Where to go in Westminster

117 places in Westminster, each one on the Guide on merit.

Aldwych

• Ikoyi

  African

  Jeremy Chan's tasting menu runs on West African spice and British produce, and nothing else in London tastes like it. Two Michelin stars, named the world's best restaurant at the 2026 Global Tastemakers awards, across a four-hour sitting. A global destination now rather than a discovery.

Bayswater

• Foreign Exchange News

  Design-led café

  A bureau de change that grew a coffee bar and a magazine wall, all in one beautiful slim room. Worth the detour off Kensington Gardens.

• Normah's

  Asian

  A one-woman Malaysian canteen buried in Queensway Market, cooking beef rendang and asam pedas seabass. Worth the hunt.

• Sol's

  European

  Part of Bayswater getting good again. A deli by day, a proper wine bar by night.

Belgravia

• Common Breads

  Middle Eastern

  Beirut street-food classics and a bakery counter, an unexpected find in Belgravia.

• Cornus

  European

  Gary Foulkes cooking on the rooftop of the old Ice Factory in Eccleston Yards, from the Medlar owners. Classical, precise, white tablecloths, and easier to book than a starred kitchen this good should be.

• The Bath House: Banya London

  Russian banya

  A genuine banya, not a spa pretending to be one. You come out euphoric and slightly tenderised, which is the point.

• Wildflowers

  European

  Live-fire Mediterranean in a muslin-curtained timber yard off Pimlico Road, with Bar Flor upstairs for the cheaper, looser version. It jumped forty places in the national awards this year.

Carnaby

• Himi

  Asian

  Neo-izakaya from the Roji pair. Sit at the counter and let the fish do the talking.

Chinatown

• San Hao

  Asian

  An experimental noodle atelier from Daren Liew pulling fresh noodles in-house in the heart of Chinatown. A novel idea in a tourist-heavy pocket.

Connaught Village

• Kendal Street Kitchen

  European

  Reads like a generic neighbourhood Italian and turns out to be a gem. Dim lights, low jazz, a proper wine list, pasta and chargrill done simply and well.

• London Chocolate

  Bean-to-bar chocolate

  Bean-to-bar and properly specialist, the kind of place you only find if someone tells you.

Covent Garden

• Adam Handling Chocolate

  Chocolate shop

  The Michelin chef's Maiden Lane shop: hand-painted technicolor truffles that double as edible art.

• AIRE Ancient Baths

  Bathhouse

  A candlelit subterranean bathhouse near Covent Garden: thermal baths, a cold plunge, a salt float, exposed brick. Ninety minutes, pure escape.

• Bageriet

  European

  Daniel Karlsson's tiny Swedish bakery down a Covent Garden alley, baking princess cake and cardamom buns in the basement since 2011. Easy to walk straight past.

• Burro

  European

  Trullo's Conor Gadd goes solo in intimate Floral Court: produce-led Italian, the duck and porcini fettuccine, warm service. Just right.

• Cecilia's Wine House

  Wine bar

  A Covent Garden wine bar with a thoughtful list and a warm, low-lit room that holds you longer than you planned.

• Kebab Queen

  Kebab shop

  A six-course kebab tasting menu from a Michelin-starred chef, served at a ten-seat counter in a Covent Garden basement disguised as a fake takeaway. Dishes include foie gras kebabitos, monkfish shish with chicken skin, and doner risotto, eaten directly off a heated countertop. This is for people who want inventive, meat-heavy cooking in an intimate, playful setting.

• Moto Japanese Sake Bar

  Meal Delivery

  The UK's first independent Japanese beverage bar and shop, specialising in sake sourced directly from breweries. The narrow space has a counter for perching and sake flights for novices, with most glasses at a fiver. House cocktails and simple Japanese dishes round out the offer.

• Neal's Yard Dairy

  Cheesemonger

  The British and Irish farmhouse benchmark, matured in their own Bermondsey arches; taste across the batches.

• SOOM Korean

  Asian

  A more refined, less frantic take on Korean BBQ than the usual Soho smoke pits. You cook at the table but the room does the rest.

• The Garden Cinema

  Cinema

  A small independent off Covent Garden with an art deco bar, showing only the films the team rate themselves. Pay-what-you-can Sundays.

• The Oystermen

  Seafood bar

  A compact Covent Garden raw bar: blackboard catch, oysters shucked an arm's length away, and a tempura version with champagne aioli.

• Tokkia

  Asian

  A slow Korean matcha house near Covent Garden that treats tea like a ritual, sometimes called a matcha monastery. Connoisseur territory in a busy quarter.

• Toklas

  European

  Art-world pedigree, a proper bakery, and a terrace that earns its keep in summer.

• Town

  European

  Stevie Parle retrofuturist pleasure-palace of a dining room. Dress up.

• Zylia

  European

  A Greek-Cypriot taverna from Singburi's Nick Molyviatis: a half-kilo aged ribeye, spritzes and Hellenic joy, in the new Arcade.

Eccleston Yards

• Weezie's

  European

  Thin-crust pizza and wine beside amie studio, casual where Belgravia rarely is.

• Wild by Tart

  European

  A light, buzzy all-day brasserie in a converted Belgravia power station from the Tart London duo. Mediterranean plates under a glass roof, with a bar, deli and photography studio attached.

Lancashire Court

• Latine

  Caribbean & Latin

  Four floors in a Mayfair mews, running from a ground-floor crudo bar up to a private room with a hand-painted mural and down to a basement lounge. Francisco Lafee cooks, after El Celler de Can Roca and Central in Lima. The filet is £52 and the kilo ribeye £130.

Lancaster Gate

• The Stablehand

  European

  A handsome British gastropub off Lancaster Gate that sources everything from the British Isles. Wood panelling, velvet and equestrian art, and a Sunday roast worth the walk back through Kensington Gardens.

Leicester Square

• Bombolone Doughnuts

  Doughnut shop

  A Leicester Square doughnut shop doing filled-to-order bomboloni that sell out, so go early.

London

• Goodman Gallery

  Art Gallery

  South African-founded gallery on Cork Street showing contemporary art with a focus on artists from Africa and its diaspora. The space hosts ambitious exhibitions of politically and socially engaged work in a Mayfair setting. Past shows have included Kapwani Kiwanga and Naama Tsabar.

Maida Vale

• Paulette

  European

  A proper neighbourhood French bistro named after somebody's grandmother. Exactly as warm as that sounds.

• The Hero

  Gastropub

  The Pelican's smaller Maida Vale sibling, the same kitchen behind it but more of a neighbourhood feel.

Marylebone

• Alfies Antique Market

  Antiques market

  London's biggest indoor antiques and vintage-design market. Four rambling floors of dealers in mid-century furniture, lighting, jewellery and old fashion. Go to hunt, stay for the rooftop café. Closed Sundays and Mondays.

• Clarette

  Wine bar

  A swanky three-floor wine bar in a mock-Tudor Marylebone townhouse, part-owned by the Château Margaux family. The by-the-glass list is the draw, with Margaux poured through Coravin.

• Dive

  Cocktail bar

  A subterranean cocktail lounge on Blandford Street in Marylebone, with curated music played through speakers handmade in a small Berlin workshop. Seven martinis run from blue cheese to brioche gin with brown butter. The Soba mixes cognac and two sherries with a soba infusion.

• Experimental Perfume Club

  Perfume workshop

  A lab-boutique where you blend a bespoke scent in the perfumer's alcove and leave with the bottle.

• KOL

  Caribbean & Latin

  Santiago Lastra turns British produce into electric Mexican food, with a Michelin star and a place on the World's 50 Best to show for it. Book weeks ahead.

• Kudu

  African

  Amy Corbin and Patrick Williams closed their three Peckham sites in 2025 and poured everything into one Marylebone braai flagship. Open-fire South African cooking in a big, high-gloss room, with the Kudu bread still the way to start.

• La Fromagerie

  Cheesemonger

  Patricia Michelson's walk-in cheese room and back-room wine bar; regional boards with proper notes.

• Noreen

  Middle Eastern

  Arabian Peninsula and Levant cooking with Tannour flatbreads baked to order in Marylebone.

• The Jackalope

  Chinese

  A Grade II listed mews pub in Marylebone that pairs up to 18 craft and traditional beers with Chongqing noodles from basement kitchen Liu Xiaomian. The site has housed a pub since 1777 and retains wood panelling and etched glass windows from its Dover Castle days. Run by the team behind The Euston Tap.

• The Wallace Collection

  Museum & gallery

  A private mansion of Old Masters, Sèvres porcelain and one of the world's great armour collections, free, just off Marylebone High Street. The glass-roofed courtyard is the calm.

Mayfair

• Apricity

  European

  Chantelle Nicholson cooks low-waste, vegetable-forward food in a stripped-back Mayfair room full of plants and daylight. The plant-based tasting menu runs in full parallel to the main one, not as an afterthought.

• Bentley's Oyster Bar

  Oyster bar

  A marble oyster counter shucking since 1916, Richard Corrigan at the helm. Sit at the bar, not the grill room upstairs.

• Berenjak Mayfair

  Middle Eastern

  Berenjak Mayfair is chef Kian Samyani's expanded Iranian restaurant on Duke Street, built around Tehran kabab house cooking and the home recipes he grew up with. The space has arched stained-glass panels, dark wood, and half-booths. The koobideh is buttery and soft, the hummus absurdly creamy, and the stone-baked barbari arrives warm.

• Bibi

  Asian

  A small contemporary Indian restaurant in Mayfair from chef Chet Sharma, who helped develop menus at Gymkhana and Brigadiers. The set menu fuses influences from across the Subcontinent with British produce in creative small plates. The space combines plush four-person booths with counter stools facing the narrow kitchen.

• DakaDaka

  European

  Fire-cooked Georgian on Heddon Street, built around khinkali and a deep natural-wine list.

• Dover Street Counter

  North American

  A chrome-and-walnut diner that does cheeseburgers and well-priced margaritas in the middle of Mayfair.

• Eagle Bar at The Chancery Rosewood

  Rooftop bar

  Seventh-floor terrace on top of Saarinen's old US Embassy on Grosvenor Square. Brutalist bones, Manhattan posture, and somehow on no rooftop list.

• Farm Shop

  European

  An art-world deli and butcher in Mayfair hiding a 150-bottle wine bar in the basement.

• Grays Antiques

  Antiques market

  The Mayfair answer to Alfies. A warren of dealers in fine jewellery, silver, watches and curios, with a lost river running under the basement. Come to browse and haggle, not always to buy. Closed weekends.

• IGNI

  European

  Theo Clench (four Michelin postings) on the old Humo site: refined, seafood-led live fire across three to eight courses. Save it for something you are celebrating.

• Kwãnt Mayfair

  Cocktail bar

  Erik Lorincz left the Savoy to open this low-lit Mayfair basement, and it shows in every drink. Tiki cues, serious technique, no fuss.

• Marchesi 1824

  European

  A pocket of old Milan in Mayfair, run with the polish you would expect of its owner.

• Maza

  European

  A Greek party with serious cooking under it, and the world's largest Greek wine list.

• MiMi Mei Fair

  Asian

  A glossy Chinese fine-dining room in a Mayfair townhouse done up like 1920s Shanghai, from the group behind Jamavar. Theatrical without tipping into kitsch, and the dim sum earns the setting. The weekday unlimited-dim-sum lunch is the way in.

• Mount St. Restaurant

  European

  A Mayfair dining room above the Audley pub, hung with 200-odd works by Warhol, Matisse and Freud courtesy of Hauser & Wirth. Reimagined British classics in a room that earns the art.

• Postcard Teas

  Tea room

  A tiny Mayfair tea shop sourcing only from farms under 15 acres, with Saturday tastings led by the owner through six rare teas. The thinking person's tea room, miles from any chain.

• Stanley's

  Rooftop cocktail bar

  An intimate, understated rooftop bar above The Chesterfield in Mayfair, with a retractable roof and heated, blanket-draped seats that keep it usable year-round. A discreet alternative to the neighbourhood's statement terraces.

• Sushi Amamoto

  Asian

  One of the world best sushi chefs, now in Mayfair.

• Tendril

  European

  Rishim Sachdeva's mostly-vegan Mayfair kitchen, with a Michelin Green Star. Vegetable-led cooking and real technical polish, from massaman pak choi to Chinatown purple potatoes. Nothing worthy about it.

• The Cocochine

  European

  Chef Larry Jayasekara runs this discreet Mayfair townhouse across three levels, blending French technique with his Sri Lankan heritage and ingredients from the restaurant's own Northamptonshire farm. The signature menu runs to £185, though a three-course lunch costs £39. Upstairs, a chef's table overlooks the open kitchen; downstairs holds just eight tables.

• The Dover

  European

  A New York Italian on Dover Street from the former Soho House COO. The dining room has walnut panelling and chandeliers, with a 1970s soundtrack of funk, disco and soul. The menu runs from lobster rolls and mini hot dogs through pasta classics like spaghetti meatballs and penne arrabbiata to Dover sole with chilli and lime.

• Tobi Masa

  Asian

  A sushi legend first London counter. The toro is the headline.

• Tosi Gorgonzola

  Wine bar

  A one-cheese obsession done with a straight face, and it mostly works.

Oxford Street

• Poetry Pharmacy

  Bibliotherapy bookshop-café

  A bookshop that prescribes poems for whatever you are feeling, tucked above a Lush. Daft on paper, lovely in person.

Paddington

• GoBoat

  Self-drive boats

  Self-drive electric picnic boats up the canal through Little Venice. Bring a picnic, pick a captain, potter along at 3 to 6 mph. The grown-up golden-hour version.

Piccadilly

• Caviar House & Prunier

  European

  The Piccadilly seafood bar of a century-old French house: caviar, Balik salmon and a glass of champagne at the counter.

• Crazy Coqs (Live at Zédel)

  Cabaret

  Cabaret, jazz and comedy in the art deco basement of Brasserie Zédel, off Piccadilly. Bistro tables, a small stage, drinks brought to your seat.

• Maison Assouline

  Bookshop champagne bar

  A 1922 Lutyens bank turned book-lined champagne bar, where you can sip a cocktail named after a travel tome and browse first editions.

Pimlico

• Ben Venuti

  European

  A green-doored Pimlico deli where they tear the mozzarella open in front of you and cut the coppa to order.

• Cave: Life Drawing

  Life drawing

  Weekly life drawing at Cave in Pimlico. Relaxed, observational, a short walk from the station.

• Morinoya

  Asian

  Ten covers, warm rice, sashimi that punches well above the postcode. The kind of tiny room you keep to yourself.

Seven Dials

• Cato

  Cocktail bar

  A serious cocktail bar from Bart & Taylor with Angelos Bafas, built on an all-UK-ingredient, colour-led menu. Real mixology in a tourist-heavy quarter, not a gimmick.

Soho

• Beasy

  Cocktail bar

  A speakeasy-style cocktail bar hidden in a former Soho barbershop, low-lit and late.

• Bilmonte

  European

  A tiny Soho counter doing pistachio gelato made fresh each day. Every scoop comes crowned with a baby cone of melted chocolate.

• Bubala

  Middle Eastern

  Vegetable-led Middle Eastern mezze so good the meat is never missed. Critically adored and a reliably brilliant date.

• Donia

  Asian

  A small modern-Filipino room recreating sweet-and-sour flavours with British produce. The lamb pie and ube choux belt.

• Ducksoup

  European

  A natural wine bar and restaurant on Dean Street. Head chef Tom Lake changes the menu weekly with the seasons. The by the glass list changes as often as the food.

• El Siete

  Agave bar

  A pink agave den under El Pastor on Brewer Street. Seven margaritas, seven agave cocktails, and no daylight.

• Evelyn's Table

  European

  A 12-seat counter downstairs from The Blue Posts, where the chefs cook, plate and serve in front of you. Seamus Sam runs the kitchen: British produce, French and Asian technique. Two evening sittings, plus lunch Thursday to Saturday.

• Gelupo

  Gelateria

  Jacob Kenedy's gelato opposite Bocca di Lupo: daily-churned, kept in pozzetti; fig leaf, sour-cherry ricotta.

• Imad's Syrian Kitchen

  Middle Eastern

  Imad Alarnab's Syrian home cooking, carried from Damascus to a warm Kingly Court room. The story is moving and the food more so.

• Impala

  African

  Meedu Saad (ex-Kiln) turns a 1960s Soho room into a charcoal-grill love letter to North Africa. The ftira, a fried-dough disc with a molten egg, is the one.

• KID

  Middle Eastern

  Chef Sertaç Dirik and restaurateur David Carter bring Turkish-influenced cooking to a dark, moody Soho corner. The menu centres on flame-licked food from charcoal grills and a wood-fired oven, including slow-cooked goat, blackened Galata mackerel, and meze. Bookings are released 28 days in advance, or you can try for an off-peak walk-in at the counter.

• Kumori

  Asian

  Thirty seats, one counter, and each temaki placed straight into your palm to be eaten where you sit. The whole point is the four seconds between the chef's hand and your mouth. Nori that still cracks.

• Marjorie's

  European

  A Parisian bar a vins off Carnaby, with sauce-led cooking to match the all-French list.

• Milroy's of Soho

  Whisky bar

  A 1964 whisky shop with a hidden basement bar, The Vault, behind a swinging bookcase: 55 seats, no stag parties, bartender-made bitters and syrups, an epic spirits list.

• Miokuru

  Asian

  Twenty seats, British seafood, Japanese technique, and handrolls made in front of you. The quietest room in Soho for the money.

• Mountain

  European

  Tomos Parry's follow-up to Brat, all wood fire and northern Spanish-Balearic cooking. The hard table to get in Soho, and worth the effort.

• Osteria Vibrato

  European

  Charlie Mellor (ex-Laughing Heart) brings a Greek Street trattoria with 300 wines and a kitchen tracing Italy region by region. Book the late table and stay three hours.

• Panadera

  Bakery

  A creative Filipino bakery: ube pan suisse, pandesal, a longanisa sausage roll.

• Phoenix Arts Club

  Cabaret

  A glamorous cabaret bar in the old rehearsal rooms beneath the Phoenix Theatre, velvet drapes and vintage posters, nightly drag-to-burlesque shows and a late-night showtunes piano. Non-members buy a ticket and get in.

• Polygon Portal

  Listening room

  The first 360-degree spatial-audio listening room in London, in a former Warner Bros studio on Dean Street. Togo armchairs, blankets, a serious rig and a Nine Lives cocktail bar upstairs.

• Prince Charles Cinema

  Cinema

  The cult repertory cinema off Leicester Square: 50-plus films a week, 35mm and 70mm, sing-alongs and all-nighters, a tenner a ticket.

• Quo Vadis (the bar)

  European

  Everyone books the dining room. The move is the bar at lunch.

• Rita's

  North American

  A decade of pop-ups finally settled into a Soho room of red booths and an enclosed garden. American comfort done with intent.

• Sacred Grounds

  Coffee shop

  A church-run coffee shop behind St Anne's in Soho, occupying the site of the area's first fire station. It has the only garden of any Soho coffee shop and hosts open mic nights, poetry slams and sign language club. The menu runs to filter coffee, vegan pastries and mushroom rolls.

• SOMA

  Indian-inspired cocktail bar

  Dark, minimal and only 23 seats, with cocktails that taste of pickle and chaat done properly.

• Sucre

  Caribbean & Latin

  Open-fire Argentine cooking in a dramatic former concert hall, all wood smoke and low light. A grown-up, date-perfect room for a night out.

• Tagine & Grill

  Moroccan

  Yassir Chair cooking modern Moroccan over charcoal in the back of a proper Soho pub. Weekly seasonal tagine, and the kofta is the thing.

• The Croc Bowling Alley

  Bowling

  A 1950s bowling alley shipped from Texas into the basement of Firmdale's Ham Yard Hotel: four maple lanes, vintage ball returns, Howard Hodgkin on the walls.

• Third Man Records London

  Record store & live venue

  A proper rabbit hole for vinyl people, with a basement that occasionally roars to life.

• Under the Counter

  Vinyl listening bar

  A proper listening room for the patient ear, where the music leads and the cocktails keep up.

• Upstairs at Ronnie's

  Jazz & cabaret room

  Ronnie's without the queue downstairs, close enough to the players to lose track of the hour.

• William Curley

  Chocolatier

  Four-time Best British Chocolatier; Michelin-level squares and a Soho counter, no excess sugar.

St James's

• Spencer House

  18th-century private palace

  London's last great 18th-century private palace, and most people walk past it. Sundays only, so plan it.

• Toba

  Asian

  A contemporary Indonesian kitchen in St James's Market drawing on Batak and wider family recipes, from Pino Edward Sinaga. Rendang, gulai kambing and sate ayam done with care at approachable prices for the postcode.

St John's Wood

• No. Forty Nine

  Bakery, bistro and wine bar

  The Cinder team's all-day St John's Wood spot: bakery in the morning, a New-York-bistro-meets-Med menu from midday, wine into the evening.

Strand

• Reference Point

  Library, bookshop and bar

  A library, bookshop and bar off the Strand, stocked with rare magazines. A serious cultural room that never makes you work for it.

Victoria

• Re:Mind Studio

  Sound-healing studio

  London's biggest meditation and sound-healing space, salt-lamp-lit in Victoria: gong baths, crystal bowls and breathwork over herbal tea. Drop in from £12.

• Shan Shui Social

  Asian

  Cantonese roasts and Sichuan heat in a 1920s-Shanghai room of art deco tile, ceramic teapots and low back-alley light. Order the roast duck.

Westbourne Park

• Canal

  European

  A waterside table from the Crispin team, seasonal British-European cooking with standout wine.

• The Cow

  European

  Tom Conran's gloriously shabby Irish-tavern-meets-oyster-bar.