As we reach the end of another year's worth of eating and drinking, it's time to look back at it all. Here's part one of what we think are our favourite dishes and desserts, best scene and more of 2025, with part two to follow later this week...
Best new restaurant - Legado
We were already pretty hyped by the prospect of a new Nieves Barragan restaurant, but the arrival of Legado in Shoreditch exceeded even our highest expectations. Tucked off the high street in the same new development as Singburi but in an old warehouse, it certainly looked the part. The counter dining and open kitchen reminded us of Sabor, but then we noticed new flourishes, like the massive wood-fired ovens (and the churros station). There’s so much to enjoy on the menu here, from the three-sip cocktails to the signature, and oh-so-clever Legado sandwich. Add to that a huge bar where you can pop in for a caña and croquetas and this was unquestionably our favourite new restaurant of the year.
Runner up: Carnaby’s dining scene got a serious lift with the arrival of Himi, a shimmering neo izakaya from the team behind Roji. And back in Shoreditch, the opening of Osteria Angelina was an immediate hit and has been packing punters in since day one.
Best tasting menu - Row on 5
The resurgence of tasting menus wasn’t something we had on our 2025 bingo card, but we must admit it’s been a real treat sometimes to forget about small plates and put yourself in the chef’s hands for dinner. Row on 5 was memorable because we never reached that point of ennui that sometimes comes with long tasting menus. The promenade experience, which meant you started and ended in the bar, and theatrical flourishes of service kept the experience fresh. If you go, we’d recommend doing as we did and not opening the menu until the end of the meal to keep the whole thing a surprise. This was genuinely one of our top London dining experiences of the year.
Runner up: Most of our recent trips to Paris have involved hitting up the city’s buzzy bistronomy spots, but Michelin-starred NHOMe stood out for being a tasting menu restaurant that’s innovative without being stuffy. And our reader event at Luna Omakase (hidden inside Los Mochis City) was also one of our most enjoyable meals of 2025.
Best new sushi restaurant - Fan
We've been to a lot of new sushi restaurants in 2025, so we thought this was more than deserving of its own category. This indie operation in Notting Hill didn’t have the budget for a big PR campaign, but we knew enough about the founders’ other operation in Lima to know this would be worth trying. And we were right. Fan say their food is an evolution of Nikkei cuisine, so the menu takes inspiration from both Peruvian and Japanese influences. The net result is an array of interesting sushi that isn’t like anything else being served up in London right now.
Runner up: It was all but impossible to get a seat at Eel Sushi when it first opened. Thankfully, it’s now a lot easier, so more people can enjoy the top-quality sushi here.
Best new wine bar - Marjorie's
Tucked down a side street in Carnaby, Marjorie's has been an immediate hit and it's easy to see why. Upstairs, it's mainly about the wine bar, a convivial space with a wine list that's exclusively French (with the odd cocktail on the list too). That's paired with a kitchen led by chef Giacomo Peretti (ex-Le Gavroche, The Culpeper), which delivered knockout dish after knockout dish (see an example of that below). Great food and wine mixed with a lovely Soho vibe make this a big winner.
Read the Marjorie's Test Drive
Runner up: Tucked down a quaint cobbled alley in Shad Thames Luna is a beautiful spot that’s as good for a glass of wine as it is for its array of interesting small plates.
Best looking - Stable Wines
Coming from the people behind Goodbye Horses and the stunning-looking The Dreamery, it perhaps wasn't surprising that the same team were able to create something so striking for their third opening. While the upstairs glass-enclosed wine shop looks impressive enough, hidden below it is a warren of rooms that we described as looking like a "15th-century style speakeasy" with a series of beautifully-lit rooms. It's like nothing else in London and well worth visiting just to take it all in, with a few glasses of wine, of course.
Runner up: They clearly had a great starting point to work from, but Hawksmoor St Pancras and The Martini Bar are both in absolutely beautiful rooms.
Best martini - Duchy
If you’ve been following our Test Drives all year, you’ll have observed two things. One, we’re very partial to a martini. Two we know how to make a good one ourselves so we’re always judging the ones we have in restaurants, particularly how cold they are. Happily, the martini at Duchy was an absolute belter - perfect temperature and perfect balance, which even the most top-end bars in London often fail to achieve.
Runner up: The Dante pop-up at Claridge’s was extended past summer to the end of the year, giving us more chances to go back and enjoy this NYC take on a classic. And we also very much appreciated the freezer drawer martini at 45 Jermyn St.
Best dish - Tasca’s raw Orkney scallop bilbaina
Tasca's residency at East London bar Cav might have ended earlier than planned (they're now over in Highbury at Giacco's), but our meal there stood out for the fact that there wasn't a single duff dish in the many we tried. That said, one in particular did stand out, the raw Orkney scallop bilbaina. This was a crudo dish with a sauce that displayed the obsessiveness of chefs that we love. Chef Josh Dallaway had roasted up six different chillies, then fried them with fermented garlic before adding cider vinegar and dashi made from the skirts of the scallops. This is why we go out to eat; so someone else can be insanely creative and do something so labour-intensive instead of us.
Runner up: From Marjorie's, the poached chicken with rice and brown butter was the perfect comfort dish, made even better as the rice was scraped from the bottom of a pan for added crunchiness.
Best use of a deep-fat fryer - Himi's Torikara (crispy fried chicken)
We first encountered chefs Tamas and Tomoko at Roji so we were always going to be interested in their next venture and they really delivered with their 'Tokyo-Style Neo-Izakaya (which is why it's runner-up for restaurant of the year). This chicken dish with "two types of chicken" has been on the menu since day one, and with good cause, as we described it as "the best Japanese fried chicken we've ever had the delight to eat", loving the sancho pepper seasoning and the kombu mayo for dipping.
Runner up: More fantastic chicken (breaded boneless chicken with nduja butter and ranch dressing) can be found in Dalston pub The Black Eel, by Riley's.
Biggest on social - German bakery Zeit Fur Brot
Instagram (and TikTok) likes nothing better than a bakery, it seems, and that seems proven by our most popular reel on Instagram this year. Opening to relatively little publicity in Islington, this German bakery was hugely anticipated by those in the know with our reel eventually being viewed by 1.2 million people. It helps that it's also a gorgeous, light-filled place.
Runner up: Also getting a lot of eyeballs, was our guide to the East Wing hospitality at Twickenham, with 1.1 million views. It's not cheap, that's for sure, but it really was an amazing day out.
Most improved area - Shoreditch
Having been one of the more exciting places to eat out in London a decade ago, Shoreditch had become a bit "bridge and tunnel" of late. That was until this year, when a slew of new openings roared new life into the area. First up, we had the winner of our Best Scene award, One Club Row, followed by Osteria Angelina, Duchy, Singburi and Lagana. Next was the winner of this year’s Best Restaurant category, Legado, along with Vincenzo’s and Dumbo. E1 is officially on fire, food-wise.
Best scene: One Club Row
This door on a Shoreditch side alley, surrounded by graffiti and with a tiny neon sign to denote whether walk-in spaces are available, was all over our FYP pages in April. But it was behind the door and up the rickety stairs where the magic was happening at One Club Row. A talented trio (James Dye, Benjy Leibowitz and chef Patrick Powell) was responsible for this London homage to NYC brasseries by way of Paris. There’s something indefinable about buzz, but what we do know is this place had it in spades. From the martinis to that amazing burger, this restaurant was part of the vanguard spearheading the revival of Shoreditch as a place to eat well again.
Read the One Club Row Test Drive
Runners up: Carbone was (and still is) one of the hardest tables to book in London, and there’s a reason for that that has nothing to do with its menu. It's got all the vibes going on. Nina and its louche, candlelit dining room and good-looking crowd was a palpable scene and while Martino’s has just opened, it’s already finding its groove in Chelsea.
Best snackage - Fried pizza dough at The Kerfield Arms
These snacks at perfect neighbourhood pub The Kerfield Arms are still on the menu eight months after our visit, so clearly regulars won’t stand for their removal. We’d cross town tomorrow for another plate of these puffed-up pizza fingers and tamarasalata.
Read The Kerfield Arms Test Drive
Runner up: The smoked prawn crullers with miso and pickled cucumber at Kudu were one of numerous reasons to love the menu at their new home in Marylebone.
Best reboot - Singburi
Along with pretty much every restaurant reviewer in town, we were forced to admit we hadn’t been to the OG Singburi in Leyton. But the restaurant’s relocation to Shoreditch enabled it not only to broaden its menu (and introduce a drinks menu) but its customer base too. We were one of those new customers and took an instant liking to the food and vibe here.
Runner up: Jackson Boxer’s successful reworking of what was Orasay into Dove showed that a fresh eye and take on a perfectly decent neighbourhood spot could propel it to new heights.
Best excuse to break bread - Row on 5’s shokupan
The bread course at Row on 5 was not only the most beautiful we enjoyed this year, but also delivered on taste. The shokupan came glazed in fermented honey and sea salt and was served up with Hollis mead miso butter with a pool of fermented honey caramel on top. And just look at it!
Runner up: Osteria Angelina’s Hokkaido milk bread came with a winning combo of kumquat & burnt honey butter but we're also still thinking about the warm potato dinner rolls and tangy cultured butter at Luna wine bar in Shad Thames.
Best vegetarian dish - Alta's Hen of the Woods
We've had a lot of great vegetarian dishes this year, but the one at Rob Roy Cameron's Alta was a clear winner the moment we tried it. There's an awful lot to love about this modern Basque restaurant in Carnaby, including its beautiful stripped-back look, but this main dish (which is actually vegan), was our favourite dish of the night, with an incredible crunchy crust on the mushrooms and a great pine-nut sauce.
Runner up: We’ll admit to being so into the pineapple tomato that was used in MOI’s tomato dish that we tracked it back to the Cambridgeshire farm. We weren’t quite so obsessive about the aubergine pad phet at Singburi, but we did really, really like it.
Most obvious trend - Pizza
London’s pizza lovers were definitely spoilt for choice when it came to new openings in 2025. Whether you fancied Detroit, New Haven, East Coast, NYC slice, Neapolitan or even London-style pizza, there was somewhere opening which guaranteed to cater to your preference. We’ve obviously tried our fair share and our favourite two were Crisp’s Vecna, with pepperoni, Parmesan, burrata and hot honey and Carmela’s Vodka with house vodka sauce, fresh mozzarella and chives.
Read the Carmela's Test Drive and the Crisp W1 Test Drive
Most surprising closure - Claude Bosi at Bibendum
There were so many restaurant closures this year due to a perfect storm of factors that made staying open just too financially hard for many great restaurant teams. But we definitely didn’t see either of these big closures coming. First up was the announcement that Claude Bosi’s two Michelin-starred restaurant in the Bibendum building was closing. That seemed to be down to issues with the leaseholder. And the departure of chef Victor Garvey from the Midland Grand after just six months was an equal shocker.
Best reason to grab your passport - Cendrillon
Having seen this on a bunch of chefs’ Insta photo dumps from trips to Paris we booked this restaurant in Belleville (20th arrondissement) and couldn’t have been more delighted with our dinner here. There were caviar bumps, crazy good mezcalitas and a pig sando that was worth the Eurostar ticket alone. The roaming labrador was the icing on the cake.
Runner up: Dinner at Cantina at Hauser & Wirth in Menorca involved taking a boat out to an island in the Mahon harbour and, as the sun dipped while we tucked into black rice with alioli, we enjoyed one of the loveliest meals abroad this year.
Best use of potato - Lilibet's Mash
The delivery of the titular pimped up mash to our table at Lilibet’s was met with a chorus of ‘oohs’ and no wonder. A swirl of buttery mash generously topped with lobster and sitting in an absolute sea of shellfish bisque. it tasted every bit as good as it looked. We can’t think of a better way to spend £15 in London.
Runner up: There was a lot to like at Queen’s Park restaurant Don’t Tell Dad, but the Pommes Anna was a definite highlight.
Best dessert - Shanghai Me's giant fortune cookie
Maybe there's something about the size of this dessert (massive), maybe it's because it was filled with both chocolate and matcha cream, or maybe it was the satisfaction we had in smashing it all up, but we loved this dessert at Shanghai Me. Served high up over London (in the space that was once Galvin at Windows), it's also pretty good value given its mammoth size. Their milky cake was also great.
Read the Shanghai Me Test Drive
Runner up: We were big fans of the sesame caramel ice cream sandwich at Straits Kitchen, while Tom Brown's menu at his new Knightsbridge home finished on a high with a perfect vanilla parfait filled with Alfonso mango compote.
Most missed - Richard Vines
The death of former Bloomberg restaurant critic Richard Vines in April left a gaping hole in the London food scene that’ll be hard to fill. Vines was one of those flamboyant characters who was an integral part of this city’s restaurant world. His passion and enthusiasm for chefs and restaurants, not to mention his spectacular wardrobe and abiding love for Champagne, made him a singular presence, and we miss him very much.
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