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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August 30, 2019
5 Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Find Uighur cuisine on Finchley Road, pizza in Ealing, Filipino home cooking in Upton Park, fresh pasta in Primrose Hill, and Indian street food in Hammersmith
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July 19, 2019
5 Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Incredible Vietnamese noodles on Walworth Road, sunny Spanish-inspired cafe dining in Ealing, considered cooking in Streatham, and more London restaurant recommendations
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April 26, 2019
5 Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Another stunning addition to London’s clutch of Sichuan restaurants, a southeast London fishmonger with a restaurant attached, and a neighbourhood legend in Southall
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July 20, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Doorstop sandwiches on Hackney Road, inventive British in Brixton, revelatory seafood in Margate — and more
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July 13, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Including Colombian food in Elephant and Castle, jerk pork in Crystal Palace, or first-rate jamón ibérico in Bermondsey
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July 6, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Superb tapas in Newington Green, Italian excellence in Vauxhall and natural wine and cocktails in Hackney Wick
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June 29, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Including al fresco aperitivo near Columbia Road, Japanese set lunches in Camden, and a brand new beer den with filled pitas in Clapton
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June 22, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend
From Jollof-spiced chicken in Hackney to Japanese okonomiyaki in Brixton — here’s where to eat this summer weekend
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June 15, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend
This week’s instalment includes cuisines Burmese, Ethiopian, Malaysian, Italian — and cheese toasties
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June 1, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Including Vietnamese in Deptford, pasta and pizza in Homerton, chicken wings in Brixton and chicken karahi in West Ham
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May 25, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Bank Holiday Weekend
London Fields’ hottest new restaurant, perfect dim sum in New Cross Gate, Sri Lankan breakfasts in Victoria Park
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May 18, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Including a gastropub in Tooting, a fine pizzeria in Tottenham and a brand new Peruvian bakery in Notting Hill
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May 11, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Pizza and beer on the canal, London’s best bacon bap, two brilliant bakeries in one and more
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May 4, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Bank Holiday Weekend
Including a Mission Chinese- and Momofuku-inspired archway in Forest Gate
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April 27, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Tacos, Thai, Greek, a brilliant wine bar, and a restaurant that serves pasta with parmesan!
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April 20, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend
An Hampstead oasis, ice cream in Islington, family-friendly izakaya and more
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April 6, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try this Weekend
From gözleme in a greasy spoon on Broadway market to one of city’s finest tomato curries in Tooting
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March 29, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Long Weekend
A pioneer in molecular mixology, a Dalston pasta spot, a retreat in Richmond Park — and more
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March 16, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try this Weekend
An old izakaya in Islington, a pizzeria in Clapham, and a contender for London’s coolest restaurant in Canonbury
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March 9, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try this Weekend
Including fantastic pasta in Bethnal Green and the rogue suggestion that it’s warm enough to eat ice cream in Clapham
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March 2, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try this Weekend
Including Neapolitan-style pizza in Camberwell, fine Austrian wines in Dalston and a full-on cheese bar in Camden
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February 23, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try this Weekend
Including a bakery "worth a detour"; a restaurant that’s open until 5am, and a next-level sandwich shop
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February 16, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try this Weekend
Vegan arancini, a perfect Sunday lunch, a new non snoozefest Highbury brunch spot, plus options in Peckham and Tooting
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February 9, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try This Weekend
Including Italian in Clapham and Sydenham, plus the kind of cocktail bar everyone needs in Stoke Newington
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February 2, 2018
Five Restaurants to Try this Weekend
From inspired pizza and aperitivo in Stockwell to Iberian ingenuity on Hackney Road