London’s best restaurants might be called essential; London’s best new restaurants might be called hot. These restaurants are special usually for a sense of occasion — a meal eaten in service of celebration, or remembrance, or a long-lost friendship reunited; a purpose outside of eating. But so many wonderful, brilliant, essential London restaurants command and commend the purpose of eating, of sustenance, of sharing food with guests and the communities in the immediate doors and streets, with occasions to be celebrated, but never feeling as if they would be inaccessible of a lazy weeknight. These hidden gems, off-radar restaurants, and menus built either without a thought for or before social media and PR started to pull so many invisible strings are in many ways truly London’s best, and most essential restaurant. So try one, try many, try them all, from this rotating suite of London restaurant recommendations for the weekend, or perhaps any time hunger strikes.
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March 13, 2020
Five Great Restaurants to Try This Weekend
For hummus, dumplings, more hummus, lechon, ravioli, and more
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February 28, 2020
Get Your Chops Around the City’s Finest Flour Tortillas in London Fields This Weekend
Or: go to a community cafe in West Hampstead; another community cafe in Hampstead; a Korean barbecue restaurant in Bethnal Green; an old-school bakery all over London
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February 21, 2020
Go for Sizzling Dolsot Bibimbap in a Fulham Shopping Palace This Weekend
Or: superlative Pakistani stews in Hendon; superlative Pakistani stews in Upton Park; fish and chips in solitude in Kilburn; and some of the best beans in London off Old Kent Road
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February 14, 2020
Slurp on Lamb Spine Soup in Limehouse This Weekend
Or: find a stunning omakase in Wimbledon; a spiced lamb shoulder in White City; a comfort blanket of a stew in Finchley Road; a caff breakfast in Lewisham
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February 7, 2020
Seek Salted Egg Yolk Lobster in Docklands This Weekend
Or: visit a Persian kitchen at the top of its game in Shepherd’s Bush; eat pressure-fried chicken in Willesden Green; go for yellow dal in West Hampstead; sample Romanian specialities in Leytonstone
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January 24, 2020
Find Comfort in Faggots and Pease Pudding in Eltham This Weekend
Or: eat fluffy paneer off Finchley Road; understand cheeseburger spring rolls in Surrey Quays; demolish greaseless fritti in Wandsworth Common; spoon into pies in Forest Gate
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January 17, 2020
Go on a Salmon Pink Trip for People Who Love Restaurants in St. John’s Wood This Weekend
Or: eat Korean-inflected afternoon tea in Golders Green; settle down for wine and meats in Clapton; eat steaming Vietnamese broth in a car park; eat North Indian staples in a BYOB fish and chip shop
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January 10, 2020
Silence London’s Taco Doubters With a Trip to Surrey Quays This Weekend
Or: eat outstanding Vietnamese food in Deptford; go for a top Sunday roast in Leyton; enjoy a verified vegetarian breakfast in Walthamstow; munch an Iranian pastry in Denmark Hill
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January 3, 2020
Go on an Uighur Restaurant Crawl Up Finchley Road This Weekend
Or: eat Korean classics in a Hackney pub; go for Afghan chapli in East Ham; head to Dalston for warmly hospitable Ethiopian cooking
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December 20, 2019
Ward Off the Cold With Kansas City-Style Barbecue This Weekend
Or: revisit a bakery back on top of its game in London Fields, find Caribbean takeaway in Camden, eat homestyle Sri Lankan cooking in Sidcup, and go for trad Italian in Golders Green
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December 13, 2019
Find a Hidden French Gem in Battersea This Weekend
Or drink a rose latte in London Fields, wolf a salt beef bagel in Plaistow, demolish an Indian mixed grill in Southall, and seek cult-followed doughnuts in Wembley
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December 6, 2019
5 Outstanding Restaurants to Try in London This Weekend
A challah sandwich specialist, a standout Thai kitchen south of the river, a top coffee choice, and more
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November 29, 2019
Behold This Delicious Mustard-Slathered Cubano Sandwich in Hackney Wick
Or head to Camden for Malaysian fried chicken, Southall for tikkas and sizzlers, Notting Hill for modern Greek, or Brick Lane for Bangladeshi river fish this weekend
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November 15, 2019
5 Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Plus kimchi and cheddar toasties in Limehouse, generous sushi sets in Greenwich, pillowy appam in Barking, and cereal prawns in Stepney
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November 8, 2019
5 Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Or go for fry ups in Homerton and Bow, suya in Plaistow, and sourdough in Shepherd’s Bush
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November 1, 2019
Answer the Question ‘What Is a French Taco?’ in Kentish Town This Weekend
Or head to Clapton for souvlaki, find Mumbai chaat in Harrow, seafood in Crouch End, or Jamaican shrimp in Croydon
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October 25, 2019
Go to Kingsland Road to Drink Martinis and Natural Wine This Weekend
Or go and see what a proper market looks like in Tooting, eat Lebanese food in East Ham, or check out a new North Indian institution in Westfield
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October 18, 2019
Try a Smoky, Grill-Kissed Balkan Speciality This Weekend
Cevapi — and its other names — in Ealing, Guyanese roti in Herne Hill, South Indian vegetarian dishes in East Ham, and more
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October 11, 2019
Try a Newly Michelin-Starred Restaurant in West London This Weekend
Or Venezuelan arepas in Colliers Wood, Indian street food in Ealing, West African specialities in East Ham, and freshly cut noodles in Hackney. It’s five to try this weekend
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October 4, 2019
Visit Thornton Heath for a Steadying Breakfast of Halwa Poori This Weekend
Plus Neapolitan pizza in Kensal, crispy dosas in Hounslow, modern Polish dishes in Stratford, and Spanish seafood in Stokie
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September 27, 2019
Head to Harrow for London’s Best Potato Bhajia This Weekend
Or, consider a Nigerian goat’s head in New Cross, pie and mash on the Roman Road, Mughlai cuisine in Ilford, and jollof rice in Walthamstow
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September 20, 2019
5 Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Persian lamb neck in Ealing, speakeasy pasta in Hackney, Gujarati snacks in Forest Gate, Korean seafood in New Malden, and some late-season sun in Richmond
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September 13, 2019
5 Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Aegean stews in Hackney, corn dogs in New Malden, sweet and savoury Gujarati specialities in Wembley, an unlikely Lithuanian pub in Leytonstone, and affordable fresh pasta in Holland Park
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September 6, 2019
5 Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Somali sustenance in Shepherd’s Bush, fish and chips in Brixton, Punjabi vegetarian in Southall, pasta on Finchley Road, and traditional mithai in East Ham