At Time Out, we champion our city. From the curry houses of Brick Lane to the verdant royal parks, we love every inch of London. There’s something amazing on offer in every borough and our vibrant, multicultural society doesn’t let grey weather dampen our evenings.
But right now, not everything is ticking along as usual. Many of London’s venues are being hit hard – and it’s going to get more difficult over the next few months. We want you to keep supporting them, as best you can.
To make it easier for you, we want to introduce you to a few of our partners. We team up with some of London’s best spots to bring you great info, secrets, offers and more – and we really we proud of it. Here are some of our favourites. Go forth and love them as much as we do.
A venue with Scottish heart, Mac & Wild specialises in wild deer that happens to be mind-bogglingly tender. Most of the meat comes from co-owner Andy Waugh’s father’s estate, the rest from other trusted highland hunters. To support it during this difficult time, you can order its food with a 50 percent discount on Deliveroo, purchase gift shop products, book the company for an event and even order all of the high-quality meat being cooked, straight from the Highlands, delivered to your door.
The first ‘smart’ restaurant from the crew behind cult hit Bao, Xu is a love letter to 1930s Taipei. It’s got class, but no hanger-up-its-bum. Tea is big at Xu. But you don’t come for the tea (though it’s very good). You came for the food. And oh my. It’s magnificent.
Hooray for hip little joint Ikoyi, which specialises in ‘jollof’ cuisine. Technically, that’s a specific Nigerian rice dish (a sort of African paella, at a push), but here they’ve used it as a catch-all for a menu that zips across West Africa, chucking up a host of fusiony flavours that’ll be truly new to most foodie Londoners.
If you want to find out what the whole natural wine thing is all about, pay a visit to Terroirs. The ground floor has a casual feel and a menu to match, focused on small plates for sharing. You can sample some of the same dishes in the atmospheric and surprisingly roomy basement, which feels more like a restaurant with a focus on rustic French dishes.
It’s always Fashion Week at Fumo. At least that’s how it feels: all buzz and beautiful people. The room is elegant, in a high-fashion, Milanese way and as for the food, it is mostly excellent – from silken burrata layered with parma ham and earthy black truffle shavings to a trio of crunchy-on-the-outside-ragu-in-the-middle arancini.
Indian Accent’s swanky-pants setting is matched by food that’s as high-end as Indian gets. It’s creative. It’s pretty. And yes it’s pricy. There’s a tasting menu (obvs) and a couple of incredible amuse-bouches (aka freebies), though you can get all the best bits on the £55 set menu.
Indian Accent is now closed but you can purchase a gift voucher for a future visit here.
The big smoke’s fifth outpost under The Kitchens group, Bloomsbury Street Kitchen is all about Japanese and Mediterranean small plates.
Sakagura is like somewhere you would actually find in Japan, rather than your typical clichéd translation of a ‘Japanese restaurant’. You get all the trimmings, including a sake menu so vast that it’s organised by province and, of course, really excellent food. Attention to detail abounds.
The unstoppable uplift of the King’s Cross area brings a new bar/restaurant nearly every week, but the Booking Office remains the undisputed champion for cocktails. The cocktail list starts at £9 for punches (a speciality) with most between £11 and £15. They play around with classic drinks adventurously but sensibly, and if nothing takes your fancy, ordering off-list is easy and rewarding.
Every last detail at Salut! gets the Langes’ personal attention – answering the phones, wiping plate edges, checking you enjoyed your meal. And the menu undersells its dishes with such modesty, including king crab and watercress with an unexpected crab roe foam and micro herb pesto plus a ‘selection of onions’ with a juicy pork belly.
There’s an adorable comic on Kanada-Ya’s website that tells the story of Kanada-San and his legendary tonkotsu ramen. When someone tried to steal his recipe, he moved his shop – with his 18-hour chashu (barbecued pork) bone broth, secret sauce and hand-pulled noodles – from Yukuhashi to London. And the ramen, true to form, is spectacular.
Deep-fried cheese, though obviously not diet food, must be one of life’s great pleasures. Oli Baba is officially everybody’s best friend, since he’s devoted his life to frying fingers of halloumi cheese until they’re crispy on the outside and squidgy in the middle. They’re not one of your five-a-day, they’re not going to blow your tastebuds apart, but they are deep-fried cheese.
Welcome to The Bike Shed: originally a blog and forum for custom bike nerds, now IRL and occupying two big railway arches right next to Shoreditch Town Hall. Alongside a shop selling biker bits and bobs (and a rockabilly barbershop) this Shed contains an upmarket cafe/bar/restaurant for bougie bikers and dedicated pedestrians alike.
After finding the DSC (not easy for first-timers), descend the steep stairs and watch your head so you don’t bump it on the incredibly low ceilings. The effort is worth it: DSC may look like just another wood-heavy, dimly atmospheric London ‘speakeasy’, but it is so much more. The changing cocktail list can sound wacky, but in our experience here wacky always equals wonderful.
DSC is currently closed but you can buy its products online and have them delivered. More info here.
You don’t have to be a dedicated gamer to experience pure joy at Four Quarters EasPinball machines, retro consoles set in booths and a suite of rare and restored arcade games activated by American quarters (don’t worry, staff can exchange your sterling at the bar) decorate the room, flashing and bleeping away.
A buzzy rooftop oasis with swoonsome views of the city’s skyline, Bar Elba takes its inspiration from the tiny island of Elba, just off the Tuscan coast. The bar boasts a small wine, beer and cider menu, as well as a selection of bubbles for those with an emperor’s budget.
Who doesn’t love a pancake? That’s the simple premise behind this bright new addition to Southwark’s Flat Iron Square, and it seems to be working. It’s easy to see why: the buttermilk beauties served here have just a hint of sourness, managing to be substantial and moist without stodginess. In other words, flipping perfect.
Once an unremarkable Southwark pub with a good jukebox, the Rose re-emerged in the summer of 2013 after a two-year closure and refurbishment. Behind the bar, the Rose has all bases covered. Cocktails are of the hot-right-now pre-mixed and barrel-aged varieties, complete with a £9 price tag. Try the Snowsfields if you’re partial to a G&T – its blend of spirit, spiced orange liqueur and own made lemonade is the stuff idyllic British picnics are made of.
Lyaness is in the spot that used to be Dandelyan, run by the same team with the same aim – crafting awesome drinks that make you think. The real overhaul is saved for the menu – seven newly created ingredients feature, with three different drinks made from each.
In 2015, Mr Bao took Peckham by storm, daring to bring the decade’s hottest trend – that of steamed milk buns with punchy fillings – to SE15. And they do it well. But in reality, the star creation isn’t a bun, but a soft, sloppy, moreish dish of sesame-slathered aubergine, lifted by the allium hit of sliced scallions and the sharp, sweet tang of pomegranate seeds.
The Cross Keys has a really local feel – which in Red Trouser Land means boisterous bonhomie, cash being liberally splashed by the lords of the manor, and their well-mannered, fresh-faced sons waiting tables. The wine list is French- and Italian-leaning, with just shy of 25 options by the glass.
What’s not to like about turn-of-the-century Parisian styling and classic French food in a cosy space? Because that’s exactly what Soutine is: an embodiment of every Londoner’s fantasy of the Parisian bistro, from the Wolseley team.
Celebrity chef Marcus Wareing owns a few fancy restaurants across London, but this one, Marcus, is by far his most elaborate – a proper fine-dining spot on the ground floor of The Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge that’s perfect for a special occasion.
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