The 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.
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
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
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
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
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)
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.