Best of London food shops , restaurants and wine establishments for 2018

Here is my list of best of London food shops , restaurants and wine establishments for 2018.

Best Restaurant(s) in London : Hedone , The Square , The Clove Club , Bibendum , The Ritz  and The Ledbury

Best Sourcing and Ingredients : Hedone

Best Restaurant Wine Lists : Social Tapas , Chez Bruce  , The Greenhouse , Noble Rot , MASH, Hunan , Hedone and Taillevent 110

Best New Openings :  St Leonards , Kym's and Neptune

Best Argentinian : Zoilo

Best Italian Restaurant (Southern) :  Gola

Best Italian Restaurant (Northern) :  Novikov , Locanda Locatelli

Best Pan Italian :  , River Café  ,  Enoteca Turi , (Francesco Mazzei 's) Sartoria and L'Amorosa

Best Trattoria : Mele e Pere  , Radici and L'Amorosa

Best Indian : Jamvar

Best Casual Indian :  Chai Ki , Darjeeling Express

Best Indian delivery : Motu

Best Indian (Modern) : Roti Chai and Gymkhana

Best Pakistani :  Saloos 

Best Chinese : Hunan , Kai , Silk Road and A Wong

Best Dim Sum :  A Wong  and Royal China (Baker St)

Best Thai :   Som Sa

Best neo BBQ  : Pitt Cue

Best Fusion : Novikov 

Best Japanese : The Araki

Best Vietnamese : head to Paris or Vietnam

Best Lebanese/Syrian : Ishbilia  Knightsbridge

Best Israleli : Bala Baya

Best Greek :  Opsos , Meraki and Horvada

Best "Politiki Kouzina " Peckham Bazaar 

Best Turkish : Gökyüzü

Best Sushi : The Araki

Best French :  Gauthier Soho , Club Gascon, The Square , and Bibendum

Best Modern British/European : The Ledbury , Kitchen Table and The Clove Club

Best Spanish : Cambio de Tercio , Rambla and  Pizarro 

Best Tapas : Tendido Cedro , Rambla and José

Best English : St John's , The Guinea Grill , Parlour

Best Fish/Seafood : One - O - One , Knightsbridge (CLOSED)

Best Gastro Pub : Parlour , Harwood Arms , Anchor and Hope and Great Queen St

Best Service : Galvin's Windows and Cambio de Tercio

Best Sandwich : Kappacaseins Cheese Toastie

Best Pub : The Guinea and The Cleveland Arms

Best Selection of Craft Beer :  The Rake 

Best Wine Bar : 40 Maltby St , Antidote Wine Bar, 10 Cases and Noble Rot

Best Brasserie : Bob Bob Ricard

Best Neighbourhood Restaurants : L'Amorosa , Peckham Baazar and Chez Bruce

Best Mavericks : Morito Hackney Road , Pitt Cue and 40 Maltby St

Best French Bistro/Bourgeois Cooking :  Casse Croûte  

Best Burger :  Little Social 

Best "joint" Burger :  Patty & Bun and Meat Liquor 

Best Chain Burger : Patty & Bun

Best Steak : Guinea Grill , Zelman Meats and Goodman

Best Steak Restaurants : Zelman Meats ,  Hawksmoor , Flatiron , MASH and Goodman

Best Pizza :  Santa Maria and Pizzicotto

Best Street Food : Mr Falafel ( Shepherds Bush )

Best Value for money Wine List : MASH ,Noble Rot, Bonhams , Hunan and Andrew Edmunds

Best Value for Money Restaurants : Koya Bar ,   Flatiron and Peckham Bazaar

Best Breakfast : Koya Bar and The Ritz

My best meals in London 2018 . Hedone . Gauthier Soho , The Ritz,  The Clove Club and Peckham Bazaar.

My best meals outside London in 2018 : The Sportsman (Kent) and The Crown Burchetts Green and The Kitchin.

My best meals outside the UK in 2018 : Chez L'Ami Jean, Paris , Table , Paris ,  Le Calandre , Rubano and Le Calandre , Paris

Best Bakery/Bread :  Hedone

Best  Chocolatier : William Curley

Best Patisserie :  Hedone 

Best Coffee : Prufrock Coffee

Best Coffee Roaster : Difference Coffee and Square Mile

Best Tea : Lalani & Co

Best Croissants : None

Best Gelato :  Oddono's 

Best Fishmonger : The Chelsea Fishmonger (Rex Goldsmith), Chelsea Green

Best Fish and Seafood Wholesale : Pesky Fish

Best Butchers : O'Shea's , Provenance and HG Walter.

Best Greengrocer : Andreas Veg , Chelsea .

Best Cheese Shops : La Fromagerie , Androuet , Buchanans and Neal's Yard 

Best Purveyor of French Charcuterie  : The Ham and Cheese Company

Best Purveyors of Italian Salumi : The Ham and Cheese Company 

Best Purveyor of British Charcuterie : Cannon and Cannon

Best Wine Merchants Retail :  Bottle Apostle , Hansen Hayes and Clark and Handford

Best Wine Merchants Wholesale : Liberty , Fortyfive 10 ,  and Fields , Morris and Verdin

2nd #vongole video – linguine or spaghetti: the necessity of long, slender & dry

In part 2 of “linguine alle vongole – the finer points of a perfect pasta”, Francesco Mazzei explains why it is essential to use a pasta that’s long, slender and dry.

Educating Teens at L'Anima

Many people ask both Mrs Gastro and I how we managed to get our two boys (7 and 10 respectively) to love food and try absolutely everything. Well the answer is simple education, education and on going education. We talk to them about food take them to great restaurants and involve them in growing and sourcing. Our boys are well known to our Butcher and Fishmongers as well as many chefs and restaurateurs both in the UK and abroad.

Today at L'Anima I witnessed a wonderful birthday gift offered to their daughter (Ellen) by Martin and Katie Wright a delightful couple from Suffolk.

Martin is a Partner in City Law Firm based a stones throw from L'Anima and is a regular customer. Francesco Mazei Chef and co owner holds regular cooking classes for adults on a Saturday morning when the restaurant is closed. Between them they came up with the idea of inviting nine of Ellen's teenage girlfriends as well as her ten year old brother Alistair to have lunch at L'Anima as a birthday treat. The twist as they found out on arrival was that they would have to help prepare the food with Francesco and his craque kitchen brigade! Also while lunch was being finished off they would have a special wine tasting session given by Head Sommelier and Wine Evangelist Gal Zohar.

@MsMarmitelover and I acted as provocateurs and in loco parentis whilst Mr and Mrs Wright went shopping and returned to join everyone for lunch.

The Menu

Aubergine Parmigiana
Fettuccine a la Bolognese
Chicken Milanese
Classic Tiramisu

Wine Tasting

Prosecco, Bisol
Pinot Grigio Ramato, Grion 2007
Rosso Picerno Superiore, Aurora, 2004
Solita Fattoria le Pupille , 2005

The children had a tour of the entire Kitchen set up and then participated in the preparation of all of the dishes from frying aubergines and making fresh pasta to how to make a classic Ragu Bolognese.

Francesco is a natural communicator and he was supported by Luca and Christian who ensured each one of the teens understood and participated fully.

As @MsMarmitelover mentioned at the time it was wonderful to hear and see the teens describe so vividly the wines they smelt and tasted.

After all the work every one sat down and enjoyed eating wonderful food and drinking the wines from the tasting with it. All the plates for each course came back to the kitchen clean!

Bravo Francesco and Martin !

L'Anima my new favourite Italian in London

I have been recommending this place to people since the summer simply on the basis of word of mouth from people I respect and specifically from people who know and understand Italian cuisine. The theme here is southern Italian especially Calabria as well as the Islands Scicily and Sardinia.
Today is the day I went and had a perfect, faultless lunch.

I can already say I prefer L'Anima ( Italian for Soul ) to Locanda Locatelli ( great food but portion control gone mad) and Enoteca Tui (where the wine list is the star) - by the way for those who think the River Cafe is a serious Italian Restaurant I suggest you click to another review !

The Pappardelle with Wild Boar Sauce, a great winter dish was perfect as was a stunning Sicilian Rabbit a dish that captured everything that is good about food from that Island.

The contorni were perfect - thin , light and crispy fried Zucchini and perfect lime and chilli infused sauted spinach.

The olives and bread were excellent as was my cheese with hazelnut honey - a superb Pecorino Sardo !

Deserts looked amazing too and the wine list is very well selected not just with the great , Barolos , Brunellos and Super Tuscans but some great value wines from the very serious wine makers like , Haas , Felluga , etc. There are also top class wines from France and Spain.

Esspresso ? well perfeto !

I'm really happy for Fracesco Mazzei who left the clutches of Corbin and King those once great restaurateurs who are unfortunateley ruining their good reputations with poor excuses for restaurants like The Wolsey.

Anyway I shall return to try the Black Pig Pork Belly , Safron and Quail Risotto not to mention the top class grilled meats and fish ! As well as deserts of course.

On the left there are raised tables and stools for a quick lunch/dinner and the restaurant also opens for breakfast - apparently excellent too for the local italian Merchant Bankers who miss their Mamas !

Update June 1st 2009

I have tried to eat in L'Anima at least once a month since it opened and am happy to say that standards remain high and attention to detail is second to none.

Had a wonderful meal here today.

Douglas Blyde had tipped me off that Fracesco Mazzei was away but the kitchen was on top form under head chef Luca Tarraneo.

My objective today was to debrief a very good friend who was not so keen on Italian food and wine . This of course is a challenge in London where good Italian restaurants can be counted on one hand.

I started with Paccheri Amatriciana which was delicious as usual my only quibble is all the pasta starter portions are too small if youhave not had an antipasti.
My Black Pig Slow Roasted Belly with Cantarata sauce was simply sensational.

Steve had the wonderful Papardelle with Duck Ragu and toasted Pistachios followed by Spit Roasted Spring Leg of lamb with Grilled Zucchinni and Roasted Potatoes.

We shared the wonderful sauteed Spinach (with a hint of chilli and lemon rind) and London's best Deep Fried Zucchini.

For desert I had the light and subtle Gianduia cake and Steve opted for the stunning Chocolate Truffle.

Wines ( we went for it - had to be done)

Frans Haas Mana Cru 2007 - Alto Adige
Barolo ‘Le Cinque Vigne’, Damilano 2002 , Piedmont
Ben Rye , Passito Di Pantelleria , Donna Fugata , 2007

The espresso was perfect as usual and it was great to meet and discuss wines with French Sommelier Nicolas Verhoye.

The long trek to West London was a sobering experience !