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London’s Hot 100 Restaurants 2018

London’s Hot 100 Restaurants 2018

Updated on • Written By Ben McCormack

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London’s Hot 100 Restaurants 2018

SquareMeal London Hot 100 2018The votes are in and we’re pleased as punch to announce the results of the second SquareMeal Hot 100: the definitive list of the restaurants that are generating the most buzz with Londoners.

This isn’t intended to be a run-down of the 100 restaurants serving the best food in the capital (although you’d be hard pressed to have a bad meal at any of them). Rather, through a combination of the 11,000 comments we’ve received in our annual surveys, and the restaurants receiving the most page views on our website – as well as the opinions of our editorial team – the Hot 100 reflects the restaurants that the SquareMeal community is most excited about right now.

Or, to put it another way: these are the 100 essential London restaurants to make sure you eat at during 2018.

Topping the list with the most number of reader votes – and a permanent favourite in the SquareMeal office – is Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social, which also wins our SquareMeal restaurant of the year for 2017. Asked why people liked his restaurant so much, Atherton told SquareMeal: “Pollen Street isn’t a hushed temple of gastronomy, it’s a place to have fun. But we take the food as seriously as if it were a temple of gastronomy. It’s about cooking food that people want to eat.”

New opening Core by Clare Smyth shot in at number 5 in the Hot 100, and has also been awarded SquareMeal Best New Restaurant of the Year. It’s quite an accolade for a restaurant that has only been open since August, but Core’s high ranking demonstrated what an instant favourite it has become with readers.

But while high-end, special occasion dining still holds a firm place in readers’ hearts, the hot 100 shows that top quality exists across all price points and styles of dining – just one more reason why London is rightly considered the restaurant capital of the world.

So whether you want curry in Soho or kebabs in Haggerston, a fish supper in Highbury or sushi high in the sky, read on for the full hot 100 list below – and you can also find more information on each of the restaurants in our SquareMeal London’s hot 100 selection.

London hot 100 SquareMeal Pollen Street Social fish

1. Pollen Street Social, Mayfair (above)

2. The Ledbury, Notting Hill

3. Gymkhana, Mayfair

4. Sushisamba, City

5. Core by Clare Smyth, Notting Hill

6. Hutong, London Bridge

7. Padella, London Bridge

8. Neo Bistro, Mayfair

9. Kiln, Soho

10. Barrafina Adelaide Street, Covent Garden

The Clove Club restaurant bar London city

11. The Clove Club, Shoreditch (above)

12. Hakkasan Mayfair, Mayfair

13. Isabel, Mayfair 

14. Chez Bruce, Wandsworth

15. Bocca di Lupo, Soho

16. Mere, Fitzrovia

17. Frenchie, Covent Garden

18. The Wolseley, St James’s

19. Yauatcha Soho, Soho

20. City Social, City

Hakkasan Sept 2015 4

21. Hakkasan Hanway Place, Fitzrovia (above)

22. The Palomar, Soho

23. Zuma, Knightsbridge

24. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Knightsbridge

25. Kricket, Soho

26. Berners Tavern, Fitzrovia

27. Hawksmoor Seven Dials, Covent Garden

28. Le Gavroche, Mayfair

29. Scott’s, Mayfair

30. Social Eating House, Soho

31. Roka Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia

32. J Sheekey, Covent Garden

33. Murano, Mayfair

34. Som Saa, Spitalfields

35. Sexy Fish, Mayfair

36. Fera, Mayfair

37. Hedone, Chiswick

38. The River Café, Hammersmith

39. Duck & Waffle, City

40. Hoppers, Soho

The Dairy restaurant Clapham London Robin Gill

41. The Dairy, Clapham (above)

42. Dishoom Carnaby Street, Soho

43. The Ivy, Covent Garden

44. Clos Maggiore, Covent Garden

45. Restaurant Story, London Bridge

46. Trinity, Clapham

47. A. Wong, Pimlico

48. Typing Room, Bethnal Green

49. The Cinnamon Club, Westminster

50. Brasserie Zédel, Soho

51. Portland, Fitzrovia

52. Gunpowder, Spitalfields

53. Locanda Locatelli, Marylebone

54. Jamavar, Mayfair

55. Claude Bosi at Bibendum, Chelsea

56. Temper Soho, Soho 

57. Marianne, Notting Hill

58. Bar Boulud, Knightsbridge

59. Trullo, Highbury

60. Clipstone, Fitzrovia

61. The Five Fields, Chelsea 

62. Anglo, Farringdon

63. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Chelsea

64. Bernardi’s, Marylebone

65. Blacklock, Soho

66. Cafe Murano, St James’s

67. MARCUS, Knightsbridge

68. Little Social, Mayfair

69. Chiltern Firehouse, Marylebone

70. Pidgin, Hackney

Smokestak Shoreditch Barbecue BBQ restaurant David Carter London Squaremeal Square Meal

71. Smokestak, Shoreditch (above)

72. Xu, Soho

73. Holborn Dining Room, Holborn

74. Lyle’s, Shoreditch

75. St John, Farringdon

76. Bao Soho, Soho

77. Quality Chop House, Farringdon

78. Black Axe Mangal, Highbury

79. Noble Rot, Bloomsbury

80. The Marksman, Bethnal Green

81. Brawn, Bethnal Green

82. Smoking Goat, Soho

83. Rigo, Parsons Green

84. 40 Maltby Street, Bermondsey

85. 108 Garage, Notting Hill

86. The Barbary, Covent Garden

87. Counter Culture, Clapham 

88. Honey & Smoke, Fitzrovia

89. Sushi Tetsu, Farringdon

90. Kitchen Table, Fitzrovia

91. Berber & Q, Haggerston

92. Elystan Street, Chelsea

93. Moro, Clerkenwell

94. The Araki, Mayfair

95. Westerns Laundry, Highbury

96. Jean-Georges at The Connaught, Mayfair

97. Angler, City

98. Serge et le Phoque, Fitzrovia

99. Perilla, Newington Green

100. Sparrow, Lewisham (below)

Sparrow London restaurant bar

Phew, we’re burning up after so much hotness in one go. As we mentioned, these are London’s hottest restaurants right now, but if you’re after London’s very best, you can read all about SquareMeal’s highest-rated restaurants here. 

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