London itinerary

1. 1

   Ikoyi - The Most Ambitious Fine Dining Room in London

   Ikoyi holds two Michelin stars in the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland 2026 and serves the most technically ambitious cooking on this list. Chef Jeremy Chan builds a fixed tasting menu around the West African…

   Address

   180 Strand, London WC2R 1EA

   Nearest transit

   Temple station (Circle and District lines), 4-min walk; Covent Garden (Piccadilly line), 8-min walk

2. 2

   A. Wong - Britain's Most Decorated Chinese Kitchen

   A. Wong retained two Michelin stars in the 2026 Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland, which makes it the most decorated Chinese kitchen in the country, and it effectively operates as two restaurants in one building…

   Address

   70 Wilton Road, Pimlico, London SW1V 1DE

   Nearest transit

   Victoria station (Victoria, Circle and District lines, plus National Rail), 5-min walk; Pimlico (Victoria line), 8-min walk

3. 3

   St. JOHN - The Modern British Restaurant That Changed Everything

   St. JOHN opened in a whitewashed former smokehouse on St. John Street in 1994 and holds one Michelin star in the 2026 guide, which it has kept while changing almost nothing. The cooking is nose-to-tail British and the…

   Address

   26 St. John Street, Smithfield, London EC1M 4AY

   Nearest transit

   Farringdon station (Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and Elizabeth lines), 4-min walk

4. 4

   Brat - Wood-Fired Cooking Above a Shoreditch Pub

   Brat occupies the first floor above a pub on Redchurch Street and cooks nearly everything over a wood fire, which won chef Tomos Parry a Michelin star that the restaurant still holds in the 2026 guide. The whole grilled…

   Address

   4 Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, London E1 6JL

   Nearest transit

   Shoreditch High Street station (London Overground, Windrush line), 4-min walk; Liverpool Street, 12-min walk

5. 5

   Chishuru - Modern West African Cooking in Fitzrovia

   Chishuru is modern West African cooking from chef Joke Bakare, who was born and raised in Nigeria and became the first Black female chef in Britain to hold a Michelin star. The restaurant retains that star in the 2026…

   Address

   3 Great Titchfield Street, Fitzrovia, London W1W 8AX

   Nearest transit

   Oxford Circus station (Central, Victoria and Bakerloo lines), 5-min walk; Goodge Street (Northern line), 7-min walk

6. 6

   Tayyabs - The Best-Value Serious Meal in London

   Tayyabs has fed Whitechapel Punjabi food since 1972 and is the best-value serious meal in this guide. The sizzling marinated lamb chops are the reason the queue exists: four to a plate, charred hard on the…

   Address

   83-89 Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel, London E1 1JU

   Nearest transit

   Whitechapel station (District, Hammersmith & City and Elizabeth lines), 6-min walk; Aldgate East (District line), 8-min walk

7. 7

   Mangal 2 - Turkish Ocakbasi Grilling in Dalston

   Mangal 2 has run an ocakbasi - the open charcoal grill you can watch from your table - on Stoke Newington Road since Ali Dirik opened it in 1994. His sons Ferhat and Sertac took over in 2020 and rebuilt the menu without…

   Address

   4 Stoke Newington Road, Dalston, London N16 8BH

   Nearest transit

   Dalston Kingsland station (London Overground, Windrush line), 4-min walk; Dalston Junction, 8-min walk

8. 8

   Kolamba - Sri Lankan Sharing Plates Behind Carnaby

   Kolamba is the Sri Lankan restaurant to take somebody to in central London, run by husband-and-wife team Eroshan and Aushi Meewella on Kingly Street behind Carnaby. Everything is built to share in the traditional style…

   Address

   21 Kingly Street, Soho, London W1B 5QA

   Nearest transit

   Oxford Circus station (Central, Victoria and Bakerloo lines), 5-min walk; Piccadilly Circus (Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines), 5-min walk

9. 9

   Kiln - Northern Thai Cooking at a Soho Counter

   Kiln cooks northern Thai food over wood and in clay pots along a counter on Brewer Street, and it holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand rather than a star, which tells you exactly what kind of place it is: serious cooking…

   Address

   58 Brewer Street, Soho, London W1F 9TL

   Nearest transit

   Piccadilly Circus station (Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines), 4-min walk; Oxford Circus, 7-min walk

10. 10

    Rules - London's Oldest Restaurant and Its Great Game Institution

    Rules opened on Maiden Lane in 1798 and is London's oldest restaurant, a claim documented on its Wikipedia entry. It is a game specialist above everything else, sourcing from its own estate in the Pennines, and the…

    Address

    35 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London WC2E 7LB

    Nearest transit

    Covent Garden station (Piccadilly line), 4-min walk; Charing Cross (Northern and Bakerloo lines), 7-min walk

From the trip1 travel guide “10 Best Restaurants in London” · trip1.com