The top fine dining restaurants in London

London is home to many fine dining and Michelin starred restaurants, serving a range of cuisines. Here are the top fining dining restaurants that I have personally been to and recommend. There are also quite a few that are fine dining that I’ve been to that didn’t make this list!

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

With two Michelin stars, you’re guaranteed fabulous food and service at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. Located in the luxurious and elegant Mandarin Oriental hotel in Knightsbridge, dinner here is perfect for a special occasion.

Inspired by historic British gastronomy, each dish has been thoroughly researched and brought up to date in a modern dining setting. True to Heston’s style, the food plays tricks on your mind! For example, the Meat Fruit starter is a chicken liver and foie gras parfait that looks like a piece of fruit! The food was faultless and the service excellent.

Hide

One Michelin-starred Hide is Ollie Dabbous’s second London restaurant, which opened in 2017. It consists of three distinct venues as well as THAT staircase. There’s The bar below, Hide and Above at Hide.

We had lunch at Hide and were sat by the window, which provided some lovely natural light. The menu offers seasonal dishes, such as chestnut agnolotti in a light duck broth (we went in December), and uses produce from small UK farmers and suppliers.

The wine list is quite extensive. The wine we ordered, however, needed to be fetched from their nearby wine shop – which wasn’t ideal as it took a while to arrive. The wine is also very pricey.

Hide is a lovely restaurant, with fantastic dishes and great service – but expect expensive wine!

Le Comptoir

Located right by Hide, is Le Comptoir. Le Comptoir is part of Robuchon London and continues the legacy of the celebrated chef, Joël Robuchon.

We’ve actually been to many of his restaurants across the world, including Paris, Tokyo and Bangkok. We used to have lunch every Christmas Eve at his restaurant in Seven Dials until it sadly closed. Luckily Le Comptoir has opened and will be our new Christmas Eve tradition!

The decor is very different to the previous restaurant, which was black and red. The decor here is quite art decor, in burnt orange and rose gold colours and I loved it! We were happy to see that there was counter seating as it’s our preference.

We were delighted to see some familiar dishes on the menu, like the mini beef burgers with pan-seared foie gras and fries – delicious! The menu is actually a combination of classic Robuchon dishes as well as seasonal specials.

We ordered a number of dishes to share, including a salad with beetroot and whipped goats cheese, a pasta course and the grilled fish. We ended the meal with a Rum Baba and a souffle.

The service was excellent and attentive. The chefs actually gave us some extra dishes to try, which was lovely. Highly recommend Le Comptoir for a wonderful meal.

Margot

Situated close to Holborn and in the heart of Covent Garden is Margot, which serves upmarket Italian cuisine. We’ve been regular diners for a number of years now and keep returning because we love the food and the friendly, excellent service.

There are two dining levels and the top level (which is actually ground level) has counter seating, which we mostly choose as we love to watch the chefs at work!

The menu is seasonal and not too large – however they have 350 wines on the wine list, if you love wine! There is usually a set menu option for lunch, which is really good value for money.

The pasta courses are always spot on – and we’ve tried a few! If the crab ravioli is on the menu, definitely order it. It’s absolutely delicious.

MiMi Mei Fair

MiMi Mei Fair is located in Mayfair (clever play on words!), just around the corner from Shepherd Market. It’s situated in a three-story Georgian townhouse and has been designed to reflect the house of an Empress – Empress Mimi, in fact.

In the basement is a lovely bar, then there are two floors of dining – both different in style. We were situated in the upper dining room and it was stunning! I absolutely loved the decor.

We dined during Chinese New Year so the restaurant was beautifully decorated with Wishing Trees. There was also a special menu for the occasion. MiMi Mei Fair specialises in Peking Duck, however you have to order it in advance, which we didn’t do – but that’s ok as it’s a good reason to return!

We loved the experience – from our drink in the bar to the beautiful setting, delicious Chinese food and the great service.

Murano

For a Michelin-starred Italian meal, book a table at Murano by chef Angela Hartnett. The restaurant is located in Mayfair, near the Ritz, and looks very posh but it’s not stuffy or pretentious at all.

As with all good Michelin star restaurants, you always get an amuse bouche but with Murano you get loads of little nibbles, such as some arancini, nocellara olives, delicious foccacia and salumi to start.

The food is elegant and sophisticated and also seasonal. They only use high quality ingredients. We loved the Autumnal burrata with figs and walnuts when we last visited for my husband’s birthday.

Murano is perfect for a special occasion, such as a birthday, celebration or anniversary. The food is fantastic and the service is attentive and excellent.

Restaurant Gordon Ramsey

Restaurant Gordon Ramsey at Royal Hospital Road in London’s Chelsea, is a very special restaurant. Why? Established in 1998, it has retained its Michelin stars for 21 years! That’s incredible. With three Michelin stars, you’d be forgiven for thinking this restaurant may be stuffy but it’s anything but. When we went for dinner, the French Maitre d’ was so lovely and welcoming and the staff were all very friendly and even shared some laughs with us as one of the Italian servers supported a rival football team and had good banter with my husband.

When we visited in February a few years back, we enjoyed the truffle menu and it was phenomenal. The food is exquisite and the service faultless. This is definitely a restaurant that deserves its three stars.

The Ninth

A more recent discovery for us but already a firm favourite, The Ninth is a one Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant in Charlotte Street. It’s a cosy, intimate restaurant but don’t worry – there is plenty of space between tables! They also have an upstairs private dining room that can seat 22.

The Ninth is chef Jun Tanaka’s first solo restaurant. Jun has worked at top London restaurants, such as Le Gavroche and The Square. The Ninth describes itself as ‘a neighbourhood French restaurant’ with ‘simple yet refined Mediterranean-style cooking’.

The dishes are designed to be shared, but of course that’s optional! Highlights on the menu for us were the crispy artichokes, the cuttlefish malloreddus and the pain perdu (oh MY).

The decor is lovely and intimate, service is friendly and professional and the food is exceptional!

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