London North Kensington Restaurant Guide

“Always a pleasure to eat” at this “buzzing, brilliant local” in Ladbroke Grove that may be “cramped, crowded and noisy”, but “can’t be beaten for flavoursome, proper Turkish grills” – “BYO is an added bonus”.

2022 Review: This expensively refurbished Ladbroke Grove pub quietly opened in late summer 2019 – when we added it to the website it already had over 20k followers on Instagram, which can be explained by its backing… some guy called Ed Sheeran. Early reports of the diverse menu suggest that Ed’s lyricism hasn’t infused the cooking with any magic – quite the contrary – but that his upbeat style is more evident in its party vibe.

Chef du jour Tom Straker opened this casual deli and restaurant a few doors from his Notting Hill flagship, Straker’s, in summer 2025, hinting that it could be the first of several across London offering simple, seasonal dishes. (It’s an idea that’s been on the cards for some time – his original ‘Acre’ was planned to open in Queen’s Park in 2022). Having found Instagram fame during lockdown, he is very much in expansive mode, with an opening in NYC the next big target.

This “good honest Greek” is “a boon for tourists going to the Portobello Road”, with a menu of familiar Hellenic classic dishes (and occasional live Greek music). Top Tips – “the chicken and lamb souvla are superb”.

Glam celeb hangout on the Notting Hill-Holland Park borders, from Chilean-born restaurateur Juan Casa Cruz’s international group. “A beautiful location, with delightful food”, the upmarket global cuisine has South American touches (but perhaps more important is the off-chance of sharing the same air as the Clooneys and Swifts of the world).

“5/5 for the pastels de nata, in our experience unsurpassed… even in Portugal!” – this veteran Portuguese patisserie in Notting Hill has no airs and graces, but has been trading in its “unbeatable pastries” since long before they became the world’s favourite take on the custard tart.

Withnail & I (filmed a street or two away) actor, Richard E Grant for many years ate weekly at this good-looking traditional Italian in Notting Hill: one of the area’s stalwart locations (with stablemates Essenza and Osteria Basilico on the same street). One first-time visitor this year also approved: “pasta with a chicken sauce plus other things and a decent bottle of wine in preparation for a visit to the Electric Cinema. Really good experience. Would definitely go again!”

This “old-school” Notting Hill Italian has been “a great crowd-pleaser for the whole family” for more than 30 years. According to one local: “you will not have a great meal but on the other hand I’ve never had a bad one” – as a result it can be “extremely busy, but the service is great” and keeps on top of things. Essenza and Mediterraneo in the same street (see also) are its younger stablemates.

The “fabulous breads, cakes and all things fattening” at Tessa Faulkner’s artisanal bakery at the north end of Portobello Road make it “worth getting up at 7 on a Saturday morning to beat the queues”. There’s “great coffee too”, and regular evening pop-up dinners with guest chefs.

“The hype is annoying because it’s justified” at this “superb all-round” newcomer: the former industrical-chic site of Pizza East now made over as a deceptively casual haunt by the team behind nearby smash hit, The Pelican (and the much-fêted Hero in Maida Vale). Instantly hailed as one of London’s top Italians – “simple but beautifully executed food” emerges from the open kitchen presided over by River Café alums, Jessica Filbey and Harry Hills (and “by god they can cook” is the verdict delivered by both The Standard’s David Ellis and The Mail on Sunday’s Tom Parker-Bowles in their late 2024 reviews). “The only draw back is that they don’t take bookings”. Top Tip – anything with pasta.

On the second floor, above the former site of Pizza East (RIP) – a semi-secret pub upstairs from hip Notting Hill Italian the Canteen, whose street cred was sealed by making entry in the early days ‘by invitation only’ (via WhatsApp). From the team behind the Pelican nearby and the Hero in Maida Vale, it’s big on cocktails as well as beer. The menu changes daily but is limited: three snacks, a starter, main, and dessert.

A bold arrival in the featureless tracts of North Kensington, near the top end of Ladbroke Grove – this conversion of a huge (43,000 sq ft) and graceful Beaux-Arts former car factory (the Sunbeam Talbot Motor Company built in 1903) creates a new showcase for renowned art dealers, Carpenters Workshop Gallery. They moved here from Mayfair in a £30m refurbishment creating a huge arts space, as well as a concert venue, event space… and restaurant! This latter occupies the vast marbled lobby: a “great space” says one early report, but an interior the Daily Mail’s man, Tom Parker Bowles, found so monumental as to be “cold”. On the menu: a chic contemporary take on Italian cuisine by well-travelled chef, Emanuele Pollini (voted Italian chef of the year by Gambero Rosso magazine in 2020). We have rated the venue on initial feedback of “top-notch Italian cuisine” – a view supported by favourable feedback from Tom PB and also (mostly) from William Sitwell in the Telegraph (who found a “classic menu to satisfy the purist Italophile”, if one he felt needed a little more “guts”). Top Tip – check out the space without paying a fortune by eating from the simpler brunch or all-day menu (of panini and salads).

“Fantastic Greek and Turkish dishes, including unusual items, create a memorable meal” (buoyed up by wine from Turkey, Greece Georgia and Armenia) at this “very popular and buzzy (if also crowded and noisy)” two-year-old ocakbasi near the top of the Portobello Road from chef Kemal Demirasal. In April 2024, he opened a sequel in Soho’s Kingly Street (with an ‘Under the Counter’ basement bar), where a variety of cuisines from around the Eastern Mediterranean are the inspiration.

Viral chef Thomas Straker (3M+ followers on Inst) successfully delivers on the promise of his social fame at his “Notting Hill hotspot” off Portobello Road – a “warm, convivial hug of a place” with “excellent food from great grilled fish to knockout duck gnocchi” (“I know I’m getting old because I’m starting to hate music in restaurants: that aside, Straker’s cooking is exquisite”). A fire in the ventilation system closed the venue in spring 2025 but that had little effect on the chef’s momentum: he switched to a residency at the nearby Brasseria while opening casual deli/restaurant Acre across the road (see also) and plotting his first launch in NYC for good measure. Top Menu Tip – “OMG the flatbreads…”, which come topped with mussels and chilli butter or leeks and taleggio.

“Surprisingly good, and good-value, pizza (for an upscale locale)” – and “with the fluffiest crust” – are found at this six-year-old Chelsea hangout with a spinoff in Soho. Branches in Portobello Road and Haverstock Hill closed down last year.

2024 Review: “In a scruffy but lovely part of London, in the shadow of the Trellick Tower”, this year-old, Portobello-fringe bar/restaurant is “top notch”. It serves “small plates of interesting combinations charred on an open grill” and “bar seats offer great views of the actual cooking”. Beyond the food, it’s an “excellent night out” all round thanks to its “warm ambience”, helped along by a brilliantly curated vinyl collection.

Dishoom impresarios, Shamil and Kavi Thakrar opened the first London branch of their Dishoom-lite chain in the Portobello Road in May 2025 (after our survey had concluded). This Notting Hill newcomer follows successful debuts in Brighton, Cambridge and Oxford, offering an all-day, bar-café version of the Dishoom formula – from breakfast with sharing plates and cocktails – inspired by Bombay’s ‘permit rooms’ (essentially drinking dens during India’s 1940s Prohibition). The four-storey Victorian property, formerly a gin distillery, also marks the group’s first departure into accommodation (with a hotel on the top two floors).