London has increasingly become known as a global culinary destination, thanks to the world-class chefs running the kitchens and creating dining bliss across the city. But where are London’s best chefs eating when they’re not the ones cooking up a storm? And who better to recommend a restaurant than the experts themselves?
OpenTable spoke to six top chefs to learn about their restaurants, their neighbourhoods, and where they like to eat in London.
Monica Galetti of Mere
MasterChef, Amazing Hotels, Desert Island Discs—you don’t need to know food to know Monica Galetti, chef and owner of Mere in Fitzrovia, which blends her French training and Samoan upbringing. It’s based on Charlotte Street, a road boasting so many restaurants and bars that finding the best ones is something of an art. “It’s a bit ‘need to know,’” she hints, before divulging her favourites.
Meraki: Meraki’s name translates to fulfilling a vision with unwavering devotion and zeal, it aligns closely with Galetti’s values and vision. It serves Greek dishes, inspired by the Aegean islands, and is one of the most modern Greek restaurants around: there’s spinach pie, but there’s also beef kebab with harissa and avocado tzatziki.
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Miel: Miel, meanwhile, is a petite, perfect patisserie uniting some of the best French ingredients – Valrhona chocolate, Charentes butter, Normandy flour – and a pastry chef who trained in Paris for years. “I remember walking in just buying everything the first time I went in,” she recalls.
Honey & Spice: Just down the road is Honey & Spice, founded by Israeli couple Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich who created their dream version of a grocery store, which combines nostalgia for the Middle East, where they grew up, and London, where they are now. Look for proprietary spice blends and housemade jams, cookies, salads, and pastries for takeaway.
Sally Abé of The Pem
Sally Abé learned her craft at some of the world’s most challenging, dazzling kitchens, including The Ledbury and Gordon Ramsay’s Savoy Grill. Now she’s doing her own distinctly feminist thing—her flagship restaurant The Pem is named after a suffragette and boasts a female front of house, female head chef, and female sommelier. That passion for promoting women carries through to the restaurants she frequents.
Café Murano: The food is Italian at MICHELIN-starred Café Murano, with regional roots and a modern flair from Britain’s cheffing queen Angela Hartnett. Dishes include gnocchi with delicata squash, chanterelles, and confit garlic or courgettes, fregola, and peaches. “I really look up to Angela as a chef,” says Abé. Hartnett is all about simple food, well done—a philosophy echoed in The Pem.
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Lorne: The MICHELIN guide described Lorne as the sort of restaurant everyone would love to have at the end of their street: rooted in the community, but welcoming to new customers; comfortingly cosy, yet stylish. “It’s nice to see a woman running a restaurant as I do, and it has a really lovely, elegant touch to it,” Abé says. “The food is light and fresh, and they have an amazing wine list, which Katie Exton, the owner, writes.”
Vagabond: For pre (or post) drinks, Abé favours Vagabond in Victoria, just ten minutes from The Pem and Lorne. Here, wine comes not via a waiter, but instead from vending machines that enable you to try 100 wines from around the world. “I’m really into my wines, and what’s interesting about Vagabond is that you can try so many by the glass,” she says.
Alexis Gauthier of Gauthier Soho
From serving 20kg of foie gras a week to converting his entire restaurant to veganism—French chef Alexis Gauthier may have been a chef for 24 years, but he’s travelled a long way philosophically. When he opened his Soho restaurant Gauthier in 2010, it centred on classic French gastronomy, and it still does, but with all plant-based fare since 2021. All Gauthier’s favourite places to dine are within a stone’s throw of his own restaurant.
Yauatcha Soho: Yauatcha Soho’s modern interpretation of old Chinese tea houses includes a vegan menu of dim sum, such as edamame truffle dumplings and mushroom bean curd roll, within a cool, low-lit, industrial setting. “They have one of the most diverse and exciting ranges of Chinese cuisine in London that is plant-based. They do the most amazing vegan tasting menu,” says Gauthier.
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Berwick Street Market: This street market dates back to 1778, where Gauthier enjoys piping hot, crispy, nutty falafel in a housemade wrap. “There are many other stalls on the street, which aren’t necessarily plant based, but I know they’re so delicious because they are so full of people every day from midday,” Gauthier says.
Sola: Gauthier sends customers who “like to come here for plant-based delicacies but still do eat animal-based gastronomy” to Sola. “Victor is a gifted chef,” he says of Victor Garvey, the charismatic founder and executive chef behind the Californian restaurant.
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Lawrence Gomez of Papa L’s Kitchen
Lawrence Gomez, aka Papa L, fell under the spell of cooking whilst growing up in The Gambia, watching his mum weave extraordinary dishes out of the simplest ingredients. He spun that passion into working years at the iconic Ivy in Covent Garden and chic Mayfair restaurant Sexy Fish, all the while developing his own Gambian-inspired marinades and sauces. The result of all this experience and experimentation is Papa L’s Kitchen, which launched on Jermyn Street in 2021 with a menu of what he calls African fusion cuisine. The eclecticism of his life and career is equally evident in his restaurant recommendations.
Pataka: The explosively flavourful Pataka on Shaftesbury Avenue brings India’s many regional cuisines together under one beautiful roof. “Like myself, they started in the pandemic, and their food is full of flavour,” says Gomez.
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Flocafe Espresso Room: This is a mecca for coffee lovers and those with a penchant for hearty brunches, according to Gomez.
Hotel Café Royal’s Green Bar: Hotel Café Royal’s Green Bar serves classic cocktails, tonics, and botanicals inspired by the cocktail book the famed hotel compiled in 1937. “I like to go there for a drink because it’s a nice, chilled vibe, and they make a good rum old fashioned—which is my favourite,” says Gomez.
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Sameer Taneja of Benares
Though chef Sameer Taneja grew up in Delhi and studied in Mangalore, on India’s southeast coast, he didn’t cook Indian cuisine professionally until 2011. That’s when he was offered a job by Atul Kocher at Benares, at the time the only restaurant in London blending classic European techniques with Indian spices and technique. In 2021, as executive chef, Taneja won the restaurant a MICHELIN star. Like his life and career, his recommendations range from smart to casual, classic to contemporary.
Little Berkeley: This unassuming Mayfair coffee spot is where you can watch well-heeled people sashay by on their way to a gallery opening or luxury hotel. “The homemade sandwiches are a delight,” says Taneja.
Chourangi: Chourangi in Marble Arch is an elegant yet heartfelt homage to Calcutta, a city where European, Mogul, and Chinese cuisines come together to create dishes including laal murgi kebab and Taneja’s favourite, the Malay curry with prawns in a coconut sauce. “It’s soul food. It’s simple and humble,” he enthuses.
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123V at Fenwick’s: 123V at Fenwick’s on Bond Street is where Taneja heads to veg out on vegan burgers, sushi, and salads from fine-dining chef Alexis Gauthier. “It is absolutely divine,” says Taneja.
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Adam Handling of The Frog
Adam Handling is a conventionally trained fine-dining chef with a delectably unconventional approach. His MICHELIN-starred restaurant, The Frog in Covent Garden, is as renowned for the plume of dry ice that accompanies his dainty selection of snacks as it is for the deeply umami celeriac dish he made for his mother. “The Frog is the gem in our crown. It is our flagship restaurant, where our personality comes through,” he says. His passion for sustainability shines through in all four of his restaurants in London and Cornwall, which source seasonally and ethically and ensure little is wasted. Similar values run through his restaurant picks.
Cora Pearl: Cora Pearl serves comforting classics and cocktails within a sensitively renovated historic townhouse. “Things like a great ham and cheese toastie. It’s simple food and fast service. I’ll go back there again and again,” Handling says.
Cinnamon Bazaar: The cosy, colourful Cinnamon Bazaar, from chef and owner Vivek Singh, is a modern take on bazaar markets in Indian cities. “Vivek is incredible. He does this lamb rogan josh shepherd’s pie. Every time I’m there, I order it. It’s tasty, comforting, unpretentious food,” Handling says.
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Margot: Margot is a perennial favourite for Handling. “Italian, very beautiful, super opulent with a really good wine list,” he says of the recently opened and greatly acclaimed restaurant on Great Queen Street. He recommends the veal Milanese and a glass of Barolo. “Delicious,” he concludes simply.
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