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With just two days to enjoy all that London has to offer, you don’t want to waste time searching for good places to eat and drink. For all your minibreak and staycation requirements, we’ve got you covered with our shortlist of the best restaurant, cafe and bar options for 48 hours in the capital, whatever your budget, right down to what to stock up on for the journey home.
Day 1 – West End
Start your 48 hours in London in the heart of the action, the West End.
Lunch
You’ve dropped your bags at your hotel or Airbnb, you’re refreshed and recharged and ready to hit the town for London’s world-class culture and shopping. But first, before you can do all that, lunch.
Circolo Popolare in Fitzrovia is a celebrity magnet and Instagrammer’s dream.
Luxe: If budget’s no option, there are a number of places to enjoy a quick but luxurious lunch. Bibi in Mayfair is a great place for perching up at the counter to enjoy their innovative Indian small plates. In Fitzrovia, Monica Galetti’s Mere has a super weekday set lunch menu. Over in St James, you can join the gallery owners and high rollers lunching at Maison Francois (make sure the dessert trolley swings by your table) and nearby Wiltons is a great pitstop for oysters and Champagne.
Cool: Beloved as much by restaurant insiders as it is by Soho regulars, Thai spot Kiln has a regularly-changing menu that always surprises. If you want a dose of culture alongside lunch head to Jose Pizarro at the Royal Academy where the room is just gorgeous. And for sheer fun and beautiful decor, there’s Circolo Popolare off Oxford Street, which recently had John Legend in to try the restaurant’s must-have carbonara.
Budget: The best bet for bargain seekers in the centre of town has to be dim sum in Chinatown where a plateful of veggie dumplings at Dumplings Legend could be yours for a fiver. Coming a close second for a great deal is Dishoom’s Vada Pau which also doesn’t break the £5 barrier. You’ll find branches all over town.
Dinner
On your first night out, you don’t want to go too large too soon, but these dining and drinks options will give you a great introduction to the city’s current dining scene.
Head to Holborn Dining Room for world class pies.
Luxe: For swish seafood head to classic Covent Garden spot J Sheekey where your chance of spotting an A-lister is pretty high. Nearby in St James, Ikoyi serves up modern London food via Lagos and is being talked of as a future entry to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. If it’s classic British you’re after then the Queen’s favourite dining spot is The Goring right beside Buckingham Palace while across town in Holborn, chef Calum Franklin has a worldwide reputation for his amazing pies at the Holborn Dining Room.
Cool: Ever since appearing on Netflix’s Chef’s Table, Asma Khan’s Darjeeling Express in Covent Garden has been a place of pilgrimage for Hollywood foodies and Londoners alike. There’s equal buzz for modern Mexican Kol in Mayfair with its underground Mezcal bar, while Noble Rot is a perfect mix of louche and cosy for a fun Soho night.
Budget: The super glamorous Brasserie Zedel behind Piccadilly Circus doesn’t look at first glance a natural budget pick, but the prix fixe here comes in at £12.25 for two courses. Popular Taiwanese restaurant group BAO always has queues but when the baos are just £5.50 the wait is worth it. You can rely only any branch of Pizza Pilgrims for good food that won’t break the bank, and the steak offering at the Flat Iron restaurants is always a steal.
Drinks: Currently No 1 on the World’s 50 Best Bars list is The Connaught Bar, where ordering the martini trolley at this Mayfair hotel is a theatrical experience. In Soho, Swift serves up seasonal, interesting cocktails while 10 Cases is a modern wine bar worth seeking out in Covent Garden. For traditionalists you can’t go wrong with Gordon’s Wine Bar – a candlelit subterranean spot by Charing Cross that’s been a great date night spot and opened back in 1890.
Tableside theatrics at The Connaught, currently the World’s Best Bar.
Day 2 – City, Borough Market and East London
For your second day, we’d suggest going east where the City and surrounding area’s winning mix of history and modernity should offer something for everyone.
Breakfast
Pancake heaven for breakfast at Wheelcake Island
Enjoy a lie-in before heading to Spitalfields Market where the market traders start from 10am. Our recommendations would be Wheelcake Island for their fluffy Taiwanese pancakes or you could hit up Crosstown’s food truck for their amazing vegan doughnuts.
If you need something heartier, the place to go is nearby Polo Bar at Liverpool Street for their epic full English breakfasts. It’s also open 24 hours.
Lunch
One of London’s oldest, and best known markets – Borough Market.
There’s been a food market at Borough since the 13th century and the 21st-century version is just as popular with tourists and locals alike. We’d suggest making lunch there more of a promenade affair, stopping at stalls to try samples and the odd bit of street food. Gujurati Rasoi serves up a mean veggie curry and Tacos Padre is a must-try. If you want to sit down, you could join the queue for perennially popular pasta spot Padella.
But make sure you save room for…
Afternoon Tea
Where better than London to enjoy afternoon tea? From traditional to modern, here’s where to pour the tea.
The Spirited afternoon tea at Lyaness comes with cocktails too.
Luxe: Fortnum & Mason’s City outpost is usually much easier to get a table at than the Piccadilly original, plus you get to enjoy tea in the gorgeous surrounds of the Royal Exchange. For a more modern take on patisserie, book a table at The Orchid Lounge at Liverpool Street where TV baking judge Cherish Finden is the pastry chef.
Cool: World-renowned mixologist Ryan Chetiyawardana’s riverside bar Lyaness in Southwark does a ‘Spirited’ afternoon tea which also includes cocktails alongside the tea.
Budget: At the back of a vintage store on Columbia Road, The Cake Hole Cafe serves up a bargain cream tea for just £8.50.
Dinner
Put your glad rags on because tonight you’re going ‘Out Out’ with the best that London has to offer discerning foodies.
Enjoy your pick of restaurants at The Ned, which is in an old bank in the heart of the City.
Luxe: It’s the highest restaurant in the UK on the World’s 50 Best list but The Clove Club in Shoreditch is far from a buttoned-up affair – it serves cutting edge food with a great playlist as backdrop. In the heart of the City by the Bank of England, you’ll find former bank The Ned where dinner is accompanied by live music. Or you could go down the road to Bob Bob Ricard City where there’s a Press for Champagne button on every table.
Cool: An instant hit since opening, Clerkenwell’s Sessions Arts Club is a beautiful spot to eat, which is why everyone wants to go here. Book well in advance. St John down the road in Smithfield should be on all gastro tourists to-do lists with its nose to tail ethos while Clerkenwell’s Quality Chop House marries a historical interior with forward-looking food. Over in Spitalfields vegetables take centre stage at Bubala where great plant-based cooking lures carnivores and vegans alike.
Budget: Marugame Udon by Liverpool Street is a relatively new addition to London’s budget scene but its winning mix of low-cost udon with generous options like the limitless soft-serve leaves a smile on guests’ faces. Blacklock City is one of two East London branches of a small restaurant group where the all-in chops option is the one to choose for maximum meat with minimum bills.
Drinks: A bar of two parts, Tayer + Elementary on Old Street serves draught cocktails from the bar in front while at the back they get into more adventurous concoctions. In the City, Ye Olde Mitre is so ancient that Queen Elizabeth 1 is rumoured to have had a drink there. If it’s wine you’re after, then Bedales of Borough is a buzzy spot (you might remember it from a cameo in Bridget Jones Diary).
Midnight snacks: If you’re peckish in the wee small hours, take the lift up to the 40th floor of the Heron Tower in Bishopsgate to Duck & Waffle which is open 24 hours a day and has great views across London.
Day 3
Your last day in London is the one to go big on breakfast, before heading to the city’s food shops and markets to stock up on goodies to take home.
Breakfast
Miso bacon escargots at Arome Bakery in Covent Garden
Luxe: There’s nothing quite like breakfast at The Wolseley – and there’s always the chance of a star spot at this Viennese-style spot on Piccadilly. For a more modern luxury option, go to hot new hotel The NoMad London on Bow Street where the gorgeous light-filled atrium is a great place to start the day.
Cool: Arome Bakery in Covent Garden serves up French patisserie with a twist and is best known for its miso bacon escargot. For a very different breakfast experience head to Soho to Koya and have the English Breakfast udon up at the counter.
Budget: The star of numerous movies and TV shows, The Regency Cafe in Westminster opened in 1946 and still serves a blinding breakfast. Another full English spot to try is Terry’s Cafe in Borough – it might look like a greasy spoon frozen in time, but the breakfasts are excellent and alongside a builder’s brew you can order macchiatos and green tea. Eggoland is a handy halal spot just off Tottenham Court Road with amazing eggy buns and more on offer.
Food shopping & lunch
Before leaving, there’s time to swing by one of London’s great food emporiums to stock up on goodies to take home, whether they’re the best of British or from around the world.
Harrods Food Hall has everything you could possibly need, or want.
For all the classics, start in Piccadilly at Fortnum & Mason. A London institution used by most of the royal family, the store’s a treat to wander around.
Harrods Food Hall over in Knightsbridge, is a world-class place to buy food – we particularly recommend a turn round the chocolate hall. Off Leicester Square Japan Centre’s food hall sells everything from sushi making kits to artisan Japanese tableware, while Tian Tian Market in Aldgate has every conceivable type of instant noodle to choose from along with a sake bar. For all things Italian you want Eataly at Liverpool Street where produce is shipped in daily from Italy.
One last thing…
At Paddington Basin, you’ll find The Cheese Barge.
Once you’ve done that, we have a few weird and wonderful London places to suggest for a unique lunch before you jump on the train or plane home.
The Cheese Barge or Pick n Cheese – run by the same company, these are great options for anyone who loves their cheese. The barge is permanently moored by Paddington while the Covent Garden spot features a conveyor belt with cheese dishes passing you by.
Park Row – Descent to this lavish underground restaurant in Soho for a DC comics-inspired experience.
Beast – If you ever wondered what it would be like to dine at Hogwarts, this high-end restaurant tucked behind Oxford Circus would give you a good idea. Be warned, it is very spendy though.
And that’s it. Your 48 hours are up and it’s time to spend the journey home, planning your next trip to London.
Spring into London
Supported by the Mayor of London’s Let’s Do London campaign, our restaurant guides, tips on family-friendly eating spots and special deals, means there is no excuse not to ‘Spring into London’ and enjoy central London’s world-class restaurants and bars.
Read the guide
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