One restaurant, one chef, one roti beef rendang that will inevitably become two when you just need to double check that a roti can be this gloriously soft and flaky. Yes, this low-key Malaysian spot inside Queensway Market is the kind of place where sharing seems like a good idea—the fried chicken, laksa with king prawns, assam pedas seabass, and that roti beef rendang are all essential orders—but you’ll quickly become as protective over the food in front of you as a poodle with a chicken bone.

London isn’t lacking in French restaurants but we’re extremely confident in saying that Bouchon Racine is the absolute crème de la crème. Everything at this seductive bistro in Farringdon feels like it’s made to be dunked or glugged. A chip into your bavette’s sauce Saint-Marcellin, a tear of baguette into celeriac remoulade, a glass of cognac after the final spoon of sumptuous crème caramel. Like all the true greats, it feels like you could stay in this lived-in room above a pub forever.

London has an excellent Indian restaurant scene. When you think you can’t possibly top that with anything different or special, Bibi enters. Every dish at this Mayfair spot is exciting and innovative. With things like a grilled lahori chicken in a cashew and yoghurt whey sauce that is so tender and creamy, you’d think it was the star of the show, only to have the raw orkney scallop in a lemonade dressing arrive at your table and make you feel things you didn’t think you could feel for a mollusk.

London’s most famous British restaurant and the place in which we have most actively fantasised about holding both our wedding and wake, St. John is a white-walled haven in Clerkenwell that’s been proudly serving up roasted bone marrow, gargantuan pies, and homemade doughnuts since the mid 90s. Use this institution as a daytime escape or a nighttime knees-up.

Kurisu Omakase is special in that it feels utterly unique to London. The sushi omakase experience mixes Japanese cooking with head chef Chris Restrepo's Thai-Colombian heritage, genuine brilliance, and inimitable made-in-Brixton charm. Restrepo wows you with confit uni butter risotto and pieces of 18-times-sliced scallop nigiri, while also entertaining you with stories about family holidays and secret dinners. This is a purposefully informal experience with food that is simply out of this world.

Meet the Migas. They’re the family behind this modern Korean restaurant in Hackney, with dad in the open kitchen and his kids, the cool, unabashedly kind siblings, who are responsible for the warm welcome and service. It’s a calming, white-washed blank canvas of a room we want to spend the majority of our time in, even if a fleeting thought of the gochujang sauce didn’t already make us blush.

It’s hard to get your hands on these pies which are served out of a warm, dimly lit Hammersmith pub. It requires WhatsApping, texting, or—every Brit’s worst nightmare—ringing them to reserve dough. And even that doesn’t guarantee you a table inside The Chancellors. But take it from us, who have turned up half an hour before they open and waited in the rain, it’s worth it.

There aren’t many places where we’d happily test our quad strength by squatting in an alley to eat a taco—but Sonora Taquería is one of them. There’s almost always a queue that’s full of other believers who’ve made the pilgrimage for cheese crust bean quesadillas. These tacos are worth the wait, worth planning your entire day around, and they are worth popping a squat in the neighbouring alley if the handful of seats are taken. The menu is short and ordering is simple—it’s all fantastic.

This modern West African restaurant is a breath of fresh air for this hectic part of the city and, in fact, the whole of London. The two floors are warm, comfortable, and cosy. The kind of place you could nod off in if the sauces and spices weren’t as thrilling as they are. Lunch and dinner are a set menu roller coaster of flavours, from moi moi with a deeply savoury, sour, and pungent duck egg sauce, to grilled and stuffed napa cabbage with chuggable egusi.

Meals at Zeret Kitchen come with an overwhelming side of peacefulness. At every table you’ll see hands neatly ripping at injera, pinches of kitfo being expertly dispatched, and warm catch-ups taken to the next level by a scoop of shuro wot. There’s so much to love about this slow-paced Ethiopian restaurant in Camberwell and everyone seems to naturally adjust to its calming atmosphere. The gentle orchestral soundtrack probably helps, and so too does the brilliant food.