Any must try restaurant recommendations in London?

Another great indian place is tayyabs! I have family in london and have come to the conclusion that only indian and expensive food are good in london.

I am not a Brit, but I live in London and have loads of family and friends visiting and that is their most asked question. I have a compiled guide. btw, the (b) means you need booking

Dinner:
- Shack-fuyu (Soho) (b)
- Gloria (Old street) (only walk-ins)
- Mercato Metropolitano (street food market and drinks, very nice pre going out)
- Polpo (various locations)
- Bandol (Chelsea) (French food)
- La Famiglia (Chelsea) (b)
- Giovanni's (covent garden) it is in a side street so a bit difficult to find. Some of the best Italian in town
- Flat iron (various locations) or Hawksmoor (various locations) both serve steak and fries (only walk-ins)
- Panzo (Exmouth Market) best pizza in town or Radio Alice (Clapham Common)
- Som Saa (shoreditch) (b)
- Biang Biang (shoreditch)

Pub/restaurants
- Churchills Arms (Kensington) amazing Irish pub covered in flowers with oddly great Thai food served in the back
- the ten bells (Shoreditch)
- The culpepper (Shoreditch) got a nice roof top
- the builders arms (Chelsea)

Lunch/Brunch
Caravan (various locations)
Grind (various locations)
Friends of Ours (Hoxton)
Hoxton Hotel (Old street)
Granger & Co (various locations)
The Wolsley (Piccadilly) (b)

Drinks
Bermondsey Beer Mile (a mile with different micro breweries and gin distillers) very hip
Hoxton Hotel (Old street)
Nightjar (Old street) plays live jazz, has the coolest decor and drinks, it's like a fancy speak easy) (b)
Jack Solomons Club (same kind of thing as above, but with a DJ)
Nettil 360 (roof top in hackney)
Disrepute (Kingly Court) (b)
Cahoots (Kingly Court) (b)

Markets:
Spitalfields market (open every day)
Broadway Market (only Saturdays)
Portobello (only saturdays)
Brick lane (only Saturdays)
Maltby food market (Bermondsey)
Vinegar Yard (Streetfood/evening drinks) (weekends) (London Bridge)
Columbia road flowe market (only Sundays) a lot of nice shops and cafes on the street and around the street.

Night clubs:
Charlie Berkley st
Mahiki
Fabric
Cirque Le Soir

Cool places for shopping:
Harvey Nicks
Selfridge's
Everything around Shoreditch (a lot of cool independent shops)
Kings Road
Box Park

Other places to see or go:
- Grafitti mile
- the shard (recommend the afternoon tea at Ting) (b)
- Duke of York square

Museums / art
- Victoria and Albert (V&A) gallery
- Tate modern
- Tate Britain
- Saatchi Gallery
- Natural History Museum
- Kew Gardens

Places to see if you have time:
Petersham Nurseries, two lunch spots in the gardens, it's like a botanical yard, food very good and (book for the restaurants) extremely insta-friendly
Northcote Road
Notting hill (be warned, a lot of tourists)

Dishoom!

Anything by Ottolenghi!!!

Anything Indian.

Pizza Express is excellent

Yes been meaning to try Tayyabs. Thanks!

Nobu

The Churchill Arms pub in Knightsbridge - great Thai food and English ale

Hide above was amazing!

At what budget? And where are you from? I'd assume that it's more worthwhile to have something not easily available in your home country/region.

If you are from the US, then London has a surprisingly good range of French and Chinese restaurants. There are also some great Middle Eastern choices. Decent Japanese choices are also available but you can get similar calibre Japanese restaurants in the US.

As for the homegrown stuff, I'd say it's surprisingly underrated. Apart from the British Indian choices, you can get obviously get authentic English food in London, there are also places with some fantastic history such as Simpson's-in-the-Strand (look it up!).

The Breakfast Club is pretty good if you want an English Breakfast. Also Borough Market has some good street food for lunch. A few sit down places there, but primarily just vendors.

Also, adding Berners Tavern in the edition Hotel on a side stret off of Oxford Street and Cora Pearl in Covent Garden both would require bookings.

for a sweet tooth: Maitre choux (various locations) and Chin chin labs (Soho), Crosstown Doughnuts various locations (sourdough doughnuts and also vegan ones) the UK version of voodoo doughnuts..

For afternoon tea, any of the restaurants offering it, that are up in the Shard, saves you money buying the ticket to the viewing platform and you don't need to go to the London eye if you go up there. Perks: the most opulent toilet experience, you can quite literally piss on London skyline while sitting on a gold toilet whilst you charge your phone or play off some tunes fron the build in speakers and get your bits fanned.. also you can play the game "mobster,russian oligarch or crazy rich Asian?" the people watching is great.

For another great view go sushi samba in the Salesforce tower/heron tower (they also have a bar, so you can go up for just drinks)

Duck & Waffle has a great view and bar

GBK

For cheap and cheerful Indian that’s been reliable for 20+ years, try Khan’s located on Westbourne Grove (Queensway). Fast and fresh - and if you’re with folks who haven’t yet tried Indian or just want the basics, Khan’s is a staple.

What cuisine?

This is amazing, saving all these, thank you!!

Busaba eathai for Thai
Hoppers for Sri Lankan
Dishoom and Tayyabs have already been recommended and rightly so
Do not go to masala zone
I am on the fence about Darjeeling express (it featured in latest season of Chefs table), go there and make up your mind yourself

I agree on Polpo, Bernardis, Trullo, Seymour Parlor