Where to Eat in London: Four Restaurants I’d Go Back To

Hi everyone! Every time I go to London, the same thing happens: I save a ridiculous number of restaurants and somehow convince myself I’ll manage to try every one of them in three days. I never do, obviously, but the list keeps growing.

I mainly keep the places where I genuinely ate well and the ones I still think about once I’m home. This list moves from inventive Indian food and pasta in Soho to a dressier dinner in Mayfair and an excellent Neapolitan pizza. Four very different restaurants for different neighbourhoods and different moods.

If you are looking for breakfast, I also wrote about my favourite Shoreditch breakfast spots, Ozone Coffee and Beigel Bake.

Kricket, for inventive Indian food in London

Let’s start with Kricket. When I first looked at the menu, I had no idea what to choose. It isn’t simply a list of familiar dishes you order without reading the rest. The menu is built around plates for sharing, so, as usual, we ordered several and tried a bit of everything.

That is what I enjoyed about Kricket. The dishes arrive gradually, the flavours shift from one plate to the next, and dinner becomes far more interesting than ordering one main each and never looking at the other person’s food again. Everything looked beautiful, but never at the expense of what was actually on the plate.

We tried both the Soho and Shoreditch restaurants. Neither the spaces nor the menus are identical: Soho is smaller, with a long counter facing the open kitchen, while Shoreditch is larger and easy to spot thanks to its pink frontage. A perfectly good excuse to visit both.

Right next door to Kricket Soho is SOMA, the hidden bar where we went for a drink. It makes it very easy to have dinner and carry on with the evening without even changing streets.

Kricket Soho
12 Denman Street, London W1D 7HJ
Underground: Piccadilly Circus

Kricket Shoreditch
35–42 Charlotte Road, London EC2A 3PB
Underground: Old Street

I would book ahead, especially for Soho.

Polpo, for pasta and red wine

I mainly saved Polpo for the spaghetti and meatballs. Priorities firmly in order.

I love this sort of Italian restaurant, where you order pasta, a few small plates and a carafe of red. The dining room is dark, with wooden tables and candles, and we went for dinner, just the two of us.

I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs, while Greg chose the beef rigatoni. I obviously tried his, and honestly, it was very good. Good enough to make me slightly regret my spaghetti, even though they were the entire reason I’d chosen the restaurant.

Polpo is the sort of place I’d save for dinner in Soho: a table full of sharing plates and red wine. Nothing complicated, just exactly what I wanted that evening.

Polpo Soho
41 Beak Street, London W1F 9SB
Underground: Oxford Circus

The Dover, for an evening in Mayfair

The Dover was the one I’d saved for a slightly dressier evening. The restaurant is in Mayfair, with white tablecloths, low lighting and, best of all, a wall of records beside the turntables. Naturally, I immediately checked what they had chosen.

The room feels very elegant without making you worry that you must sit perfectly still once you arrive. You can dress up, order a drink and simply enjoy being there. That was easily my favourite part of the dinner.

I ordered the lasagne. Well… it was a lasagne. It was good, but I honestly expected a little more given the restaurant and its Mayfair address. What stayed with me wasn’t the dish so much as the room, the records and the excuse to pull out a great jacket for dinner in Mayfair.

I wouldn’t choose The Dover every night, but I would save it for dinner à deux or an evening when you fancy dressing up. The restaurant currently has a dress code, so it is worth making a little effort.

The Dover
33 Dover Street, London W1S 4NF
Tube: Green Park

Booking is preferred.

Rudy’s, for Neapolitan pizza

And finally, Rudy’s, because some evenings all I want is a really good pizza.

At Rudy’s, the base is thin in the middle, the crust is properly puffed and the bake is exactly how I like it. I often choose a margherita, because the simplest pizza usually tells you very quickly whether the dough and tomato sauce are any good.

The Soho restaurant is lively and fills up quickly, but the service keeps moving. It is the one I save whenever we fancy pizza before carrying on with the evening nearby.

Rudy's Pizza Napoletana
80 Wardour Street, London W1F 0TF
Underground: Oxford Circus

Which one should you choose?

Honestly, it depends on the evening.

Kricket when I want several plates and inventive Indian cooking. Polpo for spaghetti and meatballs, rigatoni and red wine. The Dover for the room, the records and a dressier evening. Rudy’s when all we want is a really good pizza.

I could add plenty more — my phone is full of saved restaurants — but these four already give you options for different neighbourhoods and moods. You can also find the other places I love in my London guide.

What is your favourite restaurant in London?