The best of London food: Xi’an burgers with cumin at a Bloomsbury star chef’s restaurant, Michelin-starred grilled fish tucked beneath a Thai beauty in its rights, small plates served at a reincarnated beloved wine bar, and much more

Eater 38 is a list that tells the story of London’s food scene: It documents dim sum, Sunday roasts, curries, pizza, sinister, rarebits, banh mi, udon noodles, pepper pot, moo krob, and more. This list tells the tale of London’s food scene. It includes dim sum, Sunday roasts, and curries. It also features pizza, rarebits, and sinister. It also contains banh mi, udon noodles, moo krob, and pepper pot.

Eater London 38 lists London’s top 38 restaurants and best foods as of summer 2023. New venues are making their mark, and old establishments have rediscovered the groove. This list showcases over thirty restaurants that have done extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances. These restaurants have survived, thrived, and continue to enrich the food culture of London and its city in an unprecedented time of change and turmoil.

Adam Coghlan, a writer and an editor from London, is the author of this article. He launched Eater London in 2017 and managed the website until 2023 when it stopped daily publication. Find him on Instagram at @adamcoghlan.

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Durak Tantuni

Jonathan Nunn, in his guide of North London’s Best Value Restaurants, wrote that “Durak is a tantuni saloonu run by Dogan Yesil, on West Green Road is the superior late-night snack template.” Only the tan tunic is served here, a Turkish specialty from Mersin on the southern coast. The beef is cooked, then seasoned with tomato, pul-biber, cumin, and sumac. It’s then fried in cotton before loaded with parsley, onion, and tomato. The meat is twisted before eating, and various acidic accompaniments such as pickled chillis or lemon provide the necessary cutting through.

Singburi

The London Thai restaurant’s most renowned Thai restaurant has been reopened by Chef Sirichai and his family. The menu includes fried tilapia, fried pad-thai, sour tom yum, and wok-fried morning glories with fish sauce and garlic. Kularbwong’s blackboard specials are where the real action is. They include steamed seabass Cantonese-style, herbal fruit salads such as mangosteens, lychees, shallots and mint, jungle curries, larbs, grilled ribs and the unbeatable twice-fried Moo Krob with garlic and holy basil.

Bake Street

The small Stoke Newington café is a real winner. It offers some of London’s finest American diner-style burgers, samosas on weekends, and the unique chicken makhani. A solid menu is available for visitors during the week. The sweet menu is also not half bad. Do not miss the creme brulee cookies, created by pastry chef Chloe Rose Crabtree, based on a recipe from Los Angeles’s Dough and Arrow. Or the seasonal ice cream from Crabtree and Feroz Gajia during the warmer months.

Note : Feroz Gajia is a freelance food journalist, restaurant consultant, and “chicken buzzbeast.” He has contributed to Eater.

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Bake Street’s fried brioche chicken with makhani, American cheese and coriander sauce.

107 Wine Shop & Bar

P. Franco was one of London’s top wine bars and restaurants for the past decade. When it closed in March, to much disbelief and even sadness, many people were shocked. There is no need to mourn because 107 Wine Shop and Bar has opened in the same location, with the same staff, including Will Gee, and the same kind of guest chefs, such as Mitchell Damota and Elliot Hashtroudi, and the low-intervention wines which P. Franco had been so successful at mainstreaming in Hackney for years. The communal high-table remains, as does the half-sign with three letters from the Chinese takeaway’s name that preceded P. Franco. Plus, can it change?

Westerns Laundry

Westerns Laundry, run by David Gingell and Jeremie Cometto, is one of London’s finest seafood restaurants. It’s a champion of English, especially Cornish, suppliers. The restaurant still serves delicious dishes like monkfish friggitelli with mojo verde, John Dory with peas and braised gem lettuce and pancetta, as well as fideo, rich in cuttlefish and squid-ink aioli. The restaurant’s covered terrace, as well as its stellar wine list with classic and low-intervention options, are just two of the many reasons to visit.

Westerns Laundry offers prawns and cuttlefish as well as natural wine.

Cadet

Three separate but interconnected endeavors comprise Eater London’s Restaurant of the Year for 2022. In the basement, George Jephson butchers entire animals and repurposes them into immaculate charcuterie. Chef Jamie Smart upstairs uses excellent ingredients to create simple dishes that are French and Southern European. Think trout poached with butter, roe, and sorrel or a roast bird of game with quince, bitter leaves, and bitter leaf. The wine importer, Tom Beattie & Fran Roberts, run the bar with a small staff. Cadet, a wine bar, restaurant, charcuterie, and shopfront, has a French and English feel. It’s always felt right since it opened.