The best restaurants, bars and cafes in King's Cross

Taking over the old Gilbert Scott space, this sees Allegra chef Patrick Powell in charge of the main restaurant at the St Pancras Renaissance hotel. There's a decadent French menu on offer here (expect lots of rich sauces) in a drop-dead gorgeous room that's also paired with one of the best cocktail bars in the King's Cross area.

Everyone’s raving about Dim Sum Duck, a tiny gem in Kings Cross. It's run by a dim sum chef with more than 30 years in the business and specialises in hand-made dim sum and in-house roasted duck. Critic Fay Maschler said it was the best Cantonese cooking in London.

At the top of the Standard hotel in King's Cross, Decimo is run by chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesias who has two Michelin-starred restaurants in Bristol and features tapas-style food inspired by Mexico and Spain. The views are breathtaking, and you can enjoy pre-dinner drinks at the super glamorous rooftop bar.

Hoppers offers dishes inspired by the street food of Sri Lanka and South India. This Pancras Square venue has the biggest bar of all its venues. We can’t get enough of the hot butter squid and creamy bone marrow varuval.

Sushi on Jones started life as a tiny sushi stand in New York and was immediately showered with praise. This is their London outpost, which you'll find inside the Good's Way building. There are a mere eight seats serving up an omakase sushi experience on the hour every hour and it remains one of the more affordable omakase meals in London.

The BAO team continue their success with this opening inspired by the western style cafes in Asia. You'll find their signature bao buns alongside inventive western-style dishes like Chicken XO Kiev. As this location is also a bakery, you can take home your very own BAO goodies.

We often daydream about the bacon and egg breakfast naan at Dishoom. Consistently packed and offering a buzzy atmosphere, people keep coming back for its excellent Indian small plates. Its take on Bombay cafe culture ensures long waits and queues at all their restaurants. Be prepared to queue at busier times.

Barrafina are considered as being some of the best Spanish restaurants in London and this Kings Cross outpost is no exception, with a particular focus on Catalan cooking. It's primarily counter dining, but they also have a stunning alfresco-only grill restaurant, Parrillan.

Casa Pastor serves up Mexican classics like slow-cooked pork tacos and tuna tostadas with the outside heated area Plaza Pastor sharing a similar menu, potent cocktails and featuring live music and DJs at the weekend. It’s an excellent party spot in the centre of Coal Drops Yard.

Located inside the YMCA yoga centre, Thenga Café is quirky and inviting, offering a purely vegan menu with European and Indian influences due to the chef's travels and Bengali heritage. The daily set meals are one of London's most affordable eats.

Very much doing exactly what it promises, Beer & Burger Store combines a huge range of craft beers with smashed-patty burgers that are among the best in London. Be sure to get some dipping gravy for your burgers too.

Idris Elba has his very own wine bar in Coal Drops Yard. Wine tasting is available plus a well-thought-out selection of champagne, cocktails and wines by the glass. It’s a sophisticated spot and you never know which A-lister you might bump into!

A hugely impressive-looking venue, this saw them revamping what was literally an old booking office into one of London's most beautiful dining rooms. There's a European menu on offer including oysters to start alongside dishes like smoked corn ribs, buttermilk chicken, steak and their own burger. The cocktails here are very good too.

This all-day restaurant is a Levantine restaurant from the same group as the original London Bridge outpost. Food is consistently delicious, with special cold and hot mezzes, fresh day boat fish, halal steaks and much more.

This relaxed restaurant comes from the team behind Spiritland and offers Neapolitan wood-fired pizza with lots of traditional toppings, Prosecco, and an extremely memorable Nutella pizza to finish off! Downstairs is Supermax, its basement late-night licence cocktail bar.

Flat Iron have an avid following amongst Londoners, with their signature flat iron steaks being one of the best deals in town. This is their King's Cross location where they serve up the usual flat-iron steaks as well as some special cuts. And all for a much cheaper price than you'd normally pay at a steakhouse.

Coal Office has eye-popping interiors by Tom Dixon and food by Palomar chef and restaurateur Assaf Granit. If you're up at the counter, it's a scene quite familiar from The Palomar - Jerusalem-inspired food served up by a lively kitchen.

Amazingly popular vegetarian restaurant, serving up all manner of veggie and vegan dishes. Their burgers are very well regarded and the weekend brunch with scrambled tofu and aubergine bacon, among others, is a big hit.

With no bookings and super-fast Roman pizzas, this is a great spot for a quick dinner with friends. The price point is excellent too, with many pizzas all under a tenner. Don’t forget to order dessert.

Wine is what it's all about at Vinoteca, whether you're buying to take away or sitting in with friends, there are loads of options to choose from. The food's good too, with a range of small and big plate options - The Neal’s Yard cheese croquettes with aioli are always good.

This brightly coloured restaurant serves up some of the most delicious and authentic Thai food in London at great prices. Try Phuket cashew nuts or Southern specialities like Pla Tod Naam Pla – crispy seabass with sugar, fish sauce and green apple salad.

Granary Square Brasserie is Caprice Holdings big King's Cross space. Food-wise, think of this as similar to one of their Ivy Cafes - so mid-range brasserie dishes in an opulent setting.

This used to be the first-ever gym in London - a huge imposing building just outside St Pancras. Expect plenty of German food, humongous sausages and Bavarian beer on the menu. It's brasserie-style downstairs and more of a fine-dining approach upstairs.

The original opened up in Exmouth Market to great reviews and they haven't looked back since. Now in multiple locations across town, this was Caravan's second opening, and one of the first places to open on Granary Square. Coffee remains a big thing, supplied by their nearby roastery. Food-wise, they serve what they call a "food well-travelled" menu all-day and their brunch is one of the most popular in town.

This King's Place restaurant is in a super setting especially during the summer months with a massive terrace opening onto the canal. The menu is modern British, and you'll find all the meat here sourced from the restaurant's own farm in Northumberland.