London’s days of dredging eels from the Thames and baking them into pies may be behind us, but the river sure is nice to look while you’re having a bite.
And aside from the Thames itself, the city’s also blessed by ponds, lakes and historic canals, all of which come with some genuinely excellent restaurants attached. And if sitting by the water doesn’t quite cut it, the growing number of places where you can eat on the water are sure to float your boat, from a barge specialising in cheese to a restored Dutch cargo boat with a cracking Sunday roast.
Just add ducks.
Barge East | Hackney Wick
Old Dutch barge De Hoop is home to one of London’s loveliest canalside restaurants. With the festoon lights on and the tables full of happy punters in the on-shore kitchen garden, there aren’t many nicer places to be on a summer evening. Moored in Hackney Wick, Barge East serves a set lunch and evening menu, as well as an exceptional Sunday roast, eaten on or below deck. Expect wholesome, inventive dishes like market fish with pumpkin and seaweed dumplings, or duck breast with blackberry and sage. There’s a street food cooked up in a canal-side Airstream caravan too.
Details: Sweetwater Mooring, River Lee, White Post Lane, Hackney Wick, E9 5EN | Book here
––
Caravel | Islington
Once you’ve been introduced, you’re unlikely to forget Poppy for a while. This brick-red barge moored up between Shoreditch and Islington is home to the Spiteri brothers’ first restaurant, Caravel. Once on board, you’ll be immediately charmed by the sweet little dining room, with its wood flooring and lamp-lit tables. If you’ve not already been completely won over, the food will see to that. There’s a short, well-considered menu that delivers flavour combos you’ve likely not tried before – mackerel with pickled greengages, perhaps, or pork shoulder with anchovy. The good news is that it changes regularly, so you’ve a good excuse to come back.
PS: Next door you’ll find their accompanying floating bar, Bruno’s.
Details: 172 Shepherdess Walk, Islington, N1 7JL | Book here
–
CRATE Brewery | Hackney Wick
Proving you should always think outside the CRATE, this Hackney brewery & taproom comes with an impressively expansive terrace right on the banks of Regent’s Canal. Few waterside spots can match the easy-going, laid-back atmosphere here, where tank-fresh pints chase orders of wood-fired pizzas to the picnic tables outside. A sure-fire winner for any casual group dinner, or just pop by for a sundowner before a more serious bite upstairs at Silo.
Details: Unit 14, Queens Yard, Hackney Wick, E9 5EN | No bookings outside
–
The River Café | Hammersmith
In what feels like a remarkable coincidence, The River Café sits right on the banks of the Thames. And since coming to dine at this long-standing Michelin starred institution is going to absolutely rinse your wallet, you might as well bankrupt yourself in style by ordering Ruth Rogers’ mouthwatering Italian fare to a table on the sun-dappled riverside terrace.
Details: Thames Wharf, Rainville Road, W6 9HA | Book here
–
Scott’s Richmond | Richmond
You want bombastic platters of fruits de mer? You want Champagne cocktails and Vesper martinis? And you want it all on a stupidly gorgeous terrace balcony overlooking the Thames? Well, you shall have it, at the wonderfully splashy Richmond outpost of the classic seafood restaurant Scott’s Mayfair.
Details: 4 Whittaker Avenue, London TW9 1EH | Book here
–
Pavilion | Victoria Park
On a hot summer’s day, your friends will require zero persuading to join you at Pavilion’s original outpost in Victoria Park; a revamped Victorian kiosk whose irrepressible popularity has led them to extend over the water itself. Come here for hearty Sri Lankan breakfasts, for the stuff of pastry legend, for the ice cream sandwiches on sale at the Happy Endings hatch. And afterwards, get even closer to the water by taking a rowboat for a spin across the lake.
Details: Victoria Park, E9 7DE | No bookings
–
The Bingham Riverhouse | Richmond
The garden at Bingham Riverhouse is like something out of a goddamn fairytale, with lushly landscaped lawns leading right down to the riverside. At the top there’s a charming (heated) terrace with tables for drinks, lunch and dinner, where you can dine on Vanessa Marx’s Modern British menu as colourful boats chug up and down the Thames.
Details: 61-63 Petersham Rd, Richmond, TW10 6UT | Book here
–
Pear Tree Café | Battersea
Like Pavilion, Battersea Park‘s Pear Tree Café enjoys a reputation far superior to most park caffs. Housed in a modernist rotunda, its sweeping terrace cuts into a lake filled with some absolutely textbook ducks, and people messing about on boats. The all-day menu covers important café basics, from smashed avo on toast and maple bacon sarnies to burgers and salads, but on a summer’s evening the team fire up the coals outside for BBQ dishes and sourdough pizzas. They’re licensed, so you can get a bottle of wine with all that, and there’s live music most nights of the week too.
Details: Lakeside Cafe Battersea Park, London, SW11 4NJ | No bookings
–
Tavolino | London Bridge
This two-storey, beautifully styled Italian restaurant has an outdoor terrace right by the river, with primo views of Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and HMS Belfast. Even if it’s threatening to rain, the floor-to-ceiling windows provide maximum opportunity to ogle those sights from indoors, too. The only thing likely to pull your gaze away is the pasta, handmade on the premises daily and starring in dishes such as bucatini cacio e pepe and wild red prawn tagliatelle. If you want to see two Tower Bridges, finish the meal with the ‘Negroni Tricolore’, a flight of three potent gin cocktails.
Details: 2 More London Riverside, London Bridge, SE1 2DB | Book here
–
Peggy Jean | Richmond
The Richmond arm of the Aussie Beany Green empire is essentially stationed on The Ritz of barges. Converted from a riverboat belonging to Jesus College Oxford, it’s now a two-tiered restaurant with ample terrace seating under the blushing shade of scallop-edged parasols. Come here for frozen cocktails, for pizzas, for eggs benny drenched in their signature holy f*ck hollandaise, and resist the urge to stowaway in the hold and never go back to work.
Details: Riverside, Richmond TW9 1TH | No bookings for outside tables
–
Sam’s Riverside | Hammersmith
Honestly, Sam’s could have just traded in on its charming waterside setting, which sits on a tranquil pedestrian stretch of the Thames overlooking Hammersmith Bridge. But it just so happens that the food is genuinely great here, too. Running the gamut of classic brasserie fare, the menu features big, showstopper platters of shellfish; generous roasts; and rib-eye steak; all served alongside a concise menu of spritzes, and a less concise menu of globe-trotting wines. And the terrace operates year-round, with heaters and covers rolled out in winter.
Details: 1 Crisp Walk, London W6 9DN | Book here
–
Wright Brothers Battersea | Battersea
The closest you can get to a day trip to Whitstable without stripping down to your swimmers, Wright Brothers Battersea offers pound-a-pop oyster happy hours overlooking the water. For something more substantial, come at lunch or dinnertime to reel in bigger treats from their sustainability-led seafood menu, like Singapore black pepper crab and grilled whole fish to share, fresh off the boats down in Brixham.
Details: 26 Circus West Village, Battersea Power Station, SW8 4NN | Book here
–
Hawksmoor Wood Wharf | Canary Wharf
Few things are better than Hawksmoor’s famed dictionary-thick steaks, their beef dripping chips, and a signature Penichillin slushy cocktail. Except, maybe, all of those things on an island restaurant surrounded by water on all four sides. Both Hawksmoor’s Canary Wharf dining room and The Lowback cocktail bar below feature an impressive waterside terrace, from which you can lord it over anyone else not currently eating steak on a floating restaurant.
Details: 1 Water Street, E14 5GX | Book here
–
Maria G’s Fulham | Fulham
‘Oh no, a new Robin Gill restaurant’… said absolutely no one ever. The man behind Bottle + Rye, Sorella and a string of other excellent restaurants in London has opened a Fulham sequel to his Kensington hit, Maria G’s. This place makes dining by the Thames feel a little bit like dining by the Amalfi Coast; mostly through dishes like squid ink linguini and hand-dived scallop crudo, inspired by Gill’s time working in a seaside Italian town. Having a separate bar (with a premium Italian wine list and special Negroni-dedicated section) and an outdoor terrace right by the river helps, too.
Details: Unit 4, 20 Central Avenue, SW6 2QE | Book here
––
Le Pont De La Tour | Tower Bridge
Old stalwart Le Pont De La Tour was one of the first establishments to realise that London has rather a large river running through it, and it might be quite nice to put a restaurant next to that river. Nestled on the ground floor of an old wharf building, you can indeed spy the actual Pont de la Tour (that’s Tower Bridge) from its terrace. As you’d expect, the cuisine is French and fine-dining; come if you’ve a hankering for oysters, caviar and Dover sole meunière. There’s a newer, more informal ‘bistrot’ if you’re more in the mood for steak frites or Morel omelette.
Details: 36D Shad Thames, Tower Bridge, SE1 2YE | Book here
–
The Cheese Barge | Paddington
It’s a barge and it serves cheese, so why wouldn’t you call it the Cheese Barge? The waterside sibling to Camden’s Cheese Bar is moored on the Grand Union Canal in Paddington, where you’ll find two floors devoted to British cheese. The summer-only roof terrace is the more casual affair, with grilled sandwiches, cheeseboards, and the like. The dining room has more ambitious dishes, perhaps Stichelton and beef bourguignon pie or beef shin risotto with goat’s curd, alongside wine-paired cheese plates. Come winter, don’t miss Fondue Thursdays. You can probably guess what’s involved in those.
Details: Sheldon Square, Paddington, W2 6HY | Book here
––
Towpath Café | Haggerston
You know good days are coming when the Towpath Café winds up its shutters and puts out the tables. Open from spring to autumn in a lovely sunny spot on Regent’s Canal, this place just feels like summer. The menu is chalked up on the blackboard and features good, broadly European food featuring the likes of aubergine parmigiana and smoked mackerel with crème fraîche. Breakfast is a winner too. Just be prepared to spend some time lurking about on the canal before you sit down – the Towpath is insanely popular.
Details: 42 De Beauvoir Crescent, Haggerston, N1 5SB | No bookings
Riverside dining…check. How about some rooftop drinking? Check out the best rooftop bars in London
