London Restaurants

For a city whose summers never get absurdly hot, London has a surprising number of top-notch ice cream shops and gelaterias. One of the most intriguing is Camden’s Chin Chin Laboratorists. Husband-and-wife owners Ahrash Akbari-Kalhur and Nyisha Weber can usually be spotted behind the counter (clad in lab coats and protective goggles) creating creamy ice creams to order with blasts of liquid nitrogen, and adding ingenious toppings like honeycomb. Also on the menu: coffee brewed from cult favorite Monmouth Coffee beans. 49-50 Camden Lock Pl.; chinchinlabs.com; 44-78-85-60-42-84

Two huge French talents—restaurateur Mourad “Momo” Mazouz and legendary chef Pierre Gagnaire—are the brains behind this multifaceted eating-and-drinking complex in a Mayfair townhouse that includes two bars, a high-end restaurant, a brasserie and an ornately-decorated tea room, which is the true highlight. Called The Parlour, this later concept has bold-patterned furnishings (plaid, skulls, jungle animals) and heavenly cakes and pastries ranging from classic éclairs, to exotic concoctions such as the Scoubidou: panna cotta with soy milk jelly, pistachio powder and a strawberry marshmallow. 9 Conduit St.; sketch.uk.com; 44-20-76-59-45-00

At his first London restaurant, modernist chef and UK television fixture Heston Blumenthal of the Fat Duck in Bray specializes in historical British dishes, which he puts through his own quirky filter. The menu features a saffron risotto that dates to 1390 and Blumenthal’s take on the 16th-century dish “meat fruit,” a chicken liver terrine disguised as a tangerine. The décor reflects the historical theme, with sconces in the shape of antique jelly molds and framed recipes from 16th-century British cookbooks. 66 Knightsbridge; dinnerbyheston.com; 44-20-72-01-38-33

The rustic Italian restaurant opened by ingredient-obsessed Ruth Rogers and the late Rose Gray has been the training ground for some of the world’s most renowned English chefs, including Jamie Oliver and April Bloomfield. It’s still phenomenal, with constantly changing menus of antipasti, house-made pastas, wood-roasted meats and fish, plus the signature four-ingredient, ultrachocolatey Nemesis cake. The clean-lined space facing the Thames has royal blue carpeting and simple aluminum chairs, and in summer there are few more pleasant places to dine in London than at the outdoor tables among the quince, fruit and olive trees. Thames Wharf, Rainville Rd.; rivercafe.co.uk; 44-20-73-86-42-00

One of London’s most venerable hotels has imported some serious French talent: Chef Hélène Darroze splits her time between her eponymous restaurant on Paris’s Left Bank and this superchic Mayfair spot, where her menu combines influences and ingredients from her native Landes region of southwest France with flavors from Spain, Italy, Britain and Asia. Duck foie gras, for instance, comes accented with gomashio—seasoned Japanese sesame seeds. Paris designer India Mahdavi has given the dining rooms a feminine, eclectic feel with boldly patterned carpets and wingback chairs. Carlos Place, Mayfair; the-connaught.co.uk; 44-20-71-07-88-80

British TV chef and cookbook author Silvena Rowe traveled extensively throughout Turkey to research her first restaurant, which is inspired by the cuisine of the Ottoman Empire and her own heritage. The inspiration for her signature lamb with tahini, black truffle and black sesame za’atar spice blend is a dish her grandfather used to cook. The extensive wine list also has Ottoman elements, including a section devoted to Lebanon’s Château Musar wines. Stratton St., Mayfair; quincelondon.com; 44-20-79-15-38-92

The third branch of Russell Norman and Richard Beatty’s trattoria empire is designed like a very hip classroom—filament bulbs, bare wooden chairs and benches salvaged from a chemistry lab. Well-located for pre- and post-theater dining, Da Polpo has a long menu suited for grazing, with excellent Italian bar snacks, superb thin-crusted, creative pizzas (pork shoulder with pickled peppers) and six types of meatballs. 6 Maiden Ln., Covent Garden; dapolpo.co.uk; 44-20-78-36-84-48

Jason Atherton spent nine years cooking under Gordon Ramsay, most recently at the helm of the small-plates spot Maze. His long-awaited solo restaurant, in a sprawling Mayfair space accented with contemporary art, opened in 2011 to instant acclaim for its confidant cooking—a squid dish, for instance, comes with cauliflower that has been diced finely enough to resemble risotto and comes in a clear, squid-flavored jus. At the stand-alone six-stool “dessert bar,” diners can watch pastry chefs prepare inventive concoctions like a plum soup with figs and honey-milk ice cream. 8/10 Pollen St.; pollenstreetsocial.com; 44-20-72-90-76-00

The first sit-down restaurant from star chef Yotam Ottolenghi (who runs the Ottolenghi take-out chain) is a glamorous, white-washed spot in the West End that straddles two floors (for a glimpse of the open kitchen, opt for the lower level). The small plates show more Asian influence than his take-out spots, with eclectic, complexly flavorful dishes like five spice tofu with a cardamom-spiced tomato sauce and braised eggplant, and burrata with blood orange and toasted coriander. The £25, three-course pretheater menu is an excellent value. 21-22 Warwick St. ; nopi-restaurant.com; 44-20-74-94-95-84

Nose-to-tail innovator and the founder of the famed St. John restaurant, Fergus Henderson expanded with this Leicester Square hotel in 2011. There are 15 simple rooms and a minimally adorned restaurant with an open steel kitchen. The succinct menu includes plenty of the offal Henderson is known for (lamb sweetbreads, duck hearts with snails) and dishes that reflect his pared-down take on British comfort food. 1 Leicester St.; stjohnhotellondon.com; 44-20-33-01-80-69

Israeli-born, British-based chef Yotam Ottolenghi is a hard chef to define, though “Mediterranean” is probably the easiest way to label the healthy dishes he serves at Ottolenghi, his London take-out chain. The dishes at his four stylish, white-on-white Ottolenghi shops are predominantly vegetarian, with dishes like roasted eggplant with wild garlic and sorrel yogurt, roasted cherry tomatoes and pine nuts. 287 Upper St., Islington; ottolenghi.co.uk; 44-20-7288-145

This small, understated restaurant has the feel of a neighborhood bistro, but it is as accomplished and interesting as London restaurants with much bigger reputations. Chef Joe Mercier Naine’s prix fixe meals (around $60 for three courses) center around reworked bistro dishes like a duck egg tart with red wine sauce, turnip puree, lardons and sautéed duck heart—a pull-out-all-the-stops interpretation of the simple Burgundian classic, oeufs en meurette (poached eggs in red wine sauce). The room is quiet, decorated with bright emerald green banquettes and patterned wallpaper that turns the restaurant’s name—an obscure Asian fruit also known as a loquat—into a design theme. 438 Kings Rd., Chelsea; medlarrestaurant.co.uk; 44-20-73-49-19-00