Best London Restaurants of 2017tikichris

Londoners, did you dine well in 2017? I sure did – especially at five particularly amazing London restaurants.

Simple dishes made with minimal fuss but using high quality seasonal ingredients to maximum effect seem to have grabbed my palate’s attention more than other foods when going out to eat in London this year. Scattered across town with none of the venues being too terribly expensive or exclusive, my short list of best London restaurants (and honourable mentions) is a tasty assemblage or eateries focused chiefly on presenting flavoursome food and respect for discerning diners keen to eat something delicious and forego any unnecessary trappings.

For a look at my favourite restaurants beyond London, check out the last post in this Best of 2017 series. And be sure to keep an eye out for more lists to come.

Please note, this list merely reflects how I chose to spend my time during the year and is comprised of well established and brand new venues as well as businesses that are somehow related to where work and play took me.

Items appear in alphabetic order, not ranked.

Best London Restaurants

The Oystermen Seafood Bar & Kitchen
32 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8NA
Oystermen Seafood Bar & Kitchen brings the best oysters, seafood and fish from across the British Isles to a pleasant (and pleasantly pared down) Covent Garden dining space.

Pique-Nique
Tanner Street, SE1 3LD
This lovely Bermondsey bistro’s menu autour du poulet de Bresse was as creative and lovely as it was scrumptious. The dining space was absolutely gorgeous (and surprisingly so upon entering from the street). Service was helpful and friendly. Wines were spot on. Dessert (soufflé with peach ice cream) was the stuff of dreams.

Sushi Show
28 Camden Passage, N1 8ED
This inauspicious and unassuming little sushi bar is run by professional fish suppliers and offers some of London’s most authentic Japanese sushi and seafood food dishes.

Taberna do Mercado
Old Spitalfields Market, 107B Commercial Street, E1 6BG
Acclaimed Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes’s tavern at Spitalfields Market presents honest, back-to-basics fare served efficiently and to an exceedingly high standard augmented by an excellent wine list, awesome sweets and great espresso-based drinks. Best bet for a hearty and flavoursome lunch at Taberna is the Bifana, a roasted pork sandwich with yeast mayonnaise and fennel on toasted crusty bread.

World’s End Market
459 King’s Road, SW10 0LR
Everything about this King’s Road restaurant is great. What gives it an edge of excellence is its “Jose Gordon (El Capricho)” menu offering select cuts of extra mature ox meat reared and aged by Spanish grill master, ox farmer and Chef Patron of acclaimed El Capricho restaurant, Jose Gordon.

Yuu Kitchen
29 Commercial Street, E1 6NE
Head Chef Jon de Villa (ex-Nobu, ex-Flesh & Buns) blends fine dining flair with casual dining fun at this playful Pacific Rim restaurant emphasising Southeast Asian flavours cooked mostly on two Big Green Egg BBQ grills.

Honourable Mentions