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New restaurants in London for 2019 include Arcade Food Theatre, the new London restaurant hub at Centre Point David Jay Paw/Instagram

The 10 Dishes London Fell Hardest for in 2019

Scarlet prawns, a beautiful pide, and fresh pasta, of course

by George Reynolds Updated
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by George Reynolds Updated
David Jay Paw/Instagram

A note: “biggest” does not mean “best.” There are cases, of course, when high-profile PR campaigns, social media virality, and honest-to-goodness quality overlap neatly; more often than not, though — especially in a climate where Instagram is ever-more dominant — the intersection looks more uneven. This list contains plenty of remarkable, delicious food, but first and foremost it catalogues the food people got most publicly, performatively excited about in 2019. An edible record of the year in hype.

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The Fairfax at Eggslut

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With a name like that, in 2019 — no chance, right? Well, it’s complicated. IRL, the place was panned, reports of sulphurous reek and inedible baps. On Instagram, though? Shrug emoji! Turns out people really like taking photos of celebrated foreign imports and sharing them with their friends. Like another of 2019’s biggest screen villains, Eggslut was… Inevitable.

185 Portobello Rd, Notting Hill, London W11 2ED, UK
020 3745 1920
020 3745 1920
The Fairfax scrambled egg bun at Eggslut restaurant, now open in Notting Hill Eggslut [Official Photo]

Paella at Arros QD

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Arros QD probably cost a packet to fit out, but already it seems to have fallen into that strange mental hinterland occupied in 2018 by the likes of Duddell’s. It did happen — just look back to the summer, and the scores of images of gorgeous, bronzed discs of seafood and socarrat. Blame faintly bemused reviews, perhaps, a sign of poor product-market fit. Or blame the fact that diners’ relationship with social media isn’t as trustful as it used to be, and a swathe of endorsements no longer cuts the mustard like it used to. Either works.

64 Eastcastle St, Fitzrovia, London W1W 8NQ, UK
020 3883 3525
020 3883 3525
Arros QD by Three Michelin star restaurateur Quique DaCosta brings paella to London Arros QD [Official Photo]

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Hand-cut macaroni with chicken wings at Wild Honey St James

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It’s not like London got over its fresh pasta addiction in 2019. As with any habit subject to the rules of the hedonic treadmill, what London needed from our pasta got more and more extreme as the year ticked along. By Christmas, restaurants were deep-frying the stuff, serving it under a crustacean tombstone, and dyeing it bright green. So there’s a pleasing irony to the fact that perhaps the year’s most extravagant pasta dish came not from the hands of some smartphone-wielding hypebeast, but from chef’s chef Anthony Demetre. Is 2020 the year that the city’s fresh pasta grows up?

8 Pall Mall, St. James's, London SW1Y 5NG, UK
020 7389 7820
020 7389 7820
Instagrammable dish of macaroni with chicken wings at Wild Honey St. James’s Wild Honey [Official Photo]

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Black Sea pide at Arcade Food Theatre

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Pizza Express must feel a little aggrieved: an egg has been adorning the cheesy dough of its Fiorentina pizza for a million years, and it has never even come close to being a social media sensation. Then again, on a Fiorentina that egg is also fighting for attention with spinach and olives — the real stroke of presentational genius at Selin Kiazim’s food hall rollout is how it twins visual simplicity with the promise of the sort of excess that makes a post-lunch nap almost mandatory. And lo, a star was born.

103-105 New Oxford St, London WC1A 1DB, UK
020 7519 1202
020 7519 1202
New restaurants in London for 2019 include Arcade Food Theatre, the new London restaurant hub at Centre Point David Jay Paw/Instagram

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Caviar on tortilla at Decimo

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In a bit of menu one-upmanship that echoes Sean Parker’s ‘A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars’ speech from The Social Network, chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesias chose to mark his arrival in London by taking one of the city’s most beloved dishes — the Spanish omelette made most famous by Barrafina — and spaffing an average dinner’s worth of fish eggs on top of it. Was it delicious? Maybe. Probably. Was it exactly the sort of attention-grabbing flex needed to gain purchase in the 2019 attention economy? Sí, señor.

10th Floor, 10 Argyle St, London NW1 2ST, UK
020 3981 8888
020 3981 8888
Spanish potato tortilla with caviar, on a red tile background at Decimo restaurant at The Standard London Charlie McKay/The Standard London

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Pig fat cannolo at Quality Wines

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Not just the best dish at one of the year’s best newcomers, but the signature dish too. It’s elegant but not dainty, accomplished but not cheffy, traditional but not hidebound — all in all, the perfect calling card for a wine bar that is all of the above, and so much more.

88 Farringdon Rd, Farringdon, London EC1R 3EA, UK
020 3602 8115
020 3602 8115
Sweets on a decorative plate, on a spotlighted gray counter. Mason Noteboom/Quality Wines

Also featured in:

Cheeseburger at Four Legs

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The definitive “foodie” calling card of the year; the photo that proved a commitment to the delicious that extended to seeking it out even in slightly-too-low-ceilinged pubs on sleepy residential north London streets. The burger that inspired pilgrimages across London is not an especially melodramatic beast to look at, but as anyone who eats it will know, its directness is the reason it works so well. In a year where London ate with its eyes like never before, perhaps the single most visibly enjoyable dish out there.

4 Compton Ave, London N1 2XD, UK
The best cheeseburger in the city is now found at The Compton Arms in Islington Four Legs [Official Photo]

Also featured in:

Scarlet prawns at Flor

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It could have been any one of about six dishes at the most flawlessly executed new opening of the year — pastry chef Anna Higham basically owned baked goods Instagram this year with her brown butter cakes, lardy buns and seasonal specials; plus there’s the little matter of those flatbreads and that tomato tart. But the red prawns get the crown, both as the pinnacle of the broader 2019 Red Prawn Craze, and as one of the year’s most widely Instagrammed restaurant dishes. The messy act of head-sucking never looked so pretty.

1 Bedale St, London SE1 9AL, UK
020 3319 8144
020 3319 8144
Flor Borough Market is the new London restaurant from the team behind Michelin-starred Lyle’s in Shoreditch Emma Hughes/Eater London

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Lemon meringue pie at Gloria

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Presentationally OTT, exuberantly calorific, short on anything resembling real nutritional value — dishes with names like Filippo’s Big Balls and the YouPorn pizza brought the kitschy cringe, but really there was no better avatar for one of the most extra openings of the year than this towering confection. The fact that its meringue topping is basically just confected hot air feels oddly fitting, too.

54-56 Great Eastern St, Shoreditch, London EC2A 3QR, UK
Gloria Italian restaurant from Big Mamma in Shoreditch: lemon meringue pie Emma Hughes/Eater London

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The plates at Peg

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An overly-literal interpretation of the word ‘dish’, perhaps, but one could make a compelling argument that these gorgeous pastel pieces are what really allowed William Gleave and co’s beautiful kushiyaki to pop in even the most congested of social media feeds. Factor in floor-to-ceiling windows resulting in some of the most abundant natural light in London and this tiny Hackney wine bar became a must-visit for natural wine nerds and camera-happy Instagrammers alike.

120 Morning Ln, London E9 6LH, UK
020 3441 8765
020 3441 8765
London’s hottest restaurants, March 2019: Peg restaurant and wine bar on Morning Lane, Clapton, east London Samuel Ashton

Also featured in:

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The Fairfax at Eggslut

185 Portobello Rd, Notting Hill, London W11 2ED, UK

With a name like that, in 2019 — no chance, right? Well, it’s complicated. IRL, the place was panned, reports of sulphurous reek and inedible baps. On Instagram, though? Shrug emoji! Turns out people really like taking photos of celebrated foreign imports and sharing them with their friends. Like another of 2019’s biggest screen villains, Eggslut was… Inevitable.

185 Portobello Rd, Notting Hill, London W11 2ED, UK
020 3745 1920
020 3745 1920
The Fairfax scrambled egg bun at Eggslut restaurant, now open in Notting Hill Eggslut [Official Photo]

Paella at Arros QD

64 Eastcastle St, Fitzrovia, London W1W 8NQ, UK

Arros QD probably cost a packet to fit out, but already it seems to have fallen into that strange mental hinterland occupied in 2018 by the likes of Duddell’s. It did happen — just look back to the summer, and the scores of images of gorgeous, bronzed discs of seafood and socarrat. Blame faintly bemused reviews, perhaps, a sign of poor product-market fit. Or blame the fact that diners’ relationship with social media isn’t as trustful as it used to be, and a swathe of endorsements no longer cuts the mustard like it used to. Either works.

64 Eastcastle St, Fitzrovia, London W1W 8NQ, UK
020 3883 3525
020 3883 3525
Arros QD by Three Michelin star restaurateur Quique DaCosta brings paella to London Arros QD [Official Photo]

Hand-cut macaroni with chicken wings at Wild Honey St James

8 Pall Mall, St. James's, London SW1Y 5NG, UK

It’s not like London got over its fresh pasta addiction in 2019. As with any habit subject to the rules of the hedonic treadmill, what London needed from our pasta got more and more extreme as the year ticked along. By Christmas, restaurants were deep-frying the stuff, serving it under a crustacean tombstone, and dyeing it bright green. So there’s a pleasing irony to the fact that perhaps the year’s most extravagant pasta dish came not from the hands of some smartphone-wielding hypebeast, but from chef’s chef Anthony Demetre. Is 2020 the year that the city’s fresh pasta grows up?

8 Pall Mall, St. James's, London SW1Y 5NG, UK
020 7389 7820
020 7389 7820
Instagrammable dish of macaroni with chicken wings at Wild Honey St. James’s Wild Honey [Official Photo]

Black Sea pide at Arcade Food Theatre

103-105 New Oxford St, London WC1A 1DB, UK

Pizza Express must feel a little aggrieved: an egg has been adorning the cheesy dough of its Fiorentina pizza for a million years, and it has never even come close to being a social media sensation. Then again, on a Fiorentina that egg is also fighting for attention with spinach and olives — the real stroke of presentational genius at Selin Kiazim’s food hall rollout is how it twins visual simplicity with the promise of the sort of excess that makes a post-lunch nap almost mandatory. And lo, a star was born.

103-105 New Oxford St, London WC1A 1DB, UK
020 7519 1202
020 7519 1202
New restaurants in London for 2019 include Arcade Food Theatre, the new London restaurant hub at Centre Point David Jay Paw/Instagram

Caviar on tortilla at Decimo

10th Floor, 10 Argyle St, London NW1 2ST, UK

In a bit of menu one-upmanship that echoes Sean Parker’s ‘A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars’ speech from The Social Network, chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesias chose to mark his arrival in London by taking one of the city’s most beloved dishes — the Spanish omelette made most famous by Barrafina — and spaffing an average dinner’s worth of fish eggs on top of it. Was it delicious? Maybe. Probably. Was it exactly the sort of attention-grabbing flex needed to gain purchase in the 2019 attention economy? Sí, señor.

10th Floor, 10 Argyle St, London NW1 2ST, UK
020 3981 8888
020 3981 8888
Spanish potato tortilla with caviar, on a red tile background at Decimo restaurant at The Standard London Charlie McKay/The Standard London

Pig fat cannolo at Quality Wines

88 Farringdon Rd, Farringdon, London EC1R 3EA, UK

Not just the best dish at one of the year’s best newcomers, but the signature dish too. It’s elegant but not dainty, accomplished but not cheffy, traditional but not hidebound — all in all, the perfect calling card for a wine bar that is all of the above, and so much more.

88 Farringdon Rd, Farringdon, London EC1R 3EA, UK
020 3602 8115
020 3602 8115
Sweets on a decorative plate, on a spotlighted gray counter. Mason Noteboom/Quality Wines

Cheeseburger at Four Legs

4 Compton Ave, London N1 2XD, UK

The definitive “foodie” calling card of the year; the photo that proved a commitment to the delicious that extended to seeking it out even in slightly-too-low-ceilinged pubs on sleepy residential north London streets. The burger that inspired pilgrimages across London is not an especially melodramatic beast to look at, but as anyone who eats it will know, its directness is the reason it works so well. In a year where London ate with its eyes like never before, perhaps the single most visibly enjoyable dish out there.

4 Compton Ave, London N1 2XD, UK
The best cheeseburger in the city is now found at The Compton Arms in Islington Four Legs [Official Photo]

Scarlet prawns at Flor

1 Bedale St, London SE1 9AL, UK

It could have been any one of about six dishes at the most flawlessly executed new opening of the year — pastry chef Anna Higham basically owned baked goods Instagram this year with her brown butter cakes, lardy buns and seasonal specials; plus there’s the little matter of those flatbreads and that tomato tart. But the red prawns get the crown, both as the pinnacle of the broader 2019 Red Prawn Craze, and as one of the year’s most widely Instagrammed restaurant dishes. The messy act of head-sucking never looked so pretty.

1 Bedale St, London SE1 9AL, UK
020 3319 8144
020 3319 8144
Flor Borough Market is the new London restaurant from the team behind Michelin-starred Lyle’s in Shoreditch Emma Hughes/Eater London

Lemon meringue pie at Gloria

54-56 Great Eastern St, Shoreditch, London EC2A 3QR, UK

Presentationally OTT, exuberantly calorific, short on anything resembling real nutritional value — dishes with names like Filippo’s Big Balls and the YouPorn pizza brought the kitschy cringe, but really there was no better avatar for one of the most extra openings of the year than this towering confection. The fact that its meringue topping is basically just confected hot air feels oddly fitting, too.

54-56 Great Eastern St, Shoreditch, London EC2A 3QR, UK
Gloria Italian restaurant from Big Mamma in Shoreditch: lemon meringue pie Emma Hughes/Eater London

The plates at Peg

120 Morning Ln, London E9 6LH, UK

An overly-literal interpretation of the word ‘dish’, perhaps, but one could make a compelling argument that these gorgeous pastel pieces are what really allowed William Gleave and co’s beautiful kushiyaki to pop in even the most congested of social media feeds. Factor in floor-to-ceiling windows resulting in some of the most abundant natural light in London and this tiny Hackney wine bar became a must-visit for natural wine nerds and camera-happy Instagrammers alike.

120 Morning Ln, London E9 6LH, UK
020 3441 8765
020 3441 8765
London’s hottest restaurants, March 2019: Peg restaurant and wine bar on Morning Lane, Clapton, east London Samuel Ashton