Best of London food shops , restaurants and wine establishments for 2020

 Here is my list of best of London food shops , restaurants and wine establishments for 2020.

Best Restaurant(s) in London : The Clove Club , Claude Bosi at Bibendum , , Kitchen Table , The Ritz , Portland (with Theo Clench) , Sola Soho , Maos and Pied a Terre

Best Sourcing and Ingredients :   Sola Soho , The River Cafe 

Best Restaurant Wine Lists :  Chez Bruce  , Medlar , Noble Rot , Hunan, Wild Tavern and Hide

Best New Openings : Noble Rot Soho , Maison Francois , Darjeeling Express 2.0 and  Pantechnicon

Best Argentinian : Zoilo

Best Italian Restaurant (Southern) :  Gola

Best Italian ( Sardinian) Olivo Group 

Best Italian Restaurant (Northern) :  Novikov ,  Locanda Locatelli

Best Pan Italian :  , River Café  ,  Boca di Lupo , (Francesco Mazzei 's) Sartoria and L'Amorosa

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

Best Indian : Jamvar , Gymkhana and Roti Chai/Chai Ki

Best Casual Indian :  Chai Ki 

Best Indian delivery : Motu

Best Indian (Modern) : Roti Chai and Gymkhana

Best Pakistani :  Saloos and Tayyabs

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

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

Best Thai :   Som Saa , The Heron

Best Fusion : Novikov and Maos

Best Japanese : The Araki , Endo at the Rotunda and Umu

Best Vietnamese : head to Paris or Vietnam

Best Singapore/Malaysian : Rasa Sayang

Best Lebanese/Syrian : Ishbilia  Knightsbridge

Best Greek :  Opsos , Meraki and Horvada

Best "Politiki Kouzina " Peckham Bazaar  and Dulwich Lyceum

Best Turkish : Gökyüzü and Yeni 

Best Iranian/Persian : Kateh and Berenjak

Best Sushi : The Araki and Endo at the Rotunda

Best French :  Gauthier Soho , Club Gascon, Claude Bosi at Bibendum

Best Vegan : Gauthier Soho

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

Best Spanish : Cambio de Tercio  and  Pizarro 

Best Tapas : Tendido Cero , Barrafina , José

Best English : St John's , The Guinea Grill , Parlour and Quality Chop House

Best Fish/Seafood : Noble Rot ,  Parsons ,  The Sea The Sea and Bentley's

Best Oysters : Noble Rot , Wright Bros , The French House  and Bentley's

Best Gastro Pubs : Parlour , Harwood Arms , Anchor and Hope and Eagle

Best Service : Noble Rot and Cambio de Tercio

Best Sandwich : Kappacasein's , Cheese Toastie

Best Pub : The Guinea 

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 and Bob Bob Cite

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

Best Mavericks : Quality Wines , Mao's  Catalyst Cafe & Roasters and 40 Maltby St 

Best French Bistro/Bourgeois Cooking :  Casse Croûte  

Best Burger :  Zoilo

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

Best Chain Burger : Patty and Bun

Best Steak : Guinea Grill , Zelman Meats , Flat Iron and Goodman

Best Steak Restaurants : Zelman Meats ,  Hawksmoor , Flat Iron , and Goodman

Best Pizza :  Santa Maria and Pizzicotto

Best Pizza chain : Franco Manca

Best Italian Deli : Prezzemolo e Vitale 

Best Street Food : Mr Falafel ( Shepherds Bush )

Best Value for money Wine List : Noble Rot, The Wild Tavern , Hunan and Andrew Edmunds

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

Best Breakfast : Koya Bar and The Guinea

My best meals in London 2020 . Calude Bosi at Bibendum , Sola Soho  and Peckham Bazaar.

My best meal outside London in 2020 :  The Crown Burchetts Green  , Scran and Scallie , Edinburgh, The Star Inn, Harome

My best meals outside the UK in 2020 : Chez L'Ami Jean,  , Table ( Bruno Verjus) ,  Alliance, Le Clarence, and  L'Ambroisie , all in Paris. Aimsir , County Kildare , Ireland. 

Best Bakery/Bread :  Hedone Bakery

Best  Chocolatier : William Curley

Best Patisserie :  Hedone Bakery , Arome Bakery Cafe Kitsune at Pantechnicon and William Curley

Best Coffee : Prufrock Coffee , Queens Mayfair and Parcafe 

Best Coffee Roaster : Difference Coffee and Square Mile

Best Tea : Lalani and Co

Best Viennoiserie :  Hedone Bakery and Arome Bakery

Best Gelato :  Oddono's 

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

Best Fish and Seafood  Online : Pesky Fish

Best Butchers : South East - O'Shea's  * ,  South West - Provenence - West  - Brown's Artisan Butchers , North - Godfrey's

Best Greengrocer : Andreas Veg , Chelsea .

Best Cheese Shops : La Fromagerie , Mons, 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 Purveyor of Greek food and wine : Maltby and Greek *

Best Wine Merchants Retail :  Hedonism , Hansen Hayes and Clark , Nysa , Lea and Sandeman and Handford

Best Wine Merchants Wholesale : Flint , Fortyfive 10 ,  and Field Morris and Verdun

* Disclosure - In the past I was involved with these businesses in a non executive capacity.

About Gary Vaynerchuk

I wrote a post about the phenomenon that is Gary Vaynerchuk on the Lingospot blog , you can read it here

Best of 2009 in London

Here is my list of best food shops , restaurants and wine establishments for 2009 and you can compare with 2008 here 2007 here and 2006 here

Best Italian Restaurant : L'Anima

Best Indian : Bombay Palace

Best Indian (Modern) : Benares

Best Pakistani : New Tayyabs & Saloos

Best Chinese : Hunan

Best Thai : Nahm

Best Japanese : Umu

Best Vietnamese : Mien Tay , Hackney and Battersea

Best Lebanese/Syrian : Ishbilia

Best Sushi : Sushi - Hiro

Best French : The Square , Hibiscus and Le Gavroche

Best Spanish : Cambio de Tercio

Best Tapas : Fino ; Barfina

Best English : St John's

Best Fish/Seafood : J Sheekey

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

Best Selection of Beer : Draft House and The Rake

Best Wine Bar : Vinoteca

Best Brasserie : Le Cafe Anglais

Best Bistro/Bourgeois Cooking : Racine , Knightsbridge

Best Burger : Hawksmoor

Best Steak : Cote de Boeuf at Racine

Best Steak Restaurant : Hawksmoor ,& Goodmans

Best mid range Burger : Byron Burger

Best Pizza : Franco Manca

Best Value for money Wine List : Andrew Edmunds

Best Value for Money Restaurant : Giaconda Dinning Room

Best Italian Deli : Speck

Most over rated : The Wolseley , River Cafe and Sketch

Best Butcher : Oshea's Knightbridge

Best Bakery : St John's Bread , Franco Manca & K&S Bakery (German breads only)

Best Patisserie : William Curley

Best Cakes and Brownies : Bea's of Bloomsbury

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

Best Cheese Shop : La Fromagerie

Best Wine Merchants : Berry Brothers & Rudd , Bibendum Wines

Best Fruit & Veg : Andreas Georghiou , Turnham Green Terrace

Food , Wine, Tea and Ale, 13th, 15th and 16th of MAY 2009

Having tasted a number of top 1999 Bordeaux over the past few months I decided to take one of my cases of Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 1999 out of bond and storage . Berry Brothers and Rudd promptly delivered it on Friday may 15th. I therefore bought some Black Angus Grass Fed Irish Côte de Bœuf form Jack O'Shea to have with the Pichon Lalande on Saturday.

On Friday evening we had some wonderful Scottish Sea Trout from The Chelsea Fishmonger, Rex Goldsmith which I simply roasted having covered with salt pepper and olive oil and stuffing some fresh thyme from Mrs. Gastro's allotment in the stomach of the fish. The fish was served on a bed of steamed East Sussex Asparagus sprinkled with my sauce Gastro - juice of two lemons, 1.5 tablespoons of Savora, 5 tablespoons of Seggiano Extra Virgin Oil and salt/pepper.

We drank an excellent 2006 Chassagne-Montrachet, Les Chaumées, 1er Cru, Domaine Jean-Noël Gagnard - Berry Bros & Rudd

On Saturday I let the beef reach room temperature over four hours and then first pan fried the Côtes de Bœuf for about 6 minutes each side then adding salt and pepper before finishing them off in a very hot over for 8 minutes. The beef was served with Gratin Dauphinois and par steamed French Beans finished off sautéed with butter. The Pichon Lalande complimented beautifully both the beef and the Camembert from La Fromagerie that followed.

We ended the meal with some Strawberries and a delicious bottle of Diamante d’Almerita 2005 from Tasca d’Almerita in Sicily that I picked up from Last drop Wines - not as good as the Ben Rye Passito de Pantelaria I had last week but certainly a contender for my second favorite Italian desert wine!

After smoking a Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona Mrs Gastro and I had a delicious cup of Oolong Tea from the Rare Tea Company.

I had the pleasure of meeting @raretealady aka Henrietta Lovell on Wednesday at a wonderful event held at The Westbridge, Battersea hosted by @Charlie McVeigh and and organised BY @eatkikeagirl on behalf@ Catavino those passionate evangelists on skates for Iberian Wines (#LWFB London Food and Wine Bloggers) Charlie supplied the room and an inspired selection of cheeses and charcuterie and Salumi to compliment a selection of mainly Spanish and Portuguese wines . Star of the show for me was José Maria da Fonseca's Domini 2007 from Douro and a wonderful Tête de Moine Cheese (with correct cutter sourced by Charlie).

Henrietta is the Jancis Robinson of tea and I learned enough from her in 10 minutes to realise that one of the reasons I don’t drink tea very much is that both the quality and knowledge of how to prepare it in the UK is generally very poor. This is really astounding for a country that drinks so much tea but then again in line with both food and wine consumption!

Anyway you can buy tea from the Rare Tea Company online and in selected supermarkets including Waitrose.

www.rareteacompany.com

The Westbridge is also an excellent establishment serving outstanding beers coupled with solid food and wine list. Charlie who these days is also a shareholder and executive in the excellent Le Café Anglais introduced me to a stellar beer called Wandle Ale produced a few hundred meters from both my home and The Westbridge at Samsbrook’s (micro) Brewery.

www.sambrooksbrewery.co.uk

www.thewestbridge.co.uk