Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend

This weekly column suggests five restaurants to try during the weekend. There are three rules: The restaurants must not be featured in either the Eater 38 Essential map, nor the monthly-updated Heatmap, and the restaurant must be outside Zone 1.

Rubedo

Rubedo is a small-ish, new-ish Italian-ish place in Stoke Newington. There's a Brawn alumnus in the kitchen, and natural wine on the list (mainly by the bottle, though the small by-the-glass selection is strong). The menu is modishly short and Brawnishly piggy: kick off with some excellent focaccia and charcuterie alongside a gnocco frito draped in lardo di Colonnata (a heart attack you can eat); continue with a bowl of pici in a tomato sauce supercharged with nduja and mint. There is good fish, too, properly cooked, as in a dish pairing a beautiful slab of cod with purple-sprouting broccoli and dulse butter. Not reinventing the wheel, perhaps - but exactly the sort of careful and warm independent passion project Londoners should be more happy to get behind. —George Reynolds
35 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 0NX

The Italian Job

Hang on, folks; here’s a great idea. Open an Italian pub/restaurant with a focus on craft beer and winning dishes in the leafy, bijou enclaves of Chiswick. Offer 12 rotating taps in various styles — pales, lagers, saisons, porters — with seasonality the guiding principle. Supplement with exactingly sourced wines and spirits, breads, olives, cheese, cured meats and the ingenious reginelle: deep-fried pizza dough ready to be adorned with marinara and parmesan. Competent burgers and specials lie in wait if required; a clutch of steady gelato shops vie for attention on exit. Just don’t blow the bloody doors off. —James Hansen
13 Devonshire Rd, Chiswick, W4 2EU

Kudu

A cut above the average small-plates-and-foraged-bits bistro. Kudu's co-owner Amy Corbin is the daughter of Chris Corbin (he of Wolseley and Zédel fame — handy), and chef Patrick Williams hails from Paradise Garage. He's South African, and the menu riffs on his roots without straying into theme-bar territory. Alas, there's no room at the inn for dinner this Friday and Saturday, but brunch spots are still up for grabs — the Boerewors sausage with romesco, white beans and chimichurri makes for a robust start to the weekend. And a pre-Christmas bonus: it’s 50% off until Saturday 23 December. —Emma Hughes
119 Queen's Rd, Peckham, SE15 2EZ

805

805 on Old Kent Road is considered to be one of London’s best Nigerian restaurants — a place popular not only among the city’s ex-pat community. Queueing should be expected, but this fun and friendly family-owned restaurant’s delicious, authentic West-African food is worth the wait. Jollof rice and plantain are a must-order; so too are Monika grilled fish dish, àmàlà (made from yam flour) and efo (rich, thick vegetable soup). —Laura James
805 Old Kent Road, SE15 1NX

Kuzu Sis Grill & Meze

This is one of Hackney’s lesser known, first-rate Turkish kebab restaurant / takeaways. Indeed it’s good enough for the world’s greatest snooker player, Ronnie O’Sullivan, who is apparently a regular here. But, as one might expect, the ocakbasi (grill) takes centre stage. Three fresh and astutely-seasoned salads, bread and rice are served with any grill order. Chargrilled lamb ribs are a speciality, and for an extra side, Kuzu takes the excellent grilled onion, pomegranate, parsley and sumac salad to the next level. —Adam Coghlan
269 Well Street, Homerton, E9 6RG