Notting Hill, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“The best restaurant in London” – Clare Symth’s “supreme” Notting Hill five-year-old once again topped our diners’ poll as the capital’s No. 1 gastronomic experience: “a real triumph”. And yet, while “it’s a special place, the experience is not over-wrought”: “it deftly straddles that line between fine dining but not being stuffy”. “Clare and head chef Jonny Bone run a great kitchen”, but they achieve “the finest cooking without it being up-your-arse mucked around, just with the beautiful presentation of seasonal ingredients” all “served with flair and precision in a fine dining room”. “The friendly and very efficient front of house team is led by Rob Rose. And when it comes to wine we always rely on sommelier Gareth’s recommendations. He has never let us down yet and works within a sensible budget”. “Clare and Jonny always greet you: in fact, everyone says hi and has time to chat. Save up your money and spend it here!”

“Youthful, hip and bursting at the seams”, this “great W11 hang out” is a famous old pub once visited by Bill Clinton, now converted into a nightclubby setting by Nick House of Mahiki and Whisky Mist fame. The “tapas-style” food from ex-River Café chef Theo Hill “is hit and miss, with some great and some disappointing dishes” – “but that doesn’t seem to bother the crowd, who are there mostly to drink, see and be seen” and soak up the “exciting”, “Tel Aviv-style rustic ambience”. It has a “beautiful courtyard” too, complete with palm trees and a glass ceiling.

“Every dish screams eat me!” – “Jackson Boxer is delivering some seriously bold cooking” – in particular “incredibly delicious seafood” (but also “wonderful wood-fired meats”) – at his Notting Hill three-year-old, named for the Hebridean island where he spent many childhood summers. Top Menu Tip – “the Mull scallop in vin jaune is a highlight amongst many, many brilliantly executed dishes”.

The food at the quartet of London cafés supplied by Lady Bamford’s organic farm in the Cotswolds suffered a mauling from some reporters this year. The Daylesford brand does have some “huge fans”, who praise its venues as “very pleasant for a good-quality snack”. But critics – citing “long waits”, “clueless staff” and “poor-quality, ropey ingredients” – feel they “may be a place to be seen but are overpriced and uninteresting”.

This Holland Park hotspot from the Seventies is making a comeback next year under a new owner – Tara MacBain, a former regular who lives nearby and trained at Le Cordon Bleu. Expect French brasserie-style cooking from an all-day menu featuring seafood towers – and, in a nod to its louche past – a Martini trolley to save on trips to the bar.

With its flower-bedecked exterior and “relaxed neighbourhood vibe”, this Ladbroke Grove local is “certainly one of the better pubs” in the capital, serving “delicious food that’s definitely more restaurant than pub grub” alongside “good beer”. It’s close to Holland Park, and attracts a good Sunday lunch crowd.

“Brett is indeed finally back!” at this Notting Hill luminary, which has often topped our annual diners’ poll as London’s top gastronomic destination, but which closed for the duration of the Covid pandemic. Virtually all feedback is ecstatic: “it’s just so good to see it re-open!”. “The dining room has had a thorough refresh” and the “slight reduction in the number of tables has significantly improved the ambience” (“you still feel you’re in the same place, just with a more spacious feel”); and “service was top-notch even after just a couple of weeks of re-opening”. When it comes to gastronomy, many fans feel that “while it didn’t seem possible, if anything, Brett has raised his game even higher” since ditching the pre-pandemic à la carte menu format to focus on “a modern-style tasting menu”, featuring 8 courses (and also at lunch with a cut-down option of 6 courses). A minority of reporters, though, are more cautious in their praise. The new “eye-watering level of prices” is the most widespread concern. But one or two deeper sceptics – while acknowledging “technically exquisite” or “knockout” cooking – think “it’s not bad or disappointing, just not quite as good as it once was”. So, as a result, The Ledbury food rating has not yet quite regained its customary level of 5/5. What’s not in doubt, though, is that owner Nigel Platts-Martin’s celebrated operation has survived its state of suspended animation to compete successfully once again at the highest level.

This “newly opened pub with excellent food and vibe” is the latest iteration of a Notting Hill tavern built in 1872 and now tastefully buffed up. Jimi Famurewa of the Evening Standard gave chef Owen Kenworth a big thumbs-up for his “gutsy, sneakily creative food”. It is also one of very few pubs to offer Pilates classes.