Some people think that just because West London has a reputation for luxury and fine living so, therefore, must its restaurants.
Those people would be right.
Of course you’ll also find the occasional edgy & inventive spot intermingled here too. But if you’re looking for an area where cutting-edge sushi spots rub shoulders with classic Michelin Starred restaurants, elegant gastropubs, and globally renowned eateries then, well, you’ve found it…
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Akub | Notting Hill
Before Akub, Palestinian cuisine was a bit of an unknown entity in London. However Bethlehem-born chef Fadi Kattan’s tranquil West London restaurant – bursting with earthy tones, and fitted with an actual olive tree – has put it firmly on the map. Come here for some of the best brunch in West London, for modernised versions of traditional dishes (mansef balls stuffed with minced lamb & rice, freshly-baked zaatar bread spread with labneh & pomegranates) and all sorts of tempting, elegantly-presented desserts like a dead sea chocolate cake garnished with sea salt, served beside a scoop of tahini ice cream.
Details: 27 Uxbridge Street, W8 7TQ | Book a table at Akub
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The River Café | Hammersmith
West London is often mocked for being less rapidly evolving than its Eastern counterpart. But that’s probably because it’s busy nurturing the award-winning eateries that have been flying the flag for great British restaurants for over 30 years. Ruth Rogers’ River Café has fostered some of the biggest names in the business, and still hits the mark with glorious Italian dishes. Plus, they’ve just launched their sophomore after a mere 37 years, sitting right next door and serving more casual fare – they call it The River Café Café.
Details: Thames Wharf, Rainville Rd, Hammersmith, W6 9HA | Book a table at The River Café
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The Pelican | Notting Hill
The Pelican is a gorgeously revamped neighbourhood pub just off Portobello Road. Except unlike most neighbourhood pubs its drawn heaps of critical acclaim (including a Michelin Bib Gourmand) for its elevated food offering, which you can enjoy in a peaceful, candlelit dining room tucked away at the back. British produce comes out swinging in dishes like ox heart with celeriac, zinging rhubarb with goat’s curd, and the famous lobster & monkfish pie to share, with lobster head gravy. And when you want to do it all again, you can head to their new Maida Vale pub, The Hero, for a different, grill-focussed menu…
Details: 45 All Saints Road, London, W11 1HE | Book a table at The Pelican
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The Counter | Notting Hill
Well, this place is lovely. To walk in is to be enveloped by warmth, both from the staff and the ocakbaşı grill, which chef Kemal Demirasal and his team use to churn out a parade of mouthwatering, flame-kissed dishes. The cocktails – laced with savoury notes and spices – make perfect and unexpected companions to visionary creations like the white chocolate babaganoush, alongside well-executed Turkish classics. Ask to sit up at the eponymous counter to be a part of the action.
Details: 108 Golborne Road, Notting Hill, W10 5PS | Book a table at The Counter
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Julie’s | Notting Hill
To call a restaurant ‘fabulous’ is usually a polite way of saying it’s fun, frilly, and the food’s a bit crap. But Julie’s is the real deal, blending style and substance to create the kind of restaurant you could happily spend every day of the week in. Service is effusively warm and personable, the decor is glamorous, and the atmosphere is the right side of decadent, with live pianists and attractive lighting. The place is a genuine institution, having been here for decades, but its current incarnation feels like its best yet, thanks to the installation of ex-Brat and The Pelican chef Owen Kenworthy in the kitchen. The terrace out front is the place for shellfish platters and bottles of white wine, but hunkering down in the basement booths in winter is as fabulously romantic as it gets.
Details: 135 Portland Road, Holland Park, W11 4LW | Book a table at Julie’s
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Caia | Notting Hill
Another red hot restaurant firing up Notting Hill, with open-flame cooking on a custom-made grill. Dishes pinch influences liberally from across the globe, from the jerk-spiced Iberico pork to the sweet potato agnolotti with chicken wing butter. Caia doubles as a luxe wine bar, with floor-to-ceiling bottle-stacked racks, while the basement room has a heavy-duty sound set-up with vinyl coming from Kuzma R record player with Auditorium R-25 speakers. ‘Impressive audio equipment’, in simpler terms.
Details: 46 Golborne Road, London W10 5PR | Book a table at Caia
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Petersham Nurseries | Richmond
Petersham Nurseries recently won a battle to keep trading for dinner service, which feels like a bizarre position to be in considering it’s one of the most unique restaurants in West London. Attached to the eponymous plant nurseries, Petersham Nurseries’ restaurant serves elegant Italian-inflected dishes in what is essentially a giant greenhouse – one overgrown with creepers and canopies of bougainvillea, and filled with an eclectic array of vintage tables and chairs topped with freshly cut flowers every week. The teahouse (also set in a greenhouse) is a more casual setting for home-made cakes and coffee next to a wood-burner stove, as well as a stellar afternoon tea.
Details: Church Lane, Off Petersham Road, Richmond, TW10 7AB | Book a table at Petersham Nurseries
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London Shell Co | Paddington
When other restaurants feel too mainstream, book a table aboard London Shell Co. It’s a floating, candlelit seafood restaurant which is a doozy for special occasions. You’ll cast off from Paddington Basin and wend your way along the picturesque Regent’s Canal, while exquisite nautical dishes arrive at your table alongside English wines and refreshing cocktails. There’s nothing else quite like it.
Details: The Prince Regent, moored alongside Sheldon Square, W2 6PY | Book a table at London Shell Co
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SUMI | Notting Hill
SUMI is easily one of the best sushi restaurants in West London, coming to you from Michelin-starred chef Endo Kazutoshi (of Endo at the Rotunda fame). The breezy dining room exudes effortless elegance, as will you after one of their signature Japanese-leaning cocktails. Standout dishes include iced sashimi, hand-rolled temaki, and salmon teriyaki. It’s worth the splurge, even if you have to eat beans the rest of the week.
Details: 157 Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill, W11 2RS | Book a table at SUMI
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Claude Bosi At Bibendum | South Kensington
It’s Modern European fine-dining courtesy of the illustrious Claude Bosi. You’ll find it in the former Michelin tyre factory (hands down the best looking building in South Ken). Downstairs is a more relaxed seafood bar with stunning interiors, while upstairs Bosi and his team rustle up the likes of Basque pork with parsley root, winter mushrooms, and black liquorice, earning themselves not one but two Michelin stars within months of opening.
Details: Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road, Kensington, West London, SW3 6RD | Book a table at Bibendum
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Dinner by Heston | Knightsbridge
Your double Michelin-starred dinner at Dinner will take inspiration from dishes through the centuries, with a little help from Heston Blumenthal’s wacky creativity (like an ‘orange’ that’s actually meat), a very old recipe book, and a historically accurate pineapple roasting pulley.
Details: Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LA | Book a table at Dinner
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The Harwood Arms | Fulham
The Harwood Arms is London’s only, yes only Michelin-starred pub, co-owned by restaurateurs Brett Graham & Mike Robinson. It focuses on using as much wild food as possible, particularly game, and has a cosy atmosphere with velvet banquettes and dark wood. The menu includes dishes such as deer with beetroot, blackcurrant and smoked bone marrow, and whipped chicken livers with thyme hobnobs and onion jam. Basically, it’s good – and you can enjoy it all with a pint.
Details: Walham Grove, Fulham, SW6 1QP | Book a table at The Harwood Arms
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The Ledbury | Notting Hill
Justin De Souza
Three Michelin Starred The Ledbury is undoubtedly one of London’s finest fine dining restaurants. Drop in, and you’ll find a streamlined 8-course tasting menu, which focuses on using whole animals as part of chef Brett Graham’s (yes, him again) push for more sustainable meat production. No a la carte. After closing for a few years during the pandemic, the place has had something of a revamp: the menu is prepared by new head chef Tom Spenceley (previously of the double Michelin-starred Kitchen Table in Fitzrovia), and the restaurant’s glamorous interior has been redesigned by These White Walls, who’ve steered away from their usual look with some green & beige walls.
Details: 127 Ledbury Road, Notting Hill, W11 2AQ | Book a table at The Ledbury
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Juno | Notting Hill
Los Mochis deserves a spot on the list of West London’s top restaurants in itself. But if you head to the back of the restaurant and peek behind the curtain, you’ll be rewarded with Juno – a hidden omakase restaurant serving top quality sushi. Oh, and you’ll need a booking, too, because there’s only six seats.
Details: Inside Los Mochis, 2-4 Farmer St, W8 7SN | Book a seat at Juno
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Silver Birch | Chiswick
Walk into Silver Birch, and you’ll soon twig this isn’t any neighbourhood restaurant. Sitting on Chiswick High Road – one of the most charming avenues in West London – it has the feel of a local brasserie, with generous terrace seating out front and soothing, earthy-toned interiors. The food, however, is a cut above. Head chef Nathan Cornwell cut his teeth at Michelin Starred restaurants around the world, and it shows in the roasted Isle of Mull scallop, in the guinea fowl with apricot purée and salsa verde, and in the brown butter chocolate delice with cherries & milk sorbet. It definitely shows in that.
Details: 142 Chiswick High Road, W4 1PU | Book a table at Silver Birch
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Core by Clare Smyth | Notting Hill
Clare Smyth was the first female British chef to net three Michelin stars when she headed up Gordon Ramsay’s eponymous joint – and blow us down if she hasn’t done it again with her own debut solo spot. Enter a sleek, well-heeled dining room with a huge plate glass window looking onto the kitchen, where Smyth and her team industriously prepare elegant tasting menus of classic British fare. If your wallet won’t stretch that far yet, drop into the restaurant’s bar, Whiskey & Seaweed, where you can enjoy signature cocktails alongside meticulously-prepared bar snacks.
Details: 92 Kensington Park Road, W11 2PN | Book a table at Core by Clare Smyth
Like dining out in West London? Follow up with a tour of the best bars in West London