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Virundhu Street Kitchen [Official]

The Best Family-Friendly Restaurants in Uxbridge and South Ruislip

Canvassing in Boris Johnson’s seat? Bring the kids!

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Boris Johnson became Uxbridge and South Ruislip’s MP in 2015. At the last general election his majority shrank to just 5,034, and 26-year-old Labour candidate Ali Milani, a former Brunel University student who moved to the U.K. from Iran as a child, believes he can get rid of it entirely, becoming the first person in history to unseat a sitting prime minister. The stakes couldn’t be higher here, and canvassers are out in force (including those for wildcard candidates Count Binface and Lord Buckethead). We’ve chosen all family-friendly restaurants in and around the area, because everyone likes being involved in their children’s lives, don’t they?

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Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process.

Shree Krishna Vada Pav

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Best among the Dishoom menu, as everyone knows, are the dishes in the small plates section where paus, bhels, fries and cheese toasts abound. Shree Krishna Vada Pav is what happens when the menu is only this — 70+ Maharastrian snacks inspired by Bombay and its Chowpatty Beach made for the Gujarati communities of Harrow and Hounslow by two friends from Mumbai — Sujay Sohani and Subodh Joshi — who turned to food during the 2009 recession.

Shree Krishna Vada Pav in west London Shree Krishna Vada Pav [Official]

Gana Restaurant

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In the back of the menu at this Sri Lankan institution in Rayners Lane are a selection of specials, tucked away. From these, seek out fried nethali, plump anchovies popped and crunched whole; garlic fry worth shunning people for a week; chicken liver curry; squid stuffed with egg — together at last; muyal (rabbit); kudal (lamb intestines); and marai (venison) — all fried or curried. The venison fry comes dense and sticky, almost the texture of jerky and dark as molasses, riddled with crispy onions just before the point of burning. Some of the best subcontinental game cooking in London, at a third of Gymkhana’s prices.

Fry at Gana in west London Gana [Official Photo]

Virundhu Street Kitchen

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Great Sri Lankan cooking abounds here. The sister restaurant to Pinner’s much-loved Virundhu, Virundhu Street Kitchen specialises in “short eats”: mutton rolls, fish cutlet, crispy pork ribs marinated overnight with cinnamon, curry leaves, star anise and cardamom. The dosas and roti are superb too.

Instagram/@virundhu

The Rusty Bike Café

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Locals are devoted to this place, which is hidden away in Fassnidge Park. A compact and cosy daytime spot, it has great coffee, plentiful pastries, homemade soups and stews at lunchtime, and a three-cheese toastie guaranteed to warm the coldest of hands.

LAB Coffee Works

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Inside The Charter Building is Uxbridge’s most outstanding coffee spot. Minimalist LAB Coffee Works has plenty of space for post-canvassing debriefs, a brew bar where the science part happens and its own roastery. The mocha, made with very dark chocolate, is a sight for sore eyes.

Instagram/@labcoffeeworks

Ottimmo Bao Bao

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Although it couldn’t be called authentic, this perennial student favourite serves plump steamed buns stuffed with the likes of crispy oyster mushroom or soft shell crab, plus salads, pork-floss toast and homemade pickles. Deserts are of the sugar-rush school: think tempura Oreo cookies with matcha ice cream.

instagram/i.am.pejotav

Gumba Restaurant Uxbridge

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Reliably well-filled, the Nepalese momo sets are the stars of the show here, ably supported by the likes of spicy dry noodles, beaten rice with spiced potatoes and pickles and Nepali-spiced biryani.

Gumba [Official]

Shree Krishna Vada Pav

Best among the Dishoom menu, as everyone knows, are the dishes in the small plates section where paus, bhels, fries and cheese toasts abound. Shree Krishna Vada Pav is what happens when the menu is only this — 70+ Maharastrian snacks inspired by Bombay and its Chowpatty Beach made for the Gujarati communities of Harrow and Hounslow by two friends from Mumbai — Sujay Sohani and Subodh Joshi — who turned to food during the 2009 recession.

Shree Krishna Vada Pav in west London Shree Krishna Vada Pav [Official]

Gana Restaurant

In the back of the menu at this Sri Lankan institution in Rayners Lane are a selection of specials, tucked away. From these, seek out fried nethali, plump anchovies popped and crunched whole; garlic fry worth shunning people for a week; chicken liver curry; squid stuffed with egg — together at last; muyal (rabbit); kudal (lamb intestines); and marai (venison) — all fried or curried. The venison fry comes dense and sticky, almost the texture of jerky and dark as molasses, riddled with crispy onions just before the point of burning. Some of the best subcontinental game cooking in London, at a third of Gymkhana’s prices.

Fry at Gana in west London Gana [Official Photo]

Virundhu Street Kitchen

Great Sri Lankan cooking abounds here. The sister restaurant to Pinner’s much-loved Virundhu, Virundhu Street Kitchen specialises in “short eats”: mutton rolls, fish cutlet, crispy pork ribs marinated overnight with cinnamon, curry leaves, star anise and cardamom. The dosas and roti are superb too.

Instagram/@virundhu

The Rusty Bike Café

Locals are devoted to this place, which is hidden away in Fassnidge Park. A compact and cosy daytime spot, it has great coffee, plentiful pastries, homemade soups and stews at lunchtime, and a three-cheese toastie guaranteed to warm the coldest of hands.

LAB Coffee Works

Inside The Charter Building is Uxbridge’s most outstanding coffee spot. Minimalist LAB Coffee Works has plenty of space for post-canvassing debriefs, a brew bar where the science part happens and its own roastery. The mocha, made with very dark chocolate, is a sight for sore eyes.

Instagram/@labcoffeeworks

Ottimmo Bao Bao

Although it couldn’t be called authentic, this perennial student favourite serves plump steamed buns stuffed with the likes of crispy oyster mushroom or soft shell crab, plus salads, pork-floss toast and homemade pickles. Deserts are of the sugar-rush school: think tempura Oreo cookies with matcha ice cream.

instagram/i.am.pejotav

Gumba Restaurant Uxbridge

Reliably well-filled, the Nepalese momo sets are the stars of the show here, ably supported by the likes of spicy dry noodles, beaten rice with spiced potatoes and pickles and Nepali-spiced biryani.

Gumba [Official]