By this point in the year, I had planned to be insufferable about terrace season. I was ready for linen, sunglasses indoors, cold wine at 4pm and the collective London delusion that if we all say “al fresco” enough, the weather will simply have to comply.
Instead, this month’s arrived with the energy of a damp sock.
Fine. Good, actually. Sunshine is a terrible critic. It makes everything look better than it is: the lazy burrata, the $25 spritz, the restaurant whose entire personality is “we have olive trees in planters”. Rain is less forgiving. Rain asks a much more useful question: would you still leave the house for this?
This month, the answer is yes. Not for everything. Never for everything. But for food with a point of view, restaurants with reason, and people doing something more interesting than rearranging the same six ingredients under a warmer.
And, boy, do I have an unexpected place to start for this ‘summer’ edition of the best restaurants in London.
Where to eat in London right now
1. Oudh 1722, Borough
Oudh 1722 is the best restaurant I have been to in months. Not the best new restaurant. Not the best Indian restaurant. The best restaurant. Full stop, with a second full stop for emphasis.
This is Aktar Islam’s new Awadhi restaurant in Borough, and it has that rare, thrilling feeling of a place arriving with its own gravity. Islam, whose Birmingham restaurant Opheem holds two Michelin stars, has not come to London with a tidy “modern Indian” concept but a frankly-flawless menu devoted to the food of Lucknow: kebabs, breads, biryanis, dum cooking, smoke, perfume, patience, heat. All the things that, basically, make any dinner a great dinner.
Oudh 1722, London
Rebecca Dickson
But they aren’t the versions you’ve tasted before. They’re deeper. More pleasurable. Smoked Wiltshire lamb shoulder baked in a lamb-fat crust; whole turbot slow-cooked in spiced ghee with brown shrimp and saalan; sauces you keep returning to when you are technically finished because leaving them behind feels morally wrong. What makes Oudh sing, though, is that the food never collapses into richness for the sake of it. It’s almost architectural, the sweetness, smoke, acidity, spice, then always some small aromatic lift that pulls everything upright.
The wine pairing deserves proper attention, too. Pairing wine with Indian food is still where many restaurants panic and reach for the obvious answer. Oudh does not. The pairing was confident and clever, with a sommelier and wider team that played a major part in my enjoyment: all warm, excited, informed and clearly proud. You can feel them willing the restaurant into the Michelin status it will inevitably find. Go now. Tell everyone.
2. Sale e Pepe, Knightsbridge
There are times when I want a restaurant to challenge me. Other times, I want little more than perfect pasta. Sale e Pepe is for the second mood and, thank All The Food Gods for it, because it always gives you more than you seem to even know you want.
Sale e Pepe Knightsbridge, London
Justin De Souza
On the surface, it’s a polished, handsome, old-school Italian, but the restaurant has been doing its thing on Pavilion Road for decades, and it matters. You can feel the difference between Sale e Pepe and newer openings that try to mimic what it has – that is, a beautiful room to enjoy exquisite pasta, seafood, veal, wine, low-level gossip and the kind of lunch that starts with “I really shouldn’t” and ends with a slightly-sozzled sip of homemade limoncello.
The weekday prix fixe is the sensible move (three courses for £38 [$51], Monday to Friday, less a bargain than a small administrative miracle in Knightsbridge), but nothing will disappoint should you have the pounds to justify it. Not least of which, the martini menu (the dirty, shaken with anchovies, is a personal favorite).
3. Willows, Clapham
I’m a woman who, quite frankly, always wants to eat several not-necessarily-complimentary things at once, and I love Willows for honoring that most underrated restaurant pleasure. The Clapham spot describes itself as smörgåsbord-inspired, which sounds like it could be dangerous territory, but Willows gets the format right because it understands the actual problem it is solving. Sometimes you do not want just starters. Sometimes you want bread, something creamy, something green or something sweet, and there’s a private thrill in building a plate that only makes sense to you.
That is the charm here. It’s good food and it’s flexible. Democratic even. You want a plate of banana bread (with burnt butter ricotta, strawberry hibiscus compote, and a malted crumb), boquerones (with gremolata and herb oil) and grapefruit (with bbrulee tamarind sugar, hot honey and coconut yoghurt)? You got it. And for less than £15 [$20].
Throw in an espresso martini (which I would, because their coffee—even sans alcohol—is incredible) and you’ve got yourself a party for one, quite frankly.
4. Los Félix at Cantina Malibu, The Ned
Restaurant residencies can be deeply unserious things. A chef flies in, a menu gets laminated, three dishes acquire a “London twist”, and everyone involved pretends this is a cultural exchange rather than, well, admin.
Los Félix at Cantina Malibu is not that. From tomorrow, for one month only, the Michelin-starred Miami restaurant comes to The Ned with chef Sebastián Vargas, bringing a menu rooted in Mexican and Mesoamerican cooking, heirloom corn and hand-made tortillas at the centre.
Los Félix at Cantina Malibu, The Ned, London
Los Félix at Cantina Malibu
The menu has the right kind of swag for its city-slicking locals, too: guac with chervil, coriander and pepitas. Day’s catch crudo with honeydew, pickled pineapple, lime caviar and avocado. A tuna tostada with wakame, chipotle criollo and caviar. A smoked mushroom tetela with queso Oaxaca and epazote pesto (exactly the kind of vegetarian dish that will embarrass the meat orders).
Honestly, the move is to go with enough people to make the table messy. Order every drink. Every salsa. The lobster esquites with coconut, morita, queso fresco and basil (be still, my heart). And then some. My only word of warning? The short rib tamal with prune mole, green tomato picadillo and purslane is the kind of dish you might end up buying a ticket to Miami to experience again. You’ve been warned.