The best restaurants in Marylebone

Luke Ahearne – a dynamo of a chef, has finally been granted a room of his own after spots at The Clove Club, Luca, and Corrigan’s Mayfair, where he was head chef at just 29. Here, he's given full reign of the open kitchen to whip up ‘southern Mediterranean’ sharing plates. In reality this means lots of fish and lots of fire, and everything comes slicked with so much olive oil that the dishes are glossier than a Steely Dan outro. Ignore the pan con tomate with anchovies at your peril, and go hard on the raw fish starters. It's not cheap, but food this spectacular rarely is. 

St John Marylebone benefits from its intimacy – upstairs there’s an open kitchen and big windows, but downstairs is a cosy basement, where the lack of natural light might just lead to that brilliant thing – a lunch so lavish that you forget what time it is, only to stumble out at 5pm, pleasantly dazed and happily full. Unlike the other two St John restaurants, the menu here is small and seemingly ad hoc. Chalkboards explain the day’s offerings. There’s only a handful of starters and mains up for grabs. All are made for sharing, but by God you don’t have to if you don’t want to. The brevity of such a menu is never an issue; everything is exceptional.

A hidden gem – abeit one that's hiding in plain sight – this family-run café-cum-deli has been serving up homemade nourishment since 1900. Lately its beef goulash has been making waves (and stains, dribbled down T-shirts from over-eager eating). It’s a smoky soup that’s so thick you could almost call it gravy, chock-full of hearty vegetables and tender chunks of beef. It’s rich, dense and perfect for dunking one of the café’s gigantic sandwiches into.

Jikoni, which means ‘kitchen’ in Kiswahili, blends Asian, African and Middle Eastern cuisines. If you’re looking for ‘authentic’ food from any of those regions, you’d better go elsewhere. But if you want a charming and playful evening of culinary surprises, which includes a prawn-toast scotch egg with banana ketchup and adorable diddy pickled cucumbers (as good as it sounds), Jikoni won’t disappoint. 

Bao Marylebone is the Taiwanese mini-chain's latest outpost following Shoreditch, Borough, King’s Cross and the original Lexington Street digs. It’s the first all-day-ish branch of Bao, and here focus is on dumplings, but it's the new selection of cold dishes (and the bao, of course) that really impress. Don't miss the jammy and caramelly, soy-boiled egg, in a sweet thick sauce that’s also pudding-worthy (and possibly the best thing you can get for £3 at any central London’s restaurant).

Earthy pink terracotta walls, tropical hanging fronds and handmade paper lanterns from Oaxaca combine into the breezy, chic Cavita, Marylebone’s new modern Mexican hotspot. Chef Adriana Cavita serves up an everchanging menu of street food, raw bites of seasonal seafood and big sharing plates, full of bold Mexican flavours and convivial atmosphere.

A little taste of Mittel Europe transported to Marylebone, this grand café from Messrs Corbin & King has its culinary compass set to Austria, although it also absorbs ideas from neighbouring countries. Everything about Fischer’s is polished, from the acres of smooth, varnished woodwork to the all-encompassing menu, which satisfies from breakfast to late suppertime. It’s as seductively captivating as a full-dress Viennese waltz.  

The heat (and the hype) may have died down and you no longer need celeb cred to guarantee a table, but Chiltern Firehouse is still in demand for business or pleasure. Staff ooze professionalism, standards are sky-high, and the food is stunningly inventive modern stuff. Perching at the counter is the most fun you can have here.

Standing proud like some Andalusian mansion in Marylebone, this smart branch of the Ibérica chain dishes up a wide-ranging menu covering everything from matchless jamón, charcuterie and cheeses to small plates and hot stews. Service is very Spanish, and staff are happy to help when it comes to choosing from the patriotic list of regional wines and sherries. Also check out the deli next door.

One of London’s more highly regarded Italian chefs, Giorgio Locatelli presides over this glamorous, well-groomed destination, allowing the dining room’s suave interiors to soothe his well-heeled clientele while his kitchen doles out food that deserves to be relished as well as admired. Superb hand-crafted pasta is the top shout, but everything screams quality. Wines offer a positively educational survey of Italy’s regions.

Just luxe enough for Marylebone, this snug brasserie from sommelier Xavier Rousset (ex-Texture) promises a polite blend of English and Mediterranean comfort – with a strong emphasis on excellent wines by the glass. The food is Gallic, meticulously crafted and pitched just the right side of fussy – think juicy roast quail with truffle boudin and turnip. The best seats are at the buzzy counter.

This chic Marylebone Village restaurant serves exemplary pasta dishes at appealingly reasonable prices you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere in W1. The tagliolini with black truffle is a must: but don't stint on the gorgeous array of antipasti, either, and it's worth lingering in their art-deco bar for a cheeky aperitivo. 

Once one of Marylebone’s best-kept secrets, Dinings now has a reputation larger than its pokey townhouse setting. It may be cramped, and the downstairs room does resemble a concrete bunker, but the Nobu-inspired modern Japanese food is indisputably excellent – with some noticeable Peruvian flourishes added to its ‘tapas-style’ line-up. With polite, efficient chefs and waiters too, Dinings is a top performer.

Donostia is the Basque name for the prestigious gastronomic hotbed of San Sebastián, and this minimalist tapas joint rightly basks in the reflected glory of its namesake. Understated flavour revelations are the order of the day, from pintxos skewers to veal fillet with ratte potatoes. The drinks list is also worth careful consideration, from biodynamic riojas to natural Basque cider poured from a great height.

Located within a naan’s hurl of Oxford Street, Roti Chai offers Indian thrills on two levels. Office workers pack the ground-floor ‘street kitchen’ for lunchtime ‘shack snacks’, ‘railway’ curries, dhals and the like, while the sexier basement room comes into its own for full blowouts in the evening. Wherever you’re seated, a bevy of alert, young multinational staff keep things pacy.

The piece de resistance of this Big Mamma Group resto is a circular, floor-to-ceiling mirrored loo that’s more Studio 54 than manky cubicle. Here, all bathroom selfies (of which there will inevitably be many) are presided over by the Virgin Mary with a ring light for a halo. Where tradition and overt, unashamed Instagrammability meet: this is the Big Mamma way. It's more about the look than the food (big bowls of pasta, huge hunjks of burrata, etc), but if you're looking for a photo op, this is your spot. 

Hoppers’ second branch is larger, smarter and more grown-up than the sexy little Soho original – and you can book. You’ll clock most of the old favourites on the menu (including the eponymous ‘hoppers’ and bone marrow varuval), but also expect some more fusion-style offerings (not always successful, we have to say). Downstairs is for big parties – and brain-freezing cocktails while you wait.

Named after Peru’s ‘Mother Earth’, Pachamama is certainly a place to revere if you’re a Marylebone hedonist – this gorgeous-looking low-lit basement hotspot has it all, at a price tag mere mortals can afford. To eat, there are modish (but never wacky) Peruvian plates full of finesse and flavour, all accompanied by party-time DJs at the weekends. Psst: the bottomless brunch is a local legend.

A modern Greek eatery that doubles as a weekend brunch spot, wine bar and bakery, Opso serves contemporary mezédes and Hellenic classics in a stripped-back setting of bare wood, dangling lights and matrix-like metal gantries. Its small plates are jazzed-up concoctions such as a Greek salad ceviche or metsovone croquettes (smoked fried cheese with rhubarb jam), while mains could be as traditional as moussaka. There’s a feta bar too, as well as an array of starry home-baked cakes and pastries.

It’s all about roll-your-sleeves-up DIY at Kintan – a bargain-basement Japanese eatery specialising in yakiniku, a variant of Korean BBQ involving a smoky thick-ridged grill built into each table. The fully illustrated medley ranges from USDA kalbi short-rib to tiger prawns, although we’re hooked on the pre-marinated spicy pork. Wipe-clean menus are splashed with red-sticker deals, while extended ‘happy hours’ add extra value.

Serene and elegant, with bucolic views through its arched windows, Orrery achieves the almost impossible – serving up a lunchtime menu of exceptional beauty, glamour and flavour in demure grey-toned surroundings that are the toast of Marylebone. Yes, the three-course deal is a business no-brainer, but Orrery’s refined French-inspired food and gorgeous wines are equally seductive for a romantic evening à deux.

There are cheese boards and then there are La Fromagerie cheese boards. We’d like to live in a world in which we were only ever served the latter – carefully sourced, themed by nation (with suggested wines to match) and prettily arranged on a wooden slab at the back of a shop filled with wonderful chutneys and handmade French tableware. A slice of cheese heaven.

Occupying an old banking chamber deep in upper-crust Marylebone, Les 110 is only slightly more approachable than its starry elder sibling in Paris – so sit up straight, polish your accent and be sure to use your cutlery in the right order. The food is lavish French fine dining at its best, while 110 (yes!) wines by the glass cater to novices and connoisseurs alike.

In among the ostentatiousness of the Instagrammy flower walls and ornately appointed patios of many a Marylebone restaurant is Boxcar. This place is a pared-back bar and grill serving up unfussy dinners, done well. The menu is full of crowd-pleasers – a burger, a light, summery cod dish with peas and a fennel-heavy broth, and of course steaks – though it’s not without its flourishes. My spicy peach margarita to start is genuinely fiery (in a good way), and the butter served with the intro bread is moreishly whipped with garlic and chives. Some small touches are missed – a scallop dish comes slightly overdone, though the fish is paired classically and very tastily with pancetta and Jerusalem artichoke – but there are moments of greatness too. I haven’t, for example, stopped thinking about the small plate of lamb croquettes, garnished with pink pickled onion and accompanied by a lovage sauce. Here, a bon-bon type outer gives way to the sort of stringy meat, and it’s a bite that could make most diners go caveman behind the eyes. For dessert there’s a dainty rhubarb millefeuille that rounds things off especially sweetly, avoiding heaviness, and overall, it’s a low-key but capital-n Nice weeknight meal, of the type it can be tough to find in the area. 

Manna for the ladies who lunch, the high-ceilinged Delamina brims with shabby-chic elegance, while the food has a supposedly ‘wholesome’ imprint. Emphatic Middle Eastern and Mediterranean accents shine through, although we suggest staying with the snacks and mezze, before homing in on the must-have pud (two slabs of tahini halva with date syrup and hazelnuts). Ask for a street-side table if you’re into people-watching.  

A tiny Basque enclave in Marylebone, Lurra is the baby sister of Donostia just down the road. Lap up the buzzy atmosphere and smoky aromas as you pick from a menu of rustic-luxe tapas and pintxos inspired by the bars of San Sebastián. Also, don’t ignore the appetising drinks list with its sprightly, spritzy txakoli wines alongside other indie regional tipples.

They now have a string of hits to their name (think Gymkhana, Hoppers and Bao for starters), but this is where it all began for the all-conquering Sethi siblings. The setting is smart and quietly conservative, while the kitchen thrills punters with its interpretations of Indian regional cuisine – especially seafood from the south. And the thrills continue with Sunaina Sethi’s globetrotting wine list.  

As the exclusive name suggests, this premier link in the Royal China chain has an air of quiet five-star elegance, right down to the faint tinkling of a piano. Lunchtime dim sum is a star attraction, but the kitchen also turns out consummate Cantonese cooking based on prized ingredients such as abalone and lobster. Meanwhile, polished staff make everyone feel like a visiting dignitary.

Decked out in lavish oriental style with banners, screens and dragons galore, Phoenix Palace is a favourite of international businessmen – although its easy-going bustle also suits local Chinese families who crowd round circular tables for the excellent weekend dim sum (reservations are a must unless you fancy queueing). Tip: dinner is a firecracker fest during the Chinese New Year.

One of a trio of high-quality wine bar/restaurants dreamed up by chef Agnar Sverrisson of Texture, 28°-50° is all about quality. Staff are bright as a button, the wine list is a thing of joy (with up to 30 offerings by the glass or carafe), and the French-inspired menu offers sharing platters, cheeses, deli staples and more refined examples of French bourgeois cooking.