Grace Dent’s favourite London restaurants for 2026

One of my brand new faves. A French bistro that somehow feels a hundred years old. Low light and an intimacy that makes you want a date night. Sit up at the bar and share the chocolate soufflé. Spencer Metzger, head chef at Row on 5 on Savile Row and formerly of the Ritz, is knocking it out of the park.

A beautiful, cool, friendly restaurant serving South African splendour, now on Moxon Street after eight years in Peckham. Go for the bread with the melted Cape Malay butter, all curry leaves and pickled shallot, then the Kudu Kit Kat, chocolate mousse and kumquat under a marshmallow torched at the table. Patrick Williams and Amy Corbin are quietly running one of London’s most lovable restaurants.

Tucked into Newson’s Yard, which used to be a timber yard and is now a retail paradise serving very expensive lampshades. This is Aaron Potter’s first solo restaurant and a genuinely underrated spot serving Mediterranean food cooked over fire. The menu is seasonal, but the gnocco fritto with coppa, gorgonzola and truffle honey is unmissable. Expect things like scallop crudo with nashi pear, almonds and fennel. The upstairs wine bar is gorgeous and highly useful for a group rendezvous.

I keep Oma up my sleeve for any out-of-towner heading into the melée of Borough Market. Restaurateur David Carter is a genius and an industrious one at that, and head chef Jorge Paredes is cooking beautifully. Get the spanakopita gratin with malawach, the lobster bisque börek and the oxtail giouvetsi with bone marrow. Agora downstairs is a bit rowdier, but equally delicious.

I go here whenever I want to feel like Sophia Loren. The lighting is so damn flattering. I wish I lived there. Martin Kuczmarski is one of London’s great restaurateurs because he understands what people actually need from a good night out, which is to see and be seen. Have the crispy potato cakes with caviar, lobster ravioli, and chicken cordon bleu in pizzaiola sauce. Seven martinis on the list, all of them potent and perfect for sipping on a tall stool while you wait for your table.

I’m a huge fan of chef-patron Chantelle Nicholson and this almost vegetarian, quietly radical restaurant, found just around the corner from Selfridges. Nothing is wasted and the vegetable is treated as a headline act. I’d go for the koji-glazed barbecue oyster mushrooms with black garlic, and that salted caramel soft serve with honeycomb to finish. Save the planet, then walk out into a haze of Lamborghini smoke because this is Mayfair after all.

The Ledbury never falls off my top 10. For me it is absolutely the benchmark of solid, top-class hospitality, every i dotted and every t crossed. If you’re going to visit a ruinously expensive restaurant, then give Brett Graham your money. Settle in and enjoy it. Order the mushrooms from the cabinet, grown in-house and served over a truffle royale, and the brown sugar tart, which has been on the menu for the best part of two decades.

Many have tried to replicate Gymkhana, but they can never quite pull off its vigour and its raffishness. Gymkhana always feels like a moment. The clientele are global. It’s professional and delicious, but with a real silly streak. I often order the venison biryani, sealed under its pastry lid and opened in front of you, the kid goat methi keema with salli and pao, and the tandoori masala lamb chops with walnut chutney. The waiting list is ridiculously long, but the food never lets you down.

I send everyone here for a Guinness martini, moi moi with yellowtail, and Ghanaian bofrot doughnuts. Akoko is genuinely fabulous and the tasting menu is ever-changing. It is a strong example of how the London dining scene is one of the most exciting on the planet. I think Aji Akokomi and Ayo Adeyemi are very, very clever.

Fried egg sandwiches, mugs of builder’s tea, pieces of flapjack and the chance to look at motorbikes from all over the planet and men in leather, if that’s your thing. It has been there since 1930, a place for petrolheads or people who just like a down-to-earth cup of coffee. Cash only. This little bikers’ hut on the edge of the forest is fast becoming a national treasure.