North Kensington, Mediterranean Restaurant Guide

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.

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!”