LONDON

The Take

London is one of those cities that rewards the person who stops trying to see everything. The tourists are queuing for the Tower of London. The person who knows is having a late breakfast at Maison François and walking to St. James's Park afterwards. The city has always been split between the version that exists for visitors and the version that exists for people who live well — and the gap between those two Londons has never been wider or more worth navigating.

The hotel scene has had a genuinely exciting few years. The dining scene, which was already serious, has gotten sharper. The private members' clubs are still the best version of the city's social life, and you'll need to know someone. Here is what we know.

By Albert Beesemer · March 2025
All recommendations independently visited. No sponsored placements. Ever.
The VV Picks — Where We'd Stay

London's hotel market has had an extraordinary few years. These are the properties that earned the recommendation.

VV PICK

The Twentytwo

MAYFAIR · FROM £450/NIGHT

Twenty-two rooms. That is it. The smallness is entirely the point — it feels like staying in someone's very well-appointed townhouse rather than a hotel. The bar is one of the better rooms in Mayfair. The service remembers what you ordered last time. Book as far ahead as possible — the junior suites go first.

VV PICK

The London Edition

BERNERS STREET · FITZROVIA · FROM £280/NIGHT

Ian Schrager's London property sits at the meeting point of Soho, Fitzrovia and the West End — exactly where you want to be. Rooms smaller than you expect and better than you hope. The Punch Room bar is the reason to stay in even when you don't want to.

VV PICK

At Sloane

SLOANE SQUARE · CHELSEA · FROM ~£350/NIGHT

A Chelsea townhouse hotel on Sloane Square, steps from the King's Road and Belgravia. Intimate, well-run, genuinely local in a way that larger Chelsea properties are not. The right base for anyone whose London centers on SW1 and SW3.

VV PICK

Bertrand's Townhouse

CHELSEA · FROM ~£300/NIGHT

A beautifully considered small property in Chelsea — the kind of hotel that operates more like a private house than a conventional hotel. Specific, personal, very Chelsea.

VV PICK

The Ned

CITY OF LONDON · FROM £250 · BEST VALUE

A former bank building converted into something genuinely spectacular — seven restaurants, a rooftop pool, and rooms that manage to feel grand without feeling stuffy. Stay midweek. The weekend crowd changes the energy significantly.

VV PICK

The Portobello Hotel

NOTTING HILL · FROM ~£250/NIGHT

A Notting Hill institution since 1971 — 21 rooms, each different, with the particular bohemian character of the neighborhood still intact. The kind of hotel that independent travelers found before the boutique category existed.

A Step Above — For the Right Occasion

London's luxury hotel market has had one of the most significant decades of any city in Europe.

The Emory

KNIGHTSBRIDGE · FROM £700

Hyde Park on one side, the best of Knightsbridge on the other. Opened recently and already feels like it's been there for decades — the highest compliment you can pay a London hotel.

Raffles at the OWO

WHITEHALL · FROM £800

The former Old War Office, converted with the kind of care that makes you forget you're in a government building. Twelve restaurants and bars, a Guerlain spa, and an address that makes even Londoners slightly envious.

The Peninsula London

BELGRAVIA

Opened 2023 on Hyde Park Corner — Peninsula's first European property and one of the most significant London openings in a generation. The rooftop bar looks over the park. The spa is exceptional.

The Connaught

MAYFAIR · SINCE 1897

The standard against which all other Mayfair hotels are measured. Hélène Darroze's restaurant has held two Michelin stars for over a decade. The Connaught Bar is on this page under Bars.

Claridge's

MAYFAIR · SINCE 1856

The most famous hotel in London and arguably the most beloved. The art deco interiors, the Christmas tree, the long-standing staff who remember what you ordered last time. The Fumoir is one of the great small bar rooms in London.

Cambridge House — Auberge

94 PICCADILLY · MAYFAIR

The former In and Out Military Club — a Grade I-listed Georgian mansion transformed by Jean-Louis Deniot, with dining and spa by Laura Gonzalez. 102 rooms, two pools, a private members club, an open-air jasmine courtyard.

NoMad London

COVENT GARDEN

Inside the former Bow Street Magistrates Court — the building where Oscar Wilde was arraigned. The Atrium is one of the most dramatic hotel dining rooms in Europe. Worth a meal even if you are not staying.

The Langham

MARYLEBONE · SINCE 1865

The first grand hotel in London and still setting the standard for what a grand hotel should feel like. The Palm Court afternoon tea is one of the great London rituals. Roux at the Landau for dinner.

Café Royal

PICCADILLY

A Grade I-listed Piccadilly landmark restored by David Chipperfield. The Ten Room spa and the Domino private members club are the reasons regulars return. The Grill Room, where Oscar Wilde held court.

The Chancery Rosewood

HOLBORN

Rosewood's London property in the former US Embassy on Grosvenor Square — a brutalist masterpiece converted with extraordinary care. The spa is one of the largest in London.

See All London Hotels →
Restaurants

London's dining scene has never been more serious. These are the tables worth building your evenings around.

Sessions Arts Club

CLERKENWELL · EUROPEAN

Housed inside the Old Sessions House — a former courthouse converted into something between a restaurant and an art installation. The food is good, but the room is the reason to go. Book ahead. It is a hard reservation.

ORDER: WHATEVER IS SEASONAL — THE MENU CHANGES

Kiln

SOHO · THAI

Live-fire cooking, no reservations for the counter seats — get there early and sit at the bar facing the kitchen. It is loud and cramped and completely right.

ORDER: PORK COLLAR · CLAY POT DISHES

Scott's

MAYFAIR · SEAFOOD

Established 1851 and still the most reliably excellent seafood restaurant in the city. This is old London behaving exactly as old London should.

ORDER: DRESSED CRAB · DOVER SOLE

Maison François

ST. JAMES'S · FRENCH

The grand Parisian brasserie that London needed and finally has. The downstairs bar — François's — is one of the better places in the city for a late drink.

ORDER: STEAK FRITES · THE SOUFFLÉ

The Ledbury

NOTTING HILL · MODERN EUROPEAN

Two Michelin stars and the most quietly exceptional kitchen in the city. The service is warm in a way that Michelin restaurants often aren't.

ORDER: THE TASTING MENU — ALL OF IT

Gymkhana

MAYFAIR · INDIAN

The best Indian restaurant in a city with extraordinary Indian restaurants.

ORDER: KID GOAT METHI KEEMA · DUCK EGG BHURJI

Bouchon Racine

FARRINGDON · FRENCH

Opened 2024 and immediately felt like it had been there for thirty years. Book ahead — the room is small and the word is out.

ORDER: FRENCH ONION SOUP · RABBIT IN MUSTARD SAUCE

Ambassador's Clubhouse

MAYFAIR · BRITISH

The public-facing sibling of 5 Hertford Street — the room has the same quality, the same crowd, without the membership requirement. One of the better lunches in Mayfair.

ORDER: SEASONAL BRITISH · WHATEVER IS ON THE BOARD

Simpson's in the Strand

THE STRAND · BRITISH

Open since 1828. The grand dining room, the silver-domed trolleys, the roast beef carved at the table. Old London behaving exactly as old London should. Go for Sunday lunch.

ORDER: ROAST BEEF CARVED AT THE TABLE · TREACLE TART

Somewhere Café at Harrods

KNIGHTSBRIDGE · CAFÉ

The best-kept secret inside the least subtle building in London. The café inside Harrods that feels like someone carved out a genuinely good room and hid it among the gift wrap. Go for breakfast or a mid-morning coffee.

ORDER: EGGS · PASTRIES · WHATEVER IS SEASONAL

74 Duke

CHELSEA · EUROPEAN

A Chelsea neighbourhood restaurant that does everything right — the room, the wine list, the cooking, the fact that it is full of people who live nearby. Exactly the kind of restaurant London does better than anywhere else.

ORDER: SEASONAL MENU · THE WINE LIST IS THE POINT

Celeste at The Lanesborough

BELGRAVIA · FRENCH

The restaurant inside The Lanesborough — one of the most beautiful dining rooms in London. The cooking matches the room. The Sunday lunch is one of the great London rituals.

ORDER: TASTING MENU · SUNDAY LUNCH

Lilibet's

SOUTH KENSINGTON · EUROPEAN

A neighbourhood restaurant in South Kensington that has very quickly become the kind of place locals protect. Small, considered, the cooking better than the room suggests.

ORDER: SEASONAL MENU · WHATEVER IS SPECIAL

Martino's

FITZROVIA · ITALIAN

A proper Italian restaurant in Fitzrovia that has been feeding the neighbourhood for decades and sees no reason to change. The pasta is made in the kitchen.

ORDER: PASTA · TIRAMISU

The Dover & Dover Street Counter

MAYFAIR · EUROPEAN

Two rooms, two experiences — the Dover dining room upstairs and the counter downstairs. The counter is the move: smaller, more personal, the cooking right in front of you.

ORDER: COUNTER MENU · SEASONAL

A. Wong

VICTORIA · CHINESE

Two Michelin stars and the most serious Chinese kitchen in London. Andrew Wong's tasting menu is one of the great London dining experiences. Book months ahead.

ORDER: TASTING MENU · FULL EXPERIENCE ONLY

One Club Row

SHOREDITCH · EUROPEAN

A Shoreditch restaurant that has the rare quality of being genuinely good without trading on its neighborhood. The cooking is precise, the room is right.

ORDER: SEASONAL MENU

Fallow

ST. JAMES'S · SUSTAINABLE BRITISH

One of the most interesting kitchens in London — sustainable, seasonal, inventive without being precious. The corn ribs. Always the corn ribs.

ORDER: CORN RIBS · DEER TARTARE · WHATEVER IS ON

The River Café

HAMMERSMITH · ITALIAN

The most important Italian restaurant in London, which it has been since 1987. Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers built something that transformed how England thinks about Italian food. The chocolate nemesis is non-negotiable.

ORDER: PASTA · CHOCOLATE NEMESIS

The Pelican

LADBROKE GROVE · PUB

The best pub in London for a proper meal — the kind of cooking that would embarrass most restaurants, in a room that is unmistakably a pub. The beef dripping toast. No reservations for the bar. Go early.

ORDER: BEEF DRIPPING TOAST · WHATEVER IS ON THE BOARD

Tamil Prince

ISLINGTON · SOUTH INDIAN

A South Indian pub restaurant in Islington that has been quietly exceptional since it opened. The dosas are the best in London. The room is a pub. The food is not pub food.

ORDER: DOSAS · SMALL PLATES

Georgie's

CHELSEA · BRITISH

A Chelsea neighbourhood restaurant that operates at a higher level than its postcode requires. The cooking is careful, the room is warm, the clientele is local.

ORDER: SEASONAL BRITISH

Granger & Co

NOTTING HILL · AUSTRALIAN

Bill Granger's London outpost — for an easy, excellent lunch that requires no planning and no apology. The ricotta hotcakes and the scrambled eggs are among the best in the city.

ORDER: RICOTTA HOTCAKES · SCRAMBLED EGGS · DAILY SALAD

Sloane Street Deli

CHELSEA · DELI & CAFÉ

A Chelsea deli for a casual lunch that does not feel like a compromise. Good sandwiches, good coffee, the kind of place that makes the neighborhood function.

ORDER: WHATEVER IS BEHIND THE GLASS

Gallery at the Savoy

THE STRAND · BRITISH

The dining room inside the Savoy — the hotel everyone knows and the restaurant fewer people consider. The room is one of the great London dining rooms.

ORDER: AFTERNOON TEA · SUNDAY LUNCH

Dorian

CHELSEA · EUROPEAN

A newer Chelsea restaurant that has earned its place quickly — the cooking is good, the room is right, the wine list is serious.

ORDER: SEASONAL MENU

Barrafina

SOHO · SPANISH

The best tapas in London, no reservations, counter seating only. Queue or go at an odd hour. Worth every minute of the wait.

ORDER: TORTILLA · CROQUETAS · WHATEVER IS ON THE BOARD

Sabor

SOHO · SPANISH

Upstairs or downstairs — the counter downstairs for pintxos and sherry, the dining room upstairs for the full meal. Nieves Barragán Mohacho's cooking is exceptional.

ORDER: DOWNSTAIRS COUNTER · JAMÓN · ROAST SUCKLING PIG

The Devonshire

SOHO · PUB

The pub that is worth the queue. A Soho institution that serves food as good as most restaurants in a room that is entirely a pub. The beef Wellington. Go early or accept the wait.

ORDER: BEEF WELLINGTON · WHATEVER IS ON CASK

Franco's

ST. JAMES'S · ITALIAN

St. James's Italian institution since 1946. The clientele is what it has always been — old money, diplomats, people who do not need to announce themselves. The pasta is the reason.

ORDER: PASTA · VEAL

Noble Rot

BLOOMSBURY & SOHO · WINE BAR

Wine bar and restaurant from the team behind the magazine. The wine list is extraordinary and the food matches it. Both locations are good. The Bloomsbury original has the better room.

ORDER: WHATEVER DAN KEELING RECOMMENDS · SEASONAL PLATES

The Delaunay

ALDWYCH · EUROPEAN

The Wolseley's sibling — same grand Mitteleuropean dining room energy, better located for the Strand and Covent Garden crowd. Excellent for breakfast, lunch or a late dinner after the theatre.

ORDER: WIENERSCHNITZEL · EGGS AT BREAKFAST
Coffee, Bakeries & Snacks

The bakeries, pastry counters and food halls worth the detour.

The Pie Room at Rosewood

HOLBORN

Over 200 pies daily through The Pie Hole street hatch. The raised game pie.

Birley Bakery

CHELSEA GREEN

The best croissant in London. Get there early.

Claridge's Bakery

MAYFAIR

The retail bakery from Claridge's kitchen — the croissants and the sourdough are the best argument for the address. Queue early. They sell out.

Harrods Food Hall

KNIGHTSBRIDGE

The Victorian food halls are one of the great London rooms — the fish counter, the cheese room, the prepared foods.

Marchesi

MAYFAIR

The Milanese patisserie and café with a small London outpost. The cornetti and the hot chocolate. Worth the detour from Bond Street.

Crunch

CHELSEA

A Chelsea sandwich and lunch counter that does a small number of things with total commitment. The sandwiches are among the best in London.

Bars

The rooms worth being in after dinner.

The Connaught Bar

MAYFAIR

The best hotel bar in Europe. Agostino Perrone's martini trolley comes to your table. Go early, stay late, order a second.

Duke's Bar

ST. JAMES'S

Where Ian Fleming drank his martinis. Stirred, not shaken. The room holds thirty people and no one is in a rush.

Bar 42

MAYFAIR

One of the quieter Mayfair bars — considered, well-stocked, the kind of room where the conversation is the point rather than the crowd.

Tramp

JERMYN STREET · ST. JAMES'S · NIGHTCLUB

More nightclub than bar — the St. James's institution since 1969. Mick Jagger, Sinatra, and every generation of the London social scene since. Members and guests only. Get on the list before you arrive.

Shopping

The London addresses worth knowing — heritage tailors, considered menswear, the bookshops and food halls that have always been the point.

Connolly

MAYFAIR · LEATHER & LIFESTYLE

The heritage leather house that supplied Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce — now a beautifully curated lifestyle store in Mayfair. Leather goods, clothing, objects. The kind of shop that takes craftsmanship seriously.

New & Lingwood

JERMYN STREET · MENSWEAR

The Eton College outfitter that became one of Jermyn Street's finest — shirts, suits, dressing gowns, the kind of things that last decades.

Edward Green

JERMYN STREET · SHOES

The Northampton shoemaker with a Jermyn Street presence — considered by many to be the finest English shoe. Made on a last, built to last thirty years.

Gaziano & Girling

MAYFAIR · BESPOKE SHOES

The most exciting bespoke shoemaker in London — Tony Gaziano and Dean Girling trained at the great houses before starting their own. The ready-to-wear line is exceptional.

Ken & Haste

CHELSEA · BESPOKE TAILORING

A small Chelsea tailor doing bespoke and made-to-measure work with genuine craft behind it. Less well-known than the Savile Row houses, better for some customers because of it.

Liberty London

SOHO · DEPARTMENT STORE

The Tudor building on Great Marlborough Street that has been selling beautiful things since 1875. The fabric department alone is worth the visit.

Pavilion Press

NOTTING HILL · BOOKS

A Notting Hill bookshop with a genuine point of view — the kind of selection that tells you someone with taste made every decision. Allow time.

Berry Bros & Rudd

ST. JAMES'S · WINE

The oldest wine merchant in Britain, trading from the same St. James's Street address since 1698. The cellars below the shop are one of the great London spaces.

To Do & See

The museums, cinemas and cultural rooms worth building your days around.

The V&A

SOUTH KENSINGTON · MUSEUM

The greatest decorative arts museum in the world — fashion, furniture, textiles, ceramics, photography, architecture from every culture and every century. Free entry. Could take a week. Plan for half a day minimum and accept you will come back.

V&A East Storehouse

STRATFORD · MUSEUM ARCHIVE

The new V&A collection storage and study facility in Stratford — 250,000 objects visible behind glass, the research archive open by appointment. One of the most remarkable new museum spaces in Europe.

The British Museum

BLOOMSBURY · MUSEUM

The most visited museum in the UK — the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, the Lewis Chessmen, two million years of human history. Free entry. Go early or late to avoid the worst crowds.

Electric Cinema

PORTOBELLO ROAD · CINEMA

The oldest working cinema in the UK, on Portobello Road. Armchairs, footstools, a waiter service for food and drinks. Watch something, anything. The experience is entirely the point.

Sir John Soane's Museum

HOLBORN · MUSEUM

The home and personal collection of the architect Sir John Soane, left exactly as he arranged it at his death in 1837. The Picture Room alone, with its folding walls revealing layer after layer of paintings, is one of the great museum experiences in the world. Free entry. Book.

Somerset House

THE STRAND · ARTS CENTRE

The 18th-century government building turned arts and culture venue — exhibitions, film screenings, the ice rink in winter, and the courtyard that is one of the best outdoor spaces in central London.

Plan Your Trip

Every recommendation, mapped.

We have pinned every hotel, restaurant, bar, and shop from this guide into a single London map. One tap and it lives in your Google Maps — ready for the trip.

Open the London Map →
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Worth Skipping

Any restaurant within 200m of a major tourist attraction

Tourist prices, not London food.

The South Bank for dinner

Walk across the bridge. Eat on the other side.

Notting Hill on a market day without a plan

Beautiful and entirely unnavigable.

Any rooftop bar charging £25 for a gin and tonic

The view is doing all the work.

Harrods for anything other than the Food Hall

The Food Hall is worth it. The rest is not.

Venture Vetted accepts no payment for editorial recommendations. Every hotel, restaurant and shop listed has been visited and selected independently by Albert and Nouri Beesemer. Affiliate links may earn a small commission at no cost to you — this never influences what we recommend or what we don't.