As we're (just over) two-thirds through the year, we're taking a look back at the standout dishes from the new openings in London. From cheese tarts through to exceptionally good take on bluefin tuna, here are the dishes that have really impressed us in 2026 (so far).
The Golden Tooth: Cheese and Custard Tart
Stoke Newington - 79 Green Lanes, London N16 9BU
The team behind Papi re-emerged with this new Stoke Newington pub and with a better menu than ever. There were quite a few excellent dishes (like their amazing pie) but this savoury version of a custard tart was extraordinary, from its just-set texture to the light savoury notes. We love a good custard tart at the best of times, and now we know we can have it as a starter too!
Impala: The sheftalia
Soho - 14 Dean St, London W1D 3RS
Meedu Saad's first solo restaurant in Soho proved to be an immediate hit and quite unlike many other big openings this year. There's much to love about the menu (including an absolutely stellar dessert) but the real standout were the sheftalia. It wouldn't be the last time we encountered these sausages wrapped in caul fat, but these Tamworth pork offerings were little parcels of perfection.
Hon's BBQ: Short ribs
Hackney Wick - The White Building, Unit 7 Queen's Yard, London E9 5EN
We're extremely partial to (proper) barbecue at the best of times (there's not enough of it in London these days), but Hon's really takes it the extra mile. With everything cooking for several hours from first thing in the morning, the care and effort really pay off. It's hard to go wrong with the menu here, but these short ribs in particular are unmissable, with the crunchy Sichuan sauce really bringing things up a level.
Burro: Fried artichoke with bottarga
Covent Garden - 2 Floral Court, Floral Street, London WC2E 9FB
Conor Gadd's follow-up to Trullo found a lot of fans from the traditional newspaper critics, with Giles Coren in particular calling this his "dish of the year". It's almost like a vegetarian version of fritto misto, if it weren't for the bottarga grated all over it. Get this, the rabbit pappardelle and the tiramisu doughnuts and you're in for a great meal.
Osteria Vibrato: Veal alla Castellana
Soho - 6 Greek St, London W1D 4DE
There was so much to like at Osteria Vibrato, not least the candlelight making everyone look fantastic, and our waiter who moonlit as a pianist throughout the night. But dish-wise it was the memory of these veal escalopes, topped with prosciutto and Fontina cheese, that has stayed with us months after our visit. They were rich, salty, comforting and would be just the ticket on a wet day in London.
Our Osteria Vibrato Test Drive
Igni: Bluefin tuna, three ways
Mayfair - 12 St. George Street, London W1S 2FB
Chef Theo Clench and his team turned out an excellent tasting menu experience on our visit, so picking out a single course was hard. That said, it was this particular trio of treatments of bluefin tuna that had us demanding to know how they did it. In particular, we're talking about the chutoro which, after having been aged for two weeks, was then dressed with foie fat that had been rendered down over the kitchen's live fire. Surf and turf of the best kind.
Chez Rose: Poulet rôti, morels in vin jaune sauce
Mayfair - 5 Pollen St, London W1S 1NE
The second team-up between Spencer Metzger and Jason Atherton saw Metzger transforming Atherton's Little Social into a classy Parisian bistro, making it one of the most comforting new places to eat in Mayfair. And ramping up that comfort is this version of a classic French dish with sauce that we wish we could have siphoned off and taken home with us.
Tempo: Delica squash curry
Bethnal Green - 252 Paradise Row, London E2 9LE
We were hard-pressed to single out just one dish from our dinner at Tempo for praise; it was such a good meal. But if someone had a gun to our heads, we'd have to settle on this seasonal dish of curried delica pumpkin with shimeji mushrooms, coconut milk and galangal. It had been roasted until structurally intact but soft to eat and served with the best bowl of coconut cream jasmine rice.
Orrery: Smoked eel jelly and cream with caviar
Marylebone - 55 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 5RB
A longstanding Marylebone institution, Orrery was taken over this year by former Alex Dilling chef Pierre Minotti and the whole room given a complete (and a little divisive) makeover. Fully in search of a Michelin star, the food here is now very much in fine dining territory, with this particular dish shining through. It's a smoked eel jelly, with cured seabass and crispy potatoes, topped with smoked eel cream and finished off with a spoon of caviar - the eel cream and jelly in particular playing off each other to make this something really special. It comes at an extra-special price though, with a £35 supplement.
Oudh 1722: masala confit goat
London Bridge - 66 Union St, London SE1 1TD
Aktar Islam holds two Michelin stars at Opheem in Birmingham, and this was his first London opening. There are quite a few dishes that really look the part on the menu, the beautifully presented Malai murgh for one, but we found this lightly seasoned and incredibly tender kid goat to be the best of the bunch.
Rosina: White risotto
Wandsworth - 35 Bellevue Road, London SW17 7EF
Adam Byatt's first foray into Italian food proved to be a big success, delivering something akin to Trullo for a Wandsworth audience and really well-priced too. The signature dish at the restaurant is the Risotto Bianco, one you'll have to order with plenty of notice to make sure they get it just right. It's one of the best risotto dishes we've ever had, and at £20 for such a huge plate, it's also great value.
Aces Foodcraft: Prawn dumpling and mussel "green juice"
Fitzrovia - 8 Pearson Square, London W1T 3BF
Aces Foodcraft actually opened late in 2025, but like quite a few writers, we only managed to get there early this year. Alex Craciun is delivering an exceptionally good array of dishes in beautiful surroundings, and the £95 tasting menu is really a great deal for such an innovative selection. Many of the dishes mix influences, and this is called "A Chinese man in France". It features a prawn dumpling on top of a bonkers-looking cactus test tube containing a drink of mussel juice.
Sushi Amamoto: foie gras ice cream sandwich
Mayfair - 36 Albemarle St, London W1S 4JE
Taking over what used to be Taku, one of the world's top sushi chefs, Shogo Amamoto, came to London with his eponymous omakase restaurant. The bulk of the meal is, of course, seafood-led, with this savoury ice cream sandwich a rare exception (apparently elsewhere they use monkfish liver in this, but they couldn't get the right quality in the UK). It's foie gras, so it won't be for everyone, but it really is a next-level ice cream sandwich.
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