You’re propped up at the bar, drink in hand, life is good – but what’s that? An unsolicited tummy rumble? Don’t fret, stay right where you are – reaching for the snacks menu at any one of these bars will relieve hunger pangs with panache, at a quality to rival whatever your 8pm restaurant booking has to offer. From trusty sausage rolls to truffled French toast, these are the best bar snacks in London. .
Salt beef nuggets at The Lowback
1 Water St, London E14 5GX
The Hawksmoor lot are very good at bars – so much so that they can even make you want to go to Canary Wharf. Top notch cocktails at The Lowback are paired with typically meaty treats: crispy nuggets stuffed with salt beef, Ogleshield cheese and kraut are a reason to come back time and time again.
French toast with bacon jam and truffle at Le Magritte
The Beaumont, 8 Balderton St, Brown Hart Gardens, London W1K 6TF
A truly elegant bar needs equally elegant snacks, but ones that still hit the spot for those post-Martini fried food hankerings. At Le Magritte at The Beaumont hotel, this quota is expertly fulfilled by chef Ben Boeynaems’s neat cubes of French toast, topped with delicious bacon jam and luxurious shavings of black truffle..
Photo: Ola O. Smit
Grilled cheese at Satan’s Whiskers
343 Cambridge Heath Rd, London E2 9RA
This Bethnal Green hotspot is the closest London gets to a proper American cocktail bar. Excellent classic cocktails in dive bar-chic surroundings come with substantial snacks: a frankly filthy amount of butter goes into the grilled cheese, but balanced deftly with pickles (including pickled garlic for those not on a first date).
Tuna crudo tostada at Side Hustle
Old Police Station Entrance, 28 Bow St, London WC2E 7AW
If you still need convincing, the snack menu at Nomad’s Side Hustle consummately debunks the myth that you can’t get good Mexican food in London. Excellent aguachiles and sublime salsas are vividly fresh, while the tacos and tostadas – including a superb tuna crudo tostada with ancho chilli and mustard leaves – seal the deal..
Photo: @itnerarywoman
Churro at Kol Mezcaleria
Lower Ground Floor, 9 Seymour St, London W1H 7BA
Bagging a table at Kol is near impossible – but head downstairs to the Mezcaleria, and it’s possible to sample Santiago Lastra’s food with a bit more spontaneity and a lot less money. The anticuchos menu includes tostadas and quesadillas, and a sensational swalty churro served with Soconusco chocolate and mezcal mousse and pork crackling. .
Anchovy on toast at Bottle & Rye
404-406 Market Row, London London SW9 8LD
Robin Gill’s wine bar brings a little slice of Paris to Brixton Market (hard to imagine, but go with it), along with a predictably high quality snacking and small plates menu. Cantabrian anchovies on liberally buttered toast are always a good idea, but a drizzle of honey sets this bite apart.
Buñuelos de bacalao at José
104 Bermondsey St, London SE1 3UB
The Spanish have turned bar snacking into a national culinary art form and, in London, no one knows tapas like José Pizarro. His Bermondsey Street bar specialises in glasses of sherry accompanied by a rotating blackboard of tapas dishes: keep an eye out for Pizarro’s buñuelos de bacalao, salt cod fritters that are as satisfying to eat as they are to say.
Tuna patacones at Tayer + Elementary
152 Old St, London EC1V 9BW
Consistently hailed as one of the best bars on the planet since it opened in 2019, the creativity and quality of the drinks Tayer + Elementary is practically second to none. No prizes for guessing how good the food is then – just like the drinks menu, the ‘snax’ offering changes regularly, but keep an eye out for next-level corn dogs and amazing tuna patacones
Fried chicken bites with truffle aioli at Double Standard
Standard London, 10 Argyle Street, London WC1H 8EG
The Standard brings a New York state of mind to its London location’s ground floor bar, with Double Standard guests offered a dive bar-inspired menu of snacks. Top notch burgers and hot dogs are on hand for the properly hungry, but fried chicken served with truffle aioli is perfect to share between two slightly peckish punters.
Potato smiley faces at Seed Library
100 Shoreditch High St, London E1 6JQ
If you have the tendency to regress somewhat after a drink or two, Ryan Chetiyawardana’s Shoreditch bar Seed Library has the bar bite to satisfy your inner child. Yes, this hotel bar really does serve potato smiley faces with red sauce right now because sometimes all you want at 11.45pm are carbohydrates and a reminder that it’s ok to be a little bit silly.
Manteca Iberica at Bar Daskal
16 Park St, London SE1 9AB
For a beer and a bite with a Michelin-starred pedigree, head to Bar Daskal, the new Borough Yards watering hole from the Barrafina team. Here, the Iberian pork manteca is a canny combination of whipped lard, paprika and pork rillettes, served with sourdough and spicy piparras chilli peppers. Salt, fat, acid and heat indeed.
XXL cheese and mustard toastie at The Wigmore
15 Langham Place, London W1B 3DE
There are snacks, and then there are foot-long cheese toasties that you can convince yourself are a pre-dinner morsel because they’re in the ‘snacks’ bit of the menu. The ‘XXL’, three-cheese and mustard toasted sandwich is the latter. Probably one to share, but we’re not judging. There’s also a vegan version available too.
Chicken katsu sando at The Aubrey
Mandarin Oriental London, 66 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7LA
The fanciest incarnation yet of London’s newfound izakaya fascination, the Mandarin Oriental’s new bar The Aubrey channels the Japanese modus operandi of well executed cocktails with slightly naughty food. The late night snacks here include a chicken katsu sando, filled with crispy cutlet, white cabbage and kewpie mayo – at £18, it’s indulgent in more ways than one.
Pork and apple sausage roll at The Drapers Arms
44 Barnsbury St, London N1 1ER
Classics are classics for a reason, and it’s difficult to beat a sausage roll ordered alongside pint number two (particularly when you said you’d go for just the one). The Drapers Arms honours this with a by-the-slice pork and apple incarnation, perked up with a collection of pickles on the side.
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