Best British restaurants in London

With Heston Blumenthal’s name attached and a menu that plays with perceptions of British cookery, Dinner was always bound to be a hit. The meat fruit is legendary, there’s a view of Hyde Park and even a nitro-fuelled ice-cream cart.

London’s oldest restaurant has been flying the flag for British dishes since 1798. Old-fashioned it may be, but there’s nothing stale about the quality of cooking – you won't find game, oysters and puddings done better anywhere.

This elegant neighbourhood restaurant is owned by Taylor Bonnyman, who also owns a garden in Sussex that supplies some of the ingredients for the chef’s gloriously fresh-flavoured food such as grouse with carrot, yoghurt and cucumber.

Adam Handling’s biggest operation yet features all of the chef’s signatures, from contemporary artwork and graffiti to multi-course tasting menus. Don’t miss the signature warm savoury doughnuts, oozing cheese and topped with truffle.

There aren’t many Grade II-listed dining rooms in London, but this is one of them, with wooden booths and black-and-white tiled floors recalling its humble Victorian origins. Gloucester Old Spot pork chops with rémoulade is typical. 

This determinedly patriotic eatery is dedicated to the glories of traditional British cuisine and offers fantastic views of Borough Market’s iconic Floral Hall. Classic dishes include Sunday roasts, English breakfasts and game in season.

'Brat' is the Northumbrian vernacular for a turbot, the house speciality of this uber-cool first solo restaurant from young Welsh chef Tomos Parry. The flip side of the menu is printed with 35 wines by the glass, including seven sherries.

With world-class awards reflecting its runaway success, it should come as no surprise that The Clove Club’s cooking is radical, unorthodox stuff, with the emphasis on daringly modern tasting menus involving seriously sourced ingredients.

You’ll see chef Tom Brown beavering away behind the central dining counter of his cool first restaurant. His regularly changing menu champions small plates of exceptional seafood; the potted shrimp crumpets are legendary.  

Having evolved from 18th-century shellfish trader to 21st-century seafood aristocrat, Wiltons serves some of the best fish (and game) in London, and diners are expected to arrive as smarty turned out as a plate of its famous oysters.

Celeb chef Tom Kerridge’s first London opening promises sublime food that invigorates classic British cookery through superb technique and a light touch of luxury. Try the glazed lobster omelette, as richly decadent as a soufflé.

This internationally famous eatery still puts its faith in cheap offcuts and foraged ingredients, supported by the very best seasonal produce. The menu changes each session – although the iconic bone marrow salad is always available.

The Hawksmoor chain gets everything right, from its 35-day-aged steaks to its creative cocktails, all presented by staff with a genuine passion for service. Triple-cooked chips, mac’n’cheese or grilled bone marrow make great accompaniments.

The fine-dining segment of this hugely ambitious venture features tasting menus from chef Ollie Dabbous. Inventive visuals include the signature ‘nest egg’ of coddled egg and smoked butter, while wines come courtesy of Hedonism in Mayfair. 

The Stafford offers something that very few London hotels think worthwhile any more: a dining room serving traditional British food. Smoked salmon, sweet and savoury puddings, Sunday roasts and prestigious red wines are specialities.

Marcus Wareing’s team more than live up to the architectural splendour of this fabulous-looking dining room. We loved duck hearts and chanterelles on smoked bone marrow, and hake with pickled egg purée, summer vegetables and black pudding.

Core is cor-blimey brilliant rather than a hardcore, haute-cuisine ordeal. The casual-luxe room may be gorgeous in its own right, but everyone is here for the food, especially Smyth's signature whole carrot topped with braised lamb.

Heading towards its 200th anniversary, Simpson’s offers Empire-era dining in a historic Grade II-listed dining room patronised by Charles Dickens. The roast beef carved from the trolley should be on every Londoner’s bucket list.

This pocket-sized, pared-back British bistro serves high-end food in simple surrounds. It’s overseen by rising star Mark Jarvis, whose eclectic chef CV ranges from Le Manoir to Zuma. Highlights include a petal-scattered scallop tartare.

This cool basement chophouse is heaven for meat eaters. Vintage Blacklock foundry irons are used to press pork, lamb and beef chops on the charcoal grill, which also lends its smoky flavours to daily specials such as maple-cured bacon. 

This tiny dining room is a genuine slice of old Soho and a showcase for the cooking of chef-patron Jeremy Lee, whose menu is a joyful celebration of the seasons. Expect anything from a warm salad of grouse to a strapping leg of lamb.

Chef Tom Sellers offers no menu as such; guests are asked for any likes or dislikes before a procession of tasting menu-size dishes arrive, although they are likely to include classics such as ‘Storeos’, an ‘Oreo’ cookie filled with cheese.

This modern Brit comes courtesy of ex-River Café sommelier Katie Exton and chef Peter Hall (formerly at The Square). Dishes change daily, but we were impressed by a rich starter of cuttlefish seasoned with fennel and pickled onions.

This luxe flagship of Richard Corrigan features a trolley which might proffer shoulder of suckling pig or Dover sole meunière and a menu showcasing the Irish chef’s renowned game specialities such as spatchcocked grouse and roast wild duck.

Boasting tartan chairs, kilted waitresses, hunting trophies and a knockout selection of whisky, Boisdale isn’t shy of trumpeting its Scottish heritage. There’s more Caledonian flag-waving in the likes of haggis, salmon, oysters and game.

James Lowe’s no-nonsense restaurant strips away the fripperies of gastronomy to leave a starkly minimalistic space where disarmingly simple food does the talking. British ingredients are put to stunning use on a no-choice dinner menu.

Dine in enticingly soft armchairs amid an abundance of heavy fabrics at this Soho House outpost, where comfort food is the menu’s calling card: partridge and oxtail on toast, lamb rump with grilled artichoke, plus full English breakfasts.

A quintessentially British restaurant for a top-class family-owned British hotel, The Goring Dining Room is a real experience. Grilled Dover sole and beef Wellington are still there for the old guard, but there are more on-trend dishes too.