London is a gastronomic powerhouse with a high concentration of top restaurants owned by world-renowned chefs. From Sri Lankan curries to champagne and oysters, whatever whets your appetite, you can find a cuisine to tickle your taste buds in the city that has every culinary corner covered.

In Soho, Ottolenghi’s restaurant has a menu that celebrates bold flavours that we have grown to love of his cooking. Inside NOPI, the marble is white, the brass is golden, the art is dynamic, and the pace is a little fast.

NOPI’s menu changes according to the seasons, but signature dishes include courgette and manouri fritters, coriander seed-crusted burrata with slices of blood orange and Valdeón cheesecake.

Find more information about Nopi here: NOPI (ottolenghi.co.uk)

58 Brewer Street, London, W1F9TL

When you first walk into Kiln, it feels like everyone in the small restaurant welcomes you. The main room only holds about 20, along a thin bar lined with wine bottles and an open kitchen. Everyone squeezed in, chatting and eating as if they all came together to experience the bar’s beautiful energy.

Kiln gets its name from the dancing fire in the open kitchen, which chars, grills, crisps, cooks everything from succulent pork belly to dark veggies.

Find more information about Kiln here: KILN | Thai Grill, Seafood & Claypots, Brewer St, Soho (kilnsoho.com)

Somerset House, New Wing, Lancaster Place, London, WC2R 1LA
Cooking with the seasons, championing produce over everything else, keeping things simple on the plate – there are dozens of chefs now following this mantra in restaurants across the UK. But one of the first to walk this path was Australian-born Skye Gyngell, who now encapsulates this zero-waste, ingredient-led cooking style at her beautiful London restaurant Spring. Spring brings warmth and elegance within a lovely dining space set in the New Wing of the iconic Somerset House in London’s arts and cultural heart. At Spring, the food is celebrated and cooked by a team of passionate people who do what they do and feel truly privileged to work with beautiful ingredients.

Find more information about Spring here: Spring Restaurant | Skye Gyngell | London

16 Neal’s Yard, Convent Garden, London WC2H9DP

It’s not possible to have an awful time at The Barbary. Sure, you’ll probably have to queue, but even that’s tolerable because then you get to feast on moreish deep-fried snacks (like the Moroccan cigars) that don’t appear on the main menu. If the queue is enormous and spills out of the door, then you get to hang out in Neal’s Yard, one of London’s loveliest hidden courtyards. The food is labelled as ‘modern Israeli’, though, in truth, it’s anything but that. What they’ve done is taken the ancient recipes from across North Africa (from the one-time Barbary Coast) and the Middle East that has gone on to influence food in today’s Israeli kitchen, then reimagine them.

Find more information about The Barbary here: The Barbary | Covent Garden Restaurant | Neal’s Yard | London

49 Frith Street London W1D4SG

There’s nothing like Hoppers in London. Sure, there’s good Sri Lankan food in certain pockets of the capital. But very few restaurants are exclusively Sri Lankan (most are South Indian and certainly don’t do hoppers, the egg-topped pancakes after which this Soho restaurant is named); the few exceptions are okay, rather than extraordinary. So the fact that Hoppers is excellent is even more impressive. The small room, a sexy Soho take on all things Sri Lankan, is always full and always buzzing (and yes, you’ll almost certainly have to queue), but it’s more than worth the wait. If small plates, full flavours and unapologetic spicing are your things, Hoppers will get your pulse – and your tastebuds – racing.

Find more information about Hoppers here: Hoppers London

58 Poland Street, Soho, London, W1F 7NR

Gordon Ramsay protégé and unstoppable wunderkind Jason Atherton seems hellbent on building an international restaurant empire every bit as revered as that of his mentor. This was one of three London openings he oversaw in 2013 and his first Soho venture – but he’s barely stopped to draw breath since then. Social Eating House’s dark, low-slung dining room, with its mirrored ceiling and modern artworks, feels relaxed and informal. At the same time, chef Paul Hood’s menu delivers dishes that are at once highly sophisticated, accessible and above all delicious – often throwing in a welcome touch of theatricality when you least expect it. Efficient, attentive staff keep this star-studded show on the road.

Find more information about Social Eating House here: Social Eating House | Jason Atherton Restaurants

Located at 20 Mount St, London, UK

Scott’s was originally opened as an oyster warehouse in 1851 by a young fishmonger named John Scott and rapidly evolved into the now famous seafood restaurant and oyster bar. It is amongst the five oldest restaurants in London.

Established as one of the most fashionable and glamorous restaurants in tow, the menu reflects its glittering heritage. It serves the most delicate traditional fish and shellfish dishes alongside a variety of meat and seasonal game favourites in an atmosphere of urbane sophistication. Oysters, served at the elegant oyster and Champagne bar, are a house specialty.

Find more information about Scott’s here: Seafood & Fish Restaurant | Scott’s, Mayfair, London (scotts-restaurant.com)