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The best London breakfasts: English breakfast udon at Koya in Soho, rumoured to be opening a new London restaurant at the Market Halls food hall in Victoria, south London Ola Smit/Koya

London’s Iconic Dishes

River Café ribollita, St John’s bone marrow and parsley salad, Quo Vadis’s smoked eel sandwich — and more

by Adam Coghlan and James Hansen Updated
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by Adam Coghlan and James Hansen Updated
Ola Smit/Koya

Consider this a London dining bucket list; a collection of outstanding dishes; a very ambitious London restaurant crawl indeed. These are the 19 plates of food that, for various reasons, stand as representatives of how London’s dining scene has changed in the last 20 years.

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Biang Biang Noodles at Xi'an Impression

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Xi’an Impression is London’s outstanding Xi’an Chinese restaurant and chef-owner Wei Guirong’s small, unassuming restaurant is a specialist in hand-pulled noodles. The most famous are “biang biang” (so called for the noise they make when being stretched and hit against a work surface): Long ribbons of dough noodles arrive coated in a deep, earthy seasoning, with blanched Shanghai bok choy; garnished with hot oil, chopped garlic, spring onions, and ground chilli.

117 Benwell Rd, London N7 7BW, UK
020 3807 3351
020 3807 3351
Biang biang noodles with greens and chilli oil at Xi’an Impression, a Xi’an Chinese restaurant in north London
Vegetarian biang biang noodles at Xi’an Impression in Holloway
Emma Hughes/Eater London

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Squid ink flatbread at Black Axe Mangal

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Lee Tiernan’s lamb offal flatbread occupied a place on this list, but it’s testament to both diners’ voracious adoption of Instagram and a growing awareness of the folds and interstices of “British” food that this dish now feels like the bigger statement. The flatbread resonates with the particular brilliance of London’s mangal culture; the cod’s roe on glitter is Tiernan’s time at St. John reincarnated in heavy metal; the egg yolk just makes sense.

156 Canonbury Rd, Highbury, London N1 2UP, UK
London’s iconic dishes include the Black Axe Mangal squid ink flatbread Black Axe Mangal [Official Photo]

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Buttermilk Chicken and Pine Salt at The Clove Club

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It is unwise to visit The Clove Club without ordering this smashing invention; one serving between two is acceptable, one each even more so. Pieces of light and dark meat are marinated in buttermilk, fried, then lightly dusted with pine salt. Now the only snack on the bar menu, making it even more singular.

Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old St, London, Greater London
(+44) 207-7296496
(+44) 207-7296496
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Confit Potatoes at Quality Chop House

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First opened in 1869, The Quality Chop House had a welcome new lease of life in 2012 with new owners — it now sits comfortably in the top echelon of London restaurants. Whatever else is ordered, do not leave out the confit potatoes, thinly sliced and layered into wedges, fried in beef dripping: they are one of the most memorable morsels in town. One portion may not be enough.

94 Farringdon Rd, London, Greater London
(+44) 203-4906228
(+44) 203-4906228
Photo: Quality Chop House Official

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Chilli fish sauce wings at Smoking Goat Shoreditch

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These were honed at Smoking Goat’s Soho restaurant, and the dish’s fine-tuned messiness is a fitting expression of how Ben Chapman’s meticulous Thai-inspired barbecue intersected with Soho’s gestalt. Piled up on a light blue or pink plate, coriander and chilli like confetti and a slick, sweet-hot-savoury caramel in perfect balance running over eager hands, they’re still an essential order.

64 Shoreditch High St, Shoreditch, London E1 6JJ, UK
The best restaurant dishes of the decade include Smoking Goat’s chilli fish sauce wings James Hansen/Eater London

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Whole Turbot at Brat

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Brat is Tomos Parry’s homage to the grills of the Basque Coast. And this dish is, truly, an homage; Parry and team visit the region regularly to hone their flattering imitation. Cod’s roe and tomatoes have earned plaudits, but it’s the eponymous turbot that is an instant icon: grilled ever-so-slowly and spritzed with a pil pil dressing, whipped into emulsion with the turbot’s gelatinous, oozing juices.

4 Redchurch St, London E1 6JL, UK
Whole turbot at Brat restaurant, one of London’s iconic dishes. Ben McMahon/benjaminmcmahon.com

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Canard à la Presse at Otto's French Restaurant

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To step into Otto’s as a neophyte is to be mechanically ravished in broad daylight, just off Gray’s Inn Road. Otto Tepasse has won fame and admiration for reviving the 19th-century art of duck pressing, on which he was schooled at Paris’ Coq D’Argent. Otto’s is called Otto’s because this restaurant exists entirely in the brilliant, anachronistic image of the man — and his art.

182 Grays Inn Rd, London WC1X 8EW, UK
020 7713 0107
020 7713 0107
London’s best French restaurants: Pressed duck at Otto’s, one of London’s iconic dishes

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Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad at St. John

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After more than 20 years on the menu at St John, the dish that inspired a generation of young British chefs to saw up bones remains a classic. Earthy, honest and strangely exciting, this arrangement is also, to borrow Fergus Henderson’s favourite adjective, profoundly “steadying.”

26 St John St, London, Greater London
(+44) 207-2510848
(+44) 207-2510848
Bone marrow at St John, one of London’s restaurants with a butchery attached Nick Solares

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Beef wellington at Holborn Dining Room

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Sorry Gordon. Holborn Dining Room’s beef wellington, made with attention to detail that would see lapidaries weep, is the crowning glory of his singular devotion to the art and science of pastry. Served in a luxurious dining room connected to a luxury hotel, it looks back on the hotel rooms that made Wareing and Ramsay’s generation famous and dispenses with the pomp and circumstance, putting all its focus on pleasure, presentation, and a sense of fun.

252 High Holborn, Holborn, London WC1V 7EN, UK
020 3747 8633
020 3747 8633
Beef wellington at London restaurant Holborn Dining Room John Carey/Holborn Dining Room

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Smoked Eel Sandwich at Quo Vadis

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The Brits created the sandwich and there are many iterations of varying imagination and quality available all over London. Few, however, are as complete and delicious as Jeremy Lee's trademark eel number: To eat this one is to understand the sandwich. There is enough kick from creamed horseradish and acidity from pickled red onions to offset the oily, umami-rich fish; lightly toasted sourdough adds requisite texture. As the emblem of Lee’s bright and imaginative ingredient-led cooking, it's well worth the £9.50.

26-29 Dean St, Soho, Greater London
(+44) 207-4379585
(+44) 207-4379585
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English breakfast udon at Koya Soho

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In years to come London might look back on Shuko Oda’s serene Soho noodle bar and ask whether its specials — and specials board — were always doing for London what the likes of Esu Lee at CAM and Jessica Yang and Robert Compagnon at Le Rigmarole are recognised for in Paris: making city food that pulls at the stitches of international lines. Koya’s udon is peerless; add fried egg, bacon, and a mushroom, and it winks at one of Britain’s most venerated traditions without a jot of deference.

50 Frith St, Soho, London W1D 4SQ, UK
020 7434 4463
020 7434 4463
The best London breakfasts: English breakfast udon at Koya in Soho, rumoured to be opening a new London restaurant at the Market Halls food hall in Victoria, south London Ola Smit/Koya

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Classic bao at BAO Soho

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The moment when the line between street food and restaurant food blurred for good. The recession meant a lot of people who might otherwise have opened restaurants were forced to limit their cost base serving out of food trucks; this was one of the first examples of a street food outfit making the leap into bricks and mortar, and doing so with such aplomb and wit that it’s now one of the city’s most sought-after restaurant groups. The dish that started it all, therefore, is necessarily iconic.

53 Lexington St, Carnaby, London W1F 9AS, UK
Bao [Official Photo]

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Fish Pie at J Sheekey

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J Sheekey, aka “Sheekey’s,” has been a major player on the West End fish and shellfish scene since the 1890s. It is as dependable as it is theatrical, and the exemplary fish pie’s velvety cream sauce (over cod, salmon and haddock) makes it a comfort-food superstar.

St. Martins Ct., Charing Cross, Greater London
(+44) 207-2402565
(+44) 207-2402565
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Dover Sole at Scott's

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Scott’s started out as an oyster bar in 1851, but it has since evolved into one of Mayfair’s iconic restaurants, and a reliable ‘banker’ for date nights, meetings, or even solo visits at the bar for oysters and champagne. Their Dover sole rightly remains a Scott’s classic, served either simply grilled or with a silky meunière sauce, expertly filleted at the table by one of the slick front of house. It ain’t cheap,  but a fine fish such as this deserves the royal treatment it gets here.

20 Mount St., Mayfair, Greater London
(+44) 207-4957309
(+44) 207-4957309
Whole Dover sole at Scott’s in Mayfair

Muntjac Biryani at Gymkhana

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So, an adventurous Anglo-Indian interloper where they match spicy prawns with Greek viognier has pinched the mantle of W1 celeb magnet Chiltern Firehouse? Cool! With honourable mention going to the kid goat methi, Gymkhana’s muntjac biryani is an obvious classic: a golden flaky pastry dome dotted with nigella seeds, concealing a tremendous offering of spiced rice and venison with pomegranate and mint raita.

42 Albemarle St, London, Greater London
(+44) 203-0115900
(+44) 203-0115900
Venison biryani at Gymkhana, the Michelin-starred Indian restaurant, which is scheduled to reopen after a June fire, in February Gymkhana/Official

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Omelette Arnold Bennett at The Wolseley

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A visit to the Wolseley throws up a plethora of options with their tempting all-day menu, but if you have a proper hunger on, order the omelette Arnold Bennett, an open omelette topped with parmesan and resting on a bed of smoked haddock and rich, creamy hollandaise, before being popped under the grill until browned and bubbling. The Savoy Grill is credited with creating the dish for the British novelist, playwright, critic and essayist Arnold Bennett, and The Wolseley pays a diligent homage with this version.

160 Piccadilly, London, Greater London
(+44) 207-4996996
(+44) 207-4996996
Sophie Mitchell/Instagram

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Pici Cacio e Pepe at Padella

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Not many practitioners can make something phenomenal out of a seemingly simple idea. Here at this Trullo sibling by Borough Market, pici, butter, pecorino and freshly ground pepper are alchemised into an absolute legend. They’re now also in residence in Shoreditch, but this is one of the cases where the atmosphere of the original is key.

6 Southwark St, London, Greater London
Adam Coghlan

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Meat Fruit at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

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No one pulls off history and wizardry like the chefs at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. Their update on ye olde meat fruit deploys smooth chicken liver parfait as the core, a mandarin jelly “peel,” and a stalk of ruscus as the stem, presented on a slice of grilled sourdough brushed with herb oil.

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London, Greater London
(+44) 207-2013833
(+44) 207-2013833
‘Meat fruit’ — a chicken liver parfait coated in mandarin jelly — at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge

Ribollita at The River Café

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Seasonality nominally takes precedent in spring, summer, and autumn: a riot of light and bright colours, followed by brooding browns and oranges. This coldly ignores winter, which is a mistake, for one of the city’s seasonal pioneers delivers the goods as frost gathers on the ground. The ribollita at River Café, made with bread, cavolo nero, chard, dried borlotti beans, and, most crucially, a generous, hefty glug of the season’s freshest olive oil, is winter seasonality in a bowl. Versions for every season are encouraged.

Thames Wharf, Rainville Rd, Hammersmith, London W6 9HA, UK
020 7386 4200
020 7386 4200
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Biang Biang Noodles at Xi'an Impression

117 Benwell Rd, London N7 7BW, UK

Xi’an Impression is London’s outstanding Xi’an Chinese restaurant and chef-owner Wei Guirong’s small, unassuming restaurant is a specialist in hand-pulled noodles. The most famous are “biang biang” (so called for the noise they make when being stretched and hit against a work surface): Long ribbons of dough noodles arrive coated in a deep, earthy seasoning, with blanched Shanghai bok choy; garnished with hot oil, chopped garlic, spring onions, and ground chilli.

117 Benwell Rd, London N7 7BW, UK
020 3807 3351
020 3807 3351
Biang biang noodles with greens and chilli oil at Xi’an Impression, a Xi’an Chinese restaurant in north London
Vegetarian biang biang noodles at Xi’an Impression in Holloway
Emma Hughes/Eater London

Squid ink flatbread at Black Axe Mangal

156 Canonbury Rd, Highbury, London N1 2UP, UK

Lee Tiernan’s lamb offal flatbread occupied a place on this list, but it’s testament to both diners’ voracious adoption of Instagram and a growing awareness of the folds and interstices of “British” food that this dish now feels like the bigger statement. The flatbread resonates with the particular brilliance of London’s mangal culture; the cod’s roe on glitter is Tiernan’s time at St. John reincarnated in heavy metal; the egg yolk just makes sense.

156 Canonbury Rd, Highbury, London N1 2UP, UK
London’s iconic dishes include the Black Axe Mangal squid ink flatbread Black Axe Mangal [Official Photo]

Buttermilk Chicken and Pine Salt at The Clove Club

Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old St, London, Greater London

It is unwise to visit The Clove Club without ordering this smashing invention; one serving between two is acceptable, one each even more so. Pieces of light and dark meat are marinated in buttermilk, fried, then lightly dusted with pine salt. Now the only snack on the bar menu, making it even more singular.

Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old St, London, Greater London
(+44) 207-7296496
(+44) 207-7296496
Facebook

Confit Potatoes at Quality Chop House

94 Farringdon Rd, London, Greater London

First opened in 1869, The Quality Chop House had a welcome new lease of life in 2012 with new owners — it now sits comfortably in the top echelon of London restaurants. Whatever else is ordered, do not leave out the confit potatoes, thinly sliced and layered into wedges, fried in beef dripping: they are one of the most memorable morsels in town. One portion may not be enough.

94 Farringdon Rd, London, Greater London
(+44) 203-4906228
(+44) 203-4906228
Photo: Quality Chop House Official

Chilli fish sauce wings at Smoking Goat Shoreditch

64 Shoreditch High St, Shoreditch, London E1 6JJ, UK

These were honed at Smoking Goat’s Soho restaurant, and the dish’s fine-tuned messiness is a fitting expression of how Ben Chapman’s meticulous Thai-inspired barbecue intersected with Soho’s gestalt. Piled up on a light blue or pink plate, coriander and chilli like confetti and a slick, sweet-hot-savoury caramel in perfect balance running over eager hands, they’re still an essential order.

64 Shoreditch High St, Shoreditch, London E1 6JJ, UK
The best restaurant dishes of the decade include Smoking Goat’s chilli fish sauce wings James Hansen/Eater London

Whole Turbot at Brat

4 Redchurch St, London E1 6JL, UK

Brat is Tomos Parry’s homage to the grills of the Basque Coast. And this dish is, truly, an homage; Parry and team visit the region regularly to hone their flattering imitation. Cod’s roe and tomatoes have earned plaudits, but it’s the eponymous turbot that is an instant icon: grilled ever-so-slowly and spritzed with a pil pil dressing, whipped into emulsion with the turbot’s gelatinous, oozing juices.

4 Redchurch St, London E1 6JL, UK
Whole turbot at Brat restaurant, one of London’s iconic dishes. Ben McMahon/benjaminmcmahon.com

Canard à la Presse at Otto's French Restaurant

182 Grays Inn Rd, London WC1X 8EW, UK

To step into Otto’s as a neophyte is to be mechanically ravished in broad daylight, just off Gray’s Inn Road. Otto Tepasse has won fame and admiration for reviving the 19th-century art of duck pressing, on which he was schooled at Paris’ Coq D’Argent. Otto’s is called Otto’s because this restaurant exists entirely in the brilliant, anachronistic image of the man — and his art.

182 Grays Inn Rd, London WC1X 8EW, UK
020 7713 0107
020 7713 0107
London’s best French restaurants: Pressed duck at Otto’s, one of London’s iconic dishes

Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad at St. John

26 St John St, London, Greater London

After more than 20 years on the menu at St John, the dish that inspired a generation of young British chefs to saw up bones remains a classic. Earthy, honest and strangely exciting, this arrangement is also, to borrow Fergus Henderson’s favourite adjective, profoundly “steadying.”

26 St John St, London, Greater London
(+44) 207-2510848
(+44) 207-2510848
Bone marrow at St John, one of London’s restaurants with a butchery attached Nick Solares

Beef wellington at Holborn Dining Room

252 High Holborn, Holborn, London WC1V 7EN, UK

Sorry Gordon. Holborn Dining Room’s beef wellington, made with attention to detail that would see lapidaries weep, is the crowning glory of his singular devotion to the art and science of pastry. Served in a luxurious dining room connected to a luxury hotel, it looks back on the hotel rooms that made Wareing and Ramsay’s generation famous and dispenses with the pomp and circumstance, putting all its focus on pleasure, presentation, and a sense of fun.

252 High Holborn, Holborn, London WC1V 7EN, UK
020 3747 8633
020 3747 8633
Beef wellington at London restaurant Holborn Dining Room John Carey/Holborn Dining Room

Smoked Eel Sandwich at Quo Vadis

26-29 Dean St, Soho, Greater London

The Brits created the sandwich and there are many iterations of varying imagination and quality available all over London. Few, however, are as complete and delicious as Jeremy Lee's trademark eel number: To eat this one is to understand the sandwich. There is enough kick from creamed horseradish and acidity from pickled red onions to offset the oily, umami-rich fish; lightly toasted sourdough adds requisite texture. As the emblem of Lee’s bright and imaginative ingredient-led cooking, it's well worth the £9.50.

26-29 Dean St, Soho, Greater London
(+44) 207-4379585
(+44) 207-4379585
Facebook

English breakfast udon at Koya Soho

50 Frith St, Soho, London W1D 4SQ, UK

In years to come London might look back on Shuko Oda’s serene Soho noodle bar and ask whether its specials — and specials board — were always doing for London what the likes of Esu Lee at CAM and Jessica Yang and Robert Compagnon at Le Rigmarole are recognised for in Paris: making city food that pulls at the stitches of international lines. Koya’s udon is peerless; add fried egg, bacon, and a mushroom, and it winks at one of Britain’s most venerated traditions without a jot of deference.

50 Frith St, Soho, London W1D 4SQ, UK
020 7434 4463
020 7434 4463
The best London breakfasts: English breakfast udon at Koya in Soho, rumoured to be opening a new London restaurant at the Market Halls food hall in Victoria, south London Ola Smit/Koya

Classic bao at BAO Soho

53 Lexington St, Carnaby, London W1F 9AS, UK

The moment when the line between street food and restaurant food blurred for good. The recession meant a lot of people who might otherwise have opened restaurants were forced to limit their cost base serving out of food trucks; this was one of the first examples of a street food outfit making the leap into bricks and mortar, and doing so with such aplomb and wit that it’s now one of the city’s most sought-after restaurant groups. The dish that started it all, therefore, is necessarily iconic.

53 Lexington St, Carnaby, London W1F 9AS, UK
Bao [Official Photo]

Fish Pie at J Sheekey

St. Martins Ct., Charing Cross, Greater London

J Sheekey, aka “Sheekey’s,” has been a major player on the West End fish and shellfish scene since the 1890s. It is as dependable as it is theatrical, and the exemplary fish pie’s velvety cream sauce (over cod, salmon and haddock) makes it a comfort-food superstar.

St. Martins Ct., Charing Cross, Greater London
(+44) 207-2402565
(+44) 207-2402565
Facebook

Dover Sole at Scott's

20 Mount St., Mayfair, Greater London

Scott’s started out as an oyster bar in 1851, but it has since evolved into one of Mayfair’s iconic restaurants, and a reliable ‘banker’ for date nights, meetings, or even solo visits at the bar for oysters and champagne. Their Dover sole rightly remains a Scott’s classic, served either simply grilled or with a silky meunière sauce, expertly filleted at the table by one of the slick front of house. It ain’t cheap,  but a fine fish such as this deserves the royal treatment it gets here.

20 Mount St., Mayfair, Greater London
(+44) 207-4957309
(+44) 207-4957309
Whole Dover sole at Scott’s in Mayfair

Muntjac Biryani at Gymkhana

42 Albemarle St, London, Greater London

So, an adventurous Anglo-Indian interloper where they match spicy prawns with Greek viognier has pinched the mantle of W1 celeb magnet Chiltern Firehouse? Cool! With honourable mention going to the kid goat methi, Gymkhana’s muntjac biryani is an obvious classic: a golden flaky pastry dome dotted with nigella seeds, concealing a tremendous offering of spiced rice and venison with pomegranate and mint raita.

42 Albemarle St, London, Greater London
(+44) 203-0115900
(+44) 203-0115900
Venison biryani at Gymkhana, the Michelin-starred Indian restaurant, which is scheduled to reopen after a June fire, in February Gymkhana/Official

Omelette Arnold Bennett at The Wolseley

160 Piccadilly, London, Greater London

A visit to the Wolseley throws up a plethora of options with their tempting all-day menu, but if you have a proper hunger on, order the omelette Arnold Bennett, an open omelette topped with parmesan and resting on a bed of smoked haddock and rich, creamy hollandaise, before being popped under the grill until browned and bubbling. The Savoy Grill is credited with creating the dish for the British novelist, playwright, critic and essayist Arnold Bennett, and The Wolseley pays a diligent homage with this version.

160 Piccadilly, London, Greater London
(+44) 207-4996996
(+44) 207-4996996
Sophie Mitchell/Instagram

Pici Cacio e Pepe at Padella

6 Southwark St, London, Greater London

Not many practitioners can make something phenomenal out of a seemingly simple idea. Here at this Trullo sibling by Borough Market, pici, butter, pecorino and freshly ground pepper are alchemised into an absolute legend. They’re now also in residence in Shoreditch, but this is one of the cases where the atmosphere of the original is key.

6 Southwark St, London, Greater London
Adam Coghlan

Meat Fruit at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London, Greater London

No one pulls off history and wizardry like the chefs at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. Their update on ye olde meat fruit deploys smooth chicken liver parfait as the core, a mandarin jelly “peel,” and a stalk of ruscus as the stem, presented on a slice of grilled sourdough brushed with herb oil.

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London, Greater London
(+44) 207-2013833
(+44) 207-2013833
‘Meat fruit’ — a chicken liver parfait coated in mandarin jelly — at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge

Ribollita at The River Café

Thames Wharf, Rainville Rd, Hammersmith, London W6 9HA, UK

Seasonality nominally takes precedent in spring, summer, and autumn: a riot of light and bright colours, followed by brooding browns and oranges. This coldly ignores winter, which is a mistake, for one of the city’s seasonal pioneers delivers the goods as frost gathers on the ground. The ribollita at River Café, made with bread, cavolo nero, chard, dried borlotti beans, and, most crucially, a generous, hefty glug of the season’s freshest olive oil, is winter seasonality in a bowl. Versions for every season are encouraged.

Thames Wharf, Rainville Rd, Hammersmith, London W6 9HA, UK