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Autumn is for eating. It’s a proper belly-filling time of year; think of it as your own personal harvest festival, a time to joyfully put on a bit of extra timber to keep yourself cosy and soft over the cold, hard winter. I’ve already got a sizable list of restaurants that I’m excited about visiting over the next few months, as well as a tally of the dishes I can’t wait to devour.
This includes new openings of course, but also old classics and places that really only work for a meal when it’s gloomy outside, but toasty and candlelit within. Here are my top five dishes and destinations for London’s Loveliest Season™.
1. Hogget massaman at AngloThai
This ones been on the cards for, ooh, years? Finally, John and Desiree Chantarasak are opening their very first restaurant after a run of pop-ups, residencies and general flirting with various kitchens across the capital. Their Thai-British joint opens in Marylebone on November 7, and we’ve had a little peek at the menu – so far we’re keen to ram their Brixham crab, Exmoor caviar and coconut ash cracker into our bellies, as well as their lion’s mane mushroom and sunflower seed satay, and hogget massaman curry with black fig. Oof.
2. Midday martinis at Rita’s
I still get misty eyed thinking about the OG Ritas on Mare Street, where in the glory days of 2014 I would feast upon American diner-inspired green chile mac and cheese and work out if I was drunk enough to brave going next door to The Dolphin. Since moving to Soho in 2021, Gabriel Pryce and Missy Flynn’s cult restaurant has become a touch classier than in its haywire Hackney days, and they’ve recently refreshed their lunch menu. I’m gagging to go down there for a midday mini martini – complete with jalapeño popper gilda – to wash down a plate oak smoked pork belly with spring greens and peach.
3. Pig head croquette at Bistro Freddie
I’m as shocked as anyone to discover that I still haven’t been to Spitalfields’ date night delight, Bistro Freddie. Since Joe reviewed it last December, head chef Anna Søgaard has been replaced by Alexandre Laforce Reynolds and there’s a whole new menu to boot. I am hereby booking myself in and making sure to sample the pig head croquette, snail & garlic flatbread, and buttermilk sorbet with strawberries in the process.
4. Sunday roast at Dinner By Heston Blumenthal
If it wasn’t already extremely clear, roast season is officially here. Strangely, it’s taken Heston Blumenthal quite a while to get around to joining in all the fun, and he’s only just getting around to launching his first ever Sunday roast at his Dinner By Heston Blumenthal restaurant inside the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park. Starting on October 13, it has, of course, a silly name: ‘Sunday Roast Potato Time’ and a silly price: £98. But it might just be the best Sunday lunch in London, and I’m going to find out.
5. Steak frites at Café François
I had a mini-hols in Paris a couple of weeks ago and, frankly, have been grumpy about being back in London ever since. In order to make myself feel a little bit better, I’m going to take myself off to the new Café François in Borough Yards and gorge on comté gougères, pâté en croûte and steak frites with sauce au poivre while gently humming Serge Gainsbourg melodies.
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