London 2017 Restaurant Guide

Hi guys! I’m back in Bombay and I’m not going to lie: the eating out scene here seems so underwhelming after my trip to London.  I’ll chalk that as up as the side-effect of a delicious trip ha.  

As I’ve been getting a few requests to share my restaurant recommendations for London, here are a few that I particularly loved this summer:

• Farm Girl (Portobello Road) is the ideal spot if you’re looking for a super cute place to brunch or break the fast at.  It is filled to the brim with various ‘superfood’ options like coconut meat bacon, chlorophyll shots, the most luxurious avocado toasts, acai bowls, and various forms of eggs including the Turkish specialty Shakshuka. If coffee isn’t your thing, Farm Girl has you covered.  Think charcoal lattes and various selections of matcha bevvys like butterfly & hibiscus matcha lattes.  Two words of advice: 1) Come early on weekends to avoid queuing up and 2) Ensure you have battery on your phone: every dish is highly instagrammable 😉 

• Natural Kitchen (Marylebone High Street*): Rather than stress on calories or tailor to a specific diet, I love that Natural Kitchen focuses on using quality ingredients. Whether you order a seafood linguine, halloumi burger, detox salad or homemade nachos it’s clear that the restaurant prides itself on simply offering customers pure goodness.  My go-to dish there is the Greek-Style Lamb Burger served ‘skinny’ (i.e. with salad instead of a bun).

*Outlets all over London

• Selfridges Food Court (Oxford Street) : With a selection of cuisines from Lebanese to Thai, Indian, British, salads, and more, it’s the ideal place to take a break from shopping and also ensure that everyone gets what they want.  I tucked into a selection of Lebanese dishes while one friend opted for the chaat counter and the other rolled with some pad thai & green curry.

• North Audley Cantine (North Audley Street): No matter how often I eat here, NAC just never gets old. Given that the menu centres around small, tapas-style plates, sharing is encouraged.  Although categorised as a French bistro, a majority of the dishes carry hints of diverse cultures with with dishes like truffled mac & cheese and veal schnitzel.  I would particularly recommend the ahi tuna poke bowl and the flamed miso salmon with peanut kale. 

• Sumosan Twiga (Sloane Street) is an exciting expansion of the original Sumosan.  Set across three floors, diners can choose between Italian or Japanese food (or both) or pop in for drinks.  While Sumonsan Twiga undoubtedly takes Japanese food to a whole new level, I particularly loved its vibe and ambiance- great crowd and even better music.  However if you are dining in a big group, double check the bill as they tried to add on a few extra dishes to ours which could have meant paying an extra £200.   

• Le 110 de Taillevent (Cavendish Square): Originally from Paris, this brasserie is every wine lover’s dream.  As the name suggests, there are 110 wines available by the glass.  Each dish on the menu is paired with a choice of four suggested wine pairings, in either 70 ml splashes or 125 ml glasses.  Between the 3 of us, we enjoyed the likes of seabass, steak, octopus and artichokes, all of which were delicious.  Unfortunately the vegetarian options are quite limited so keep that in mind if you eat a more plant-based diet.:

• Island Poke (Kingly Street): For those of you who have never experienced the deliciousness that is a poke bowl, it is essentially a deconstructed bowl of sushi: bite-size pieces of raw fish like ahi tuna, salmon or octopus marinated with soy sauce, sesame oil, and ponzu sauce that’s served with rice (or greens) and a variety of toppings like avocado, crispy onion, edamame, seaweed & sesame seeds.  While poke-based restaurants are popping up all over the city, I particularly enjoyed the flavors and portion sizes at Island Poke – there was certainly no skimping from their end. 

• Simple Health Kitchen (Baker Street) totally changes the notion that fast food needs to be processed and full of crap.  From dairy-free lasagna, to satay coleslaw, turkey burgers, kale & rainbow chard and more, SHK offers so many wholesome lunch options at extremely affordable prices.  If you count your calories and/or macros, every dish has the information subtly listed.

• Medierraneo (Notting Hill): If you’re looking for a quaint, authentic Italian restaurant with generous portions of delicious food at reasonable prices, this fits the bill.  Albeit small, Mediterraneo offers a wide & varied menu with a number of different pasta, meat & fish dishes.  Even if you are full after your meal, please do yourself a favor and order the chocolate soufflé with a side of pistachio ice cream- you will thank me later!

For more recommendations, here are some of my previous London restaurant posts:

• Granger & Co (Notting Hill)
• Christopher’s (Covent Garden)
• Yorica (Soho)
• Marylebone Favorites
• Opso  (Paddington Street)
• Timmy Green (Victoria)
• Eating Out in London

Tell me about one of your recent meals out! It doesn’t have to be in London 🙂 !