TOP PLACES TO EAT IN LONDON
With Fashion Week starting this week, I thought it would be cool to share my favourite London restaurants with you all as I know how much of a pain it can be to find somewhere to eat (even if you live here), especially if you’re looking for something in particular (with a particular price point) – plus there are so many hidden gems in London that locals may never hear of with most of the best places being dotted around the city, so – for those of you who love to find new places to eat, here it is, my list of my favourite places to eat in London!
The Meat Co. – Westfields Shepherds Bush
My absolute favourite places to eat are always Steakhouses. There is literally nothing more that I love than a good burger or a rack of pork ribs. I went here for my 22nd birthday after stumbling upon it on a rainy day with my family and ended up with a whole private dining room which was amazing. I ordered the rack of ribs and oh my, was it good.
The Faraday – Epsom
This is pretty much my local and my most visited pub/restaurant ever, it’s quite a new pub and has quickly become the new Epsom hangout. The food is very American so has an extensive burger menu with lots of pulled pork and other meaty dishes as well as open burritos, hot dogs, nachos etc… You just can’t go wrong… And plus, the desserts are only £2-3 and are amazing (*drooling over thoughts of their waffles*). They also have a selection of 5 ever-changing craft beers for you beer lovers! It has a fab beer garden as well, so find me in there complete with my Ray-Ban Sunglasses on any sunny afternoon!
Far Rock Away – Shoreditch
This place is just perfection for me. Ribs, hot dogs, burgers, pizza and all things American – what more could you possibly need? I went pretty hard on their Artichoke pizza last time I visited, and they have a great list of cocktails to choose from – all less than £10! Definitely worth a visit if you love American themed restaurants.
The Culpeper – Commercial Street by Brick Lane
I was lucky enough to attend Boohoo’s Christmas party here and it was just perfect. The decor and vibe of the whole pub is so great, and everything flows perfectly together – the decor, the food, the drinks. They keep it quite ‘craft’ like with local beers and wines as well as a cocktail list using herbs and seasonal ingredients grown by themselves on the roof terrace, which of course is also used in their dishes, meaning the menu is changing constantly – perfect for those who love to try new things!
I’m not massively adventurous when it comes to vegetables, but we had a roast dinner there and I tried everything – purely by how amazing it all looked, and I do not regret it. I enjoyed every single part of my dish and I’m super excited to visit again one day – especially for a Sunday roast! Follow their Instagram @theculpeper to keep up with their ever-changing menu.
Ace Hotel, Hoi Polloi, – Shoreditch
I used to walk by the Ace Hotel every day on my way to work back when I was at Richard Nicoll and always really wanted to go and last summer I finally got the chance to, and it definitely did not disappoint. They describe themselves as a ‘modernist brasserie’ and it’s very ‘Shoreditch’ as you can expect but the food is amazing. They keep it quite simple and approachable but still a little fancy, varying from their cheeseburger, to Oysters and Monkfish – but are more than reasonably priced which is the beauty of Hoi Polloi! Breakfast there is definitely recommended.
Blues Kitchen – Camden
Like blues, burgers, and whiskey? This place is exactly what you would expect from Camden (they have one in Shoreditch too!). They smoke their meat in-house and it. is. delicious. Me and my friends were literally in a food coma to the point of no return! Everything on the menu is just to die for (for meat lovers anyway) and they have a pretty impressive whiskey collection to wash it down with as well as a dessert menu which is hard to pass up – especially when they have things like Oreo filled doughnuts (don’t try and tell me you’ve heard of that before). This place is definitely best to go to on an evening as the atmosphere is brilliant, kind of makes you feel like you’re in a Tarantino/Rodriquez movie but in Camden.
Vingt Quatre – Chelsea
VQ’s was one of the first places I discovered when I moved to London. I remember my friends being like ‘yeah let’s go to Chelsea and get dinner’ at around 4/5am after a major night out in Mayfair and I was like ‘are these guys crazy do they know the time?’… But they were right and over to VQ’s we went – a 24-hour restaurant on Fulham Road serving everything from Pancakes, Full-English breakfasts, burgers, steaks and pasta – so basically, what ever you fancy, any time of day. Last year they expanded and opened a second restaurant on Tottenham Court Road too (which is amazing as it’s even closer to the clubs and let’s face it, sometimes you want to be a little posher than your post-night out kebab or Mcdonalds!). I’d go as far as to say for all these reasons, it’s probably my favourite place in London.
The Fable – Holborn
Another place I discovered at a blogger event, this time it was the Fashion Chick uk launch event with Creators of Desire. I’m not really a central line user so I never tend to stray to those parts of London, so it was nice to find somewhere new, especially one like The Fable which I immediately liked upon walking in. It was super lively which is always a plus when you don’t know somewhere well (as though you’ve walked into the right place!) and the decor is wonderful, which as you can probably tell from the name is quite fairy-tale related but in a very tasteful, subtle way. The menu is very British with the odd exception in there (the Thai red curry sticks out like a sore thumb in a menu full of traditional English dishes, but definitely a nice surprise!) and there’s definitely something for everyone there, and if not, you’re bound to enjoy the drinks menu!
Sarastro – Covent Garden
Sarastro is more of an experience, however the food is pretty good. It’s by the Opera house and they do like pre-Opera dinners with performers and the place is just crazy… But great crazy… I’ve been a couple of times for birthdays and although I was kind of thinking it would be strange having random opera performers whilst I’m eating my dinner, it was actually good! The whole place is super quirky with little terraces you climb up into to dine while they perform below.
The food is Turkish and Mediterranean with a fair variety, but even the set menu is great if you have a large booking. I definitely recommend the Hors D’oeuvres that they serve for the entire table to share, they’re delicious and it’s great to try new things that you wouldn’t usually.
