Five top London restaurants and counters to maximise summer

[LONDON] It’s been a busy summer in London.

This year’s Wimbledon brought crowds to West London and a newly minted British hero, Arthur Fery, to the semifinals. Singer Harry Styles broke Taylor Swift’s residency record with 12 sold-out shows at Wembley. Then-prime minister Keir Starmer gave area pubs a boost when he allowed them to stay open until 5 am on a Monday morning so customers could watch England beat Mexico in the World Cup.

Now that the frenetic activity has slowed down, there’s time to focus on food. The UK dining landscape faces continued challenges: 3.4 establishments closed per day in the first quarter of 2026.

Still, London’s food scene is keeping pace with the summer’s big-energy events. The temperature has generally stayed under 30 deg C. That weather dovetails nicely with the UK’s embrace of outdoor dining, manifesting in full tables up and down sidewalks and terraces.

And unlike some seasons, when one kind of food dominates, there’s a wide range of cuisines that have gotten Londoners excited, and a good number of female chefs and owners are operating those places.

New: Cue Point, Notting Hill 

In an unexpected development, pubs have become some of London’s most compelling places to eat. At the top of the list is Cue Point, the  Afghan-Texas barbecue in the Garden Bar & Grill in W10.

Chef Mursal Saiq and pitmaster Joshua Moroney launched it a decade ago, doing pop-ups and grill competitions. This spring, they moved into a permanent West London location. Between the long tables in the front room and the meandering backyard, there’s room for around 250 people. It’s a rowdy space that matches the food. 

Starters include a refreshing little plate of coriander- and turmeric-spiked smokehouse pickles for £6 (US$8). They’re worth having on the table when the big cuts of meat come into play.

You don’t see a lot of rice with barbecue, but the lamb shank that’s been slowly cooked over oak is happily accompanied by Kabuli pilau and doused with Afghan fresh coriander and mint chutney (£28, or £48 for a bigger serving to share). The wagyu brisket steak has a sweet-smoky crust and comes with a hunk of grilled Texas naan (£24, or £45 to share).

SEE ALSO

New restaurants – finding fresh opportunities in Singapore’s volatile dining scene

Music, wine and slow days in Burgenland

But the biggest surprise is the borani banjan, a flame-cooked version of the classic Afghan aubergine and tomato dish with yoghurt sauce, pilau and naan (£22). It sells as well as the brisket, Saiq says.

There’s plenty of beer and a page of wines that play well with grilled food, including the southern French Domaine de Belle Mare Picpoul de Pinet that goes for £35 for a bottle. If you don’t want to miss anything, go on the early side: The meats tend to sell out, starting with the brisket. “That’s the nature of low and slow. Once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Saiq quips. 

Value: CZER, Mayfair

A few doors down from London’s viral pizza spot Crisp at the Marlborough pub is a place that’s becoming equally popular: CZER. The chopped chicken salad wrap counter, which launched in early May, is located at the back of the white-painted Mayfair Food Fair convenience store.

The genius hack from founders Mairi Livsey and partner Marius Baltaitis is to invite customers to first buy a bag of crisps from the well-stocked wall. (There are around 30 options, from conventional Walkers salt and vinegar to Pipers jalapeno and dill.) Then you take your bag to the back. There, the team will chop it into your salad before enclosing it in a giant wrap.

The viral waitlist routinely has 100-plus customers. The line snaking down the aisle is a mix of tourists with suitcases and finance guys in fleece vests.

There are just two sandwich options: the Classic with romaine, roasted chicken, Parmesan shavings and small croutons mixed with a classic Caesar dressing; and the even more compelling Picante that adds jalapenos to the mix. Add-ons include hard-boiled eggs – whole or chopped – and avocados for £1 apiece.

The sandwiches go for £13 without the addition of crisps, which might not sound like a value meal. But consider this: The sandwiches are supersized, weighing in at about 570 g. One half easily works as a substantial lunch. At a moment when it’s hard to get a decent desk lunch salad for less than £13, the great quality and fun of a CZER sandwich is hard to beat.

Business: Toklas, Temple 

From the outside, Toklas doesn’t give anything away – it’s hidden behind a wall of concrete in the 180 Strand complex. But up the stairs, the breezy Mediterranean restaurant is home to one of London’s bigger and better plant-strewn terraces, with views into the Victorian townhouses across the street. The place is owned by Frieze art fair founders Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, and the dining room is outfitted with work from photographer Wolfgang Tillmans and posters from 40 years of exhibits.

Chef Chris Shaw’s menu is super seasonal. In the middle of summer, that means snacks like fried feta drizzled with honey (£11) and starters of sunny grilled sardines accented with lemon and oregano (£15) and an anchovy-heavy tonnato starring Middle White pork (£17). Main courses range from light ones like ricotta and girolles-stuffed ravioli (£26) to meaty turbot with spinach, anchovies and lemon (£44).

The wine list leans organic and European, with a few English bottles thrown in. At lunch and dinner, the range of diners include, unsurprisingly, the art community, plus lawyers and others who have business at the nearby Royal Courts of Justice.

No reservations: Dockley Road, Bermondsey

Dockley Road’s head chef and co-founder Emily Chia is a veteran of one of the city’s more famously English restaurants, St John, but this place has a laid-back California vibe. There’s plenty of space between the tables haphazardly arranged around the room, along with a few outside seats. To match its leisurely atmosphere, a table is almost always available. If you find a wait, the Bermondsey Beer Mile is just a few minutes’ walk.

Chia’s compact menu changes frequently, but there’s often a plate of panisse, the golden fried chickpea patties, served with a little bowl of herb-infused mayo (£8).

For the summer, the menu includes wedge salad topped with devilled crab (£12.50), tagliatelle dressed with juicy Sungold tomatoes and parsley (£9, or £16 as an entree) and a market-priced steak with peppercorn sauce from the premium butcher Farmer Tom Jones. Wines range from Loire selections to a handful of good value bottles from Bulgaria. It’s worth stopping in the bathroom to admire the collection of menus that Chia and her team have picked up from eating at notable places around the world.

Dine: Speedboat Bar, Soho 

In the last few years, London has benefited from a wave of Thai restaurants, both authentic and inspired. One of the forerunners is Speedboat Bar, launched in 2022 by chef Luke Farrell and the JKS restaurant group in Chinatown, to channel the energy of late-night Thai drinking spots.

The menu, written in Thai with English translations beneath, ranges from addictive £5 deep-fried chicken skins with sour zaep seasoning powder to stir-fried minced beef with holy basil and a sunny-side egg on top (£16). The fried exploded tofu with taro and shimeji mushrooms is one of the place’s more famously fiery dishes (£16). To numb the heat, there’s drunken fruit martini with pickled mango (£12.50) and shots of green mango tequila for £5, plus various nonalcoholic iced Thai teas and coffee for £6.70. BLOOMBERG