There are a lot of food and drink books released every year. So we're focusing specifically on those books that all about London restaurants. From cookbooks to memoirs, here's the pick of this year's bunch.
Restaurant cookbooks
Padella
Tim Siadatan
One of London's best-known pasta restaurants, this brings their most popular dishes home in a book by founder Tim Siadatan. So you'll find recipes for tagliarini with crab, chilli, lemon & parsley, and fettuccine with nduja. Most importantly, it also features their best-known dishes, beef shin ragu and pici cacio e pepe. There are also tips on how to make the best pasta, but also how to make the best out of shop-bought pasta.
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Square
Created by technology company Square, this book is designed to support the hospitality industry. It features 20 of London’s most celebrated restaurants, cafes and bakeries, with recipes including Saltine’s Nettle & Ricotta Pie and World Famous Gordos’ sought-after pizza dough recipe. Plus, 100% of the proceeds go to help the restaurant that the book supports.
Vegetables: The Indian Way
Camellia Panjabi
Her first cookbook sold over two million copies worldwide, making her a household name. Now cookbook author and restaurant owner (Veeraswamy, Chutney Mary and more) Camellia Panjabi has created the definitive guide to Indian vegetarian cooking. Here, you'll find 120 authentic, easy-to-follow recipes organised by vegetable, with rich insights into their culinary origins, nutritional values, and wellness benefits.
Buy Vegetables: The Indian Way
Bubala
Mark Summers
Founder of Bubala, Marc Summers, has released his first cookbook, based on the popular Middle Eastern-inspired vegetarian restaurant. There are over 100 recipes inside, with many designed for sharing, just like in the restaurants. There are some of their big hits like Burnt Butter Hummus, Halloumi with Black Seed Honey and the Potato Latkes with Toum and there's the story of how the restaurant launched too.
French Classics
Matthew Ryle
Matthew Ryle is the Executive Chef Partner of Maison and Café François, both hugely successful French restaurants. With a big renaissance in French cuisine in London right now, this book is all about cooking and mastering timeless French classics at home. Recipes in here include garlicky roast chicken, moules mariniere, beef bourguignon and a decadent chocolate mousse made from three ingredients.
More about Café Francois restaurant
The Spanish Pantry
José Pizarro
José Pizarro, prolific cookbook author and one of London's best Spanish chefs, is back with a brand new book for this year. In this book, he's highlighting 12 ingredients that he says "form the building blocks of Spanish flavour". They're showcased in over 100 recipes, from griddled spring onion tortilla to saffron and prawn croquetas.
Bibi - The Cookbook
Chet Sharma
Bibi, led by Chet Sharma, is one of Mayfair's best restaurants and this book features both recipes from the restaurant and also acts as a journal for how the restaurant came about (along with thoughts from the likes of Aziz Ansari, Trevor Noah and Hans Zimmer). Find out how to recreate dishes from Bibi, like the Wookey-hole cheese papad, Lahori chicken, seekh kebabs and Alphonso mango lassi.
Roti King
Sugen Gopal
The man behind one of London's best Malaysian restaurants, Sugen Gopal has now created the ultimate book about Roti King. In the book, you'll read about how the restaurant takes its influence from Malaysia’s vibrant street food culture and the home-cooked classics of his childhood, with recipes including Roti King's nasi lemak with fried chicken, roti canai and lots of noodle dishes.
More about Roti King restaurant
Indian 101
Karan Gokani
Karan Gokani is the founder of Hoppers and while that restaurant has focused on Sri Lankan cooking, the new Shoreditch opening will also feature new Indian dishes. So this cookbook is particularly timely, billed as an accessible guide to making authentic Indian recipes easy, intuitive, and enjoyable. Full of tips, tricks and even shortcuts to great cooking, you'll also find recipes like Parsi eggs on potatoes and pork vindaloo.
More about Hoppers Shoreditch restaurant
Pizza Napoli
Thom Elliot, James Elliot, Dave Brown
The latest book from Pizza Pilgrims focuses on Napoli, the birthplace of pizza. In here, you'll find lots of recipes for Neapolitan classics, as well as "personalised recipes from the Pizza legends of Naples". There are, of course, lots of expert tips for making your own authentic Neapolitan pizzas, as well as lots of stories about Naples itself.
More about Pizza Pilgrims restaurants
Arabica - Small Plates, Big Connections
James Walters
Arabica has been in business for 25 years, starting as a stall in Borough Market. Now chef-founder James Walters has created the first Arabica book to celebrate. Inside this book are recipes inspired by his trips across the Eastern Mediterranean, full of great recipes of meze and small plates, like spinach & feta gül böreği, chicken & pistachio shish, Turkish-style künefe and more.
Ginger Pig One Pot
Tim Wilson, Rebecca Seal
The newest book by one of London's best-known butchers is all about recipes that can be made in just one pot. From the founder of Ginger Pig and cookbook writer Rebecca Seal, there's a big focus on chicken, pork, beef, lamb and game, but you will find fish and vegetarian dishes too. Recipes include lamb and potato stew with whipped feta, spicy Italian sausage with gnocchi, cream and kale and steak, ale and mushroom pot pie.
Food You Want to Eat
Thomas Straker
The man behind Straker's has millions of followers online, two London restaurants and an imminent New York opening too. This book is less about his restaurants and more about cooking for pleasure and about "breaking down the barriers between cheffy food and home-cooking." There are recipes for simple dishes like roast chicken with butter beans and salsa verde and, of course, his signature flavoured butters.
More about Straker's restaurant
Also see
Without Reservation
Jeremy King
One of London's most well-known restaurateurs, Jeremy King is the man you look to when thinking about how to run a restaurant properly. With his new restaurants being more successful than ever, this memoir looks back on 50 years in the hospitality business, with memories from Le Caprice, The Ivy and The Wolseley right up to his upcoming opening, Simpson's in the Strand. If you want to learn about the London hospitality scene from the best, this is the book to get.
More about Simpson's in the Strand restaurant
Tart
Slutty Cheff
For a no-holds-barred account of life in London's restaurant industry, look no further than this memoir by the anonymous London Instagrammer Slutty Chef. Think Anthony Bourdain meets Lena Dunham. The cook and writer, who also has a Vogue column, covers everything about working in the city's intense restaurant scene from being the only woman on the team to the thrill of a busy service.
Around the Table
Diana Henry
London-based cookbook author and Daily Telegraph columnist Diana is hands-down one of our favourite food writers. Her latest book sees her step away from recipe writing for more of a food memoir. As the name suggests, this is a handpicked selection of her essays that covers everything from the Turkish groceries of Edgware Road to maple syrup farmers in Vermont. They say, it's "a book for everyone who dreams about dinner while still eating breakfast", so it's very us-coded.
The Connaught
Bill Prince
One of London's most famous hotels, this book is a reassuringly opulent tome from Assouline which takes you through everything that makes the Connaught the gem it is today. From the opening back in 1897, the book traces the life of the hotel until the present day. If you're after the perfect coffee table book this Christmas, this is one to bear in mind.
Cookbook hits from previous years
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