5 Restaurants to Try This Weekend

This is a weekly column with suggestions for where to eat during the weekend. There are three rules: The restaurants must not be featured in either the Eater 38 Essential map, nor the monthly Heatmap, and the restaurant must be outside Zone 1.

Singapore Garden

Roti King in Euston has plenty of loyal subjects, but its subterranean, low-rent setting is hardly regal. For those looking to enjoy their roti canai in more comfortable surrounds, a short hop across Regent's Park will reveal a longstanding local hero nestled in the restaurant graveyard that is Swiss Cottage. There's an extensive menu of solid British-Cantonese favourites, but it's the separate tab for Singaporean and Malaysian specialties that really rewards exploration, offering a deep, rich chicken curry for the more conservative, or sambal-fried shrimp and belacan squid for those ready to jump into the deeper end of the Johor Straits. Under no circumstances leave without ordering the house specialty, char kway teow: thick, slippery, wok-fried flat rice noodles with soy, pork, prawns and egg. It may be Eastern street food recontextualised in a gussied-up Western setting, but that doesn't make it any less primally satisfying. —George Reynolds
83 Fairfax Rd, London NW6 4DY

Littleduck The Picklery

Masters of the mallardian portmanteau Clare Lattin and Tom Hill now have a Littleduck to add to those souped and raw. Teasingly set back from the thrum of Dalston Lane, a terrazzo countertop of heft and elegance centres an enticing room; natural wines, jarred ferments and hand-thrown pie dishes catch hungry eyes in candlelight at dinner. Blackboards across the counter chalk up plates both technically flawless — salt cod, cedro, chilli — and unassumingly delicious — pork collar, hedgerow garlic, hazelnuts. Open all day, six days a week (just dinner on Monday, which is focussed on offal) the offering is a paean to fermentation, with the likes of kimchi made with hispi cabbage and bonito — and much more besides — available to take out by weight. It’s Littleduck The Picklery, after all. —James Hansen
68 Dalston Lane, London E8 3AH

POSK

POSK, concrete bastion of Polish culture, boasts two restaurants serving top-notch pierogi (dumplings ) — the perfect tonic for anyone who finds themselves cold and ravenous in the vicinity of Hammersmith. Downstairs, there’s Café Maya, seasoned purveyors of hearty, seasoned home-cookery to a crowd that splits about 50-50 Poles to Brits. Meanwhile, upstairs, Łowiczanka Restaurant is a plushly carpeted time warp, a conduit to an evening sipping honeyed vodka while devouring hefty portions of herrings, moreish spinach pancakes, the inevitable pierogi (cheese or pork) and comforting puds such as Szarlotka (apple pie.) Booking in advance is absolutely required. —Suze Olbrich
238-246 King St, London W6 0RF

Oslo Court, St John's Wood

That rare thing: a London restaurant that really, truly doesn't give a rat's arse about Instagram. While everyone else frets about how their food looks from above, Oslo Court remains blissfully beached in the late 1970s (and all the better for it.) The room is like a Mills & Boon mood-board and the menu is equal parts brandy and grapefruit segments. Dinner here won't do the old cholesterol levels any favours, but those who appreciate double cream and proper, old-fashioned service will waddle out with a huge grin on their faces. The only hitch is that it gets booked up months in advance — so inundate them with calls and pray for a cancellation. —Emma Hughes
Charlbert St, London NW8 7EN

Mohsen

This Persian restaurant on a busy main road, by Earl’s Court in west London, may just be London’s finest example of the cuisine. Especially the sesame bread and small, sharing plates of Kashk-e bademjan (aubergine with walnuts and whey), humous, feta with fresh herbs and radish, and pickles, yes. But joy and sustenance are too found among the grilled meats — chicken, poussin and lamb — as well as tomato-sauce-and-saffron-braised chicken leg, served with mounds of saffron-scented rice and topped with dried barberries. That is to say: standout main courses, too. —Adam Coghlan
152 Warwick Rd, Kensington, London W14 8PS