayfair on the day, Chelsea by night, the small members' rooms in between. Zuma still the lunch. Sketch still the room. Chiltern still the everyone. The map, updated for 2026.
Hotels
Book the room — handled personally.
Hotel · RestaurantAndré Balazs' Marylebone room — the hotel-restaurant that has remained the single most photographed door in central London for a decade.
Firmdale · SohoKit Kemp's Soho courtyard hotel — the Firmdale colour palette at its loudest, the bowling alley downstairs, the rooftop garden at the top.
Festive · clubs, line-ups, long lunches
Reserve the table for the night out — handled personally.
Japanese · KnightsbridgeRainer Becker's Knightsbridge original — the room that exported the contemporary izakaya format from London to Dubai, Miami and back.
Japanese · FitzroviaRainer Becker's casual sister to Zuma — the Charlotte Street original, robata at the centre, the lunch that does not need a tie.
Japanese · Park LaneThe original European Nobu, opened with Robert De Niro in 1997 — the Park Lane address that still anchors the global brand.
Asian seafood · MayfairRichard Caring's Berkeley Square room — the Damien Hirst commissions, the largest Japanese whisky selection in Europe, the loudest dinner in Mayfair.
Cantonese · Bruton Street
Peruvian · MayfairThe Piccadilly Peruvian — ceviche, anticuchos, pisco bar in the basement, the dinner that turns into a Saturday night.
Brazilian-Japanese · CityThe 38th and 39th floors of Heron Tower — the lift that opens onto the City view, the dinner that justifies the elevator queue.
Restaurant-art · Conduit StreetMourad Mazouz's Conduit Street townhouse — the Gallery room repainted in 2022 (no longer pink), Pierre Gagnaire still in the kitchen of the Lecture Room above.
Italian · MayfairThe Davies Street Cipriani — the Bellini formula imported from Venice, the white-jacketed service, the dinner the regulars do not need to think about.
French · MayfairThe Mayfair outpost of the Saint-Tropez-born group — Provençal lunch that turns into a champagne-spray Saturday afternoon.
Nikkei · Soho
Asian-Italian · MayfairArkady Novikov's Berkeley Street operation — two restaurants under one roof (Asian and Italian) plus the basement bar that holds the room into the morning.
Cantonese · Park LaneSir David Tang's Park Lane room in The Dorchester basement — Shanghai-style design, dim sum at lunch, the Cantonese dinner with the cigar bar through to midnight.
Authentic · the quiet rooms
Reserve the quiet dinner — handled personally.
Grill · 32nd floorRainer Becker's Shard room on the 32nd floor — robata grill, the City of London at your feet, the dinner with the view that does not insult the kitchen.
British · 40th floor · 24hHeron Tower's 40th floor, open 24 hours — the late dinner, the early breakfast, the duck and waffle that has not left the menu since 2012.
Dim sum · 1★ MichelinAlan Yau's Soho dim sum teahouse — the original Broadwick Street room, one Michelin star, the patisserie counter at the front.
British · 2★ MichelinHeston Blumenthal's Knightsbridge room at the Mandarin Oriental — historical British cooking, two Michelin stars, the meat fruit that defined the format.
Niçoise · MayfairThe Mayfair sister to the Nice original — Niçoise-Mediterranean sharing plates, the lunch room that the regulars treat as a canteen.
Italian · Burlington GardensThe Soho House group's Burlington Gardens Italian — the Cipriani-trained kitchen, the cicchetti at the bar, the breakfast that opens the Mayfair day.
Italian · 1★ MichelinRuth Rogers' Hammersmith institution on the Thames — one Michelin star, the kitchen that trained Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the lunch that ends with limoncello.
Seafood · Mount StreetCaprice Holdings' Mount Street seafood institution — the green leather banquettes, the oyster bar, the lunch that the Mayfair art dealers default to.
Pan-Asian · Notting HillWill Ricker's Blenheim Crescent room — the Notting Hill institution since 2001, pan-Asian small plates, the local that does not need the West End.
Levantine · SohoLayo and Zoë Paskin's Rupert Street room — Jerusalem-Levantine cooking at the zinc counter, the dinner where the kitchen is the show.
Modern British · 1★ MichelinJason Atherton's Poland Street townhouse — one Michelin star, the Blind Pig bar above, the Soho dinner that does not require performance.
Greek seafood · St James'sCostas Spiliadis' Regent Street St James's room — the New York-Athens-London Greek that the regulars compare to Milos Athens and find equal.
Italian · ChelseaLucio Altana's Fulham Road room — Sardinian-Italian cooking, the Chelsea local that has not changed since 1999, the lunch the King's Road regulars default to.
Tuscan · ChelseaAlvaro Maccioni's World's End institution — Tuscan-Italian cooking, the courtyard garden, the Chelsea lunch the family has run since 1975.
Australian · Notting HillBill Granger's original London room — the Sydney breakfast format imported to Notting Hill, the ricotta hotcakes that anchored a decade of brunch.
Japanese izakaya · ChelseaTomonari Chiba's Chelsea izakaya — the basement counter and the courtyard above, the Japanese tapas room the regulars do not advertise.
Wine bar · MaryleboneXavier Rousset's Blandford Street room — the wine-bar format with a serious Mediterranean kitchen, the Marylebone lunch the wine trade defaults to.
Greek · FitzroviaThe Christos and Saki Lamprakis Greek room — Fitzrovia townhouse, modern Greek cooking, the dinner that does not pretend to be a taverna.
Rooftop · St Paul'sThe One New Change rooftop facing St Paul's dome — the proximity to the cathedral that no other room in London has.
Venetian · Piccadilly
Italian · KnightsbridgeThe Knightsbridge Italian institution since 1984 — Sassi family operation, the linen tablecloths, the lunch that has not changed in forty years.
Indian · 1★ MichelinThe Queen Street basement Indian — the first Indian restaurant in the world to hold a Michelin star, held continuously since 2001.
Lebanese · KnightsbridgeThe William Street Lebanese — the Knightsbridge institution since 1996, the meze that runs to forty plates, the lunch the GCC families default to.
Moroccan · Heddon StreetMourad Mazouz's Heddon Street Moroccan — the pre-Sketch original, the Marrakech room imported to Mayfair, the dinner with the mint tea.
Italian beef · South KensingtonRoberto Costa's butcher-restaurant — Piedmontese Fassona beef cut at the counter, the steakhouse the Italian regulars compare to home.
Japanese pub · King's RoadScott Hallsworth's Chelsea Japanese-pub format — the Nobu-trained kitchen, the izakaya register, the loud lunch on the King's Road.
Italian · Mayfair
Italian · MaryleboneThe Blandford Street basement — the Arjun Waney group's Italian neighbour to Roka, the wood oven, the dinner the Marylebone regulars treat as a local.
Gastropub · Chelsea
Italian · KnightsbridgeThe Lennox Garden Italian — the Chelsea townhouse room, the courtyard terrace, the lunch the regulars compare to Cipriani for half the price.
American-British · ChelseaThe Fulham Road American — the polo memorabilia on the walls, the brunch the Chelsea families have done every Sunday since 1990.
British · Hollywood RoadJohn Brinkley's Hollywood Road institution — the Chelsea neighbourhood restaurant since 1979, the wine-list pricing the regulars stay loyal for.