Cook, taste, gather
Food & Drink
Cocktail-making masterclassLearn 2-3 classics then drink them; widely available - search by area on DesignMyNight. Typically ~£35-50pp, 18+. Book ahead.
Pasta / dumpling / bao classHands-on evening classes at cookery schools - e.g. School of Wok (Covent Garden, dumpling/bao classes from ~£60) or Leiths pasta masterclass (~£195). Eat what you make. Book ahead.
Regional cookery course (Thai, Italian...)Pick a cuisine (Thai, Chinese, Italian) - School of Wok 3-hr classes from ~£60-115; many schools citywide. Book ahead.
Borough Market grazing wanderFree to wander London's most famous food market (Mon-Sat; full market Wed-Sat, fewer traders early week). Go early to beat crowds. London Bridge tube.
Maltby Street / Druid St marketsWeekend food + drink under arches
Wing FestSummer; £1.50 wings, axe throwing, DJs
Supper club (Eatwith etc.)Eat at a host's table - book via platforms like Eatwith. Great for meeting people; prices vary by host (~£40-70pp). Confirm dietary needs when booking.
Cheese & wine tastingGuided tasting flights; The Cheese Bar in Camden (Stables Market) does all-cheese menus & flights - walk-in or book. Open daily, later Wed-Sat.
WSET wine courseGlobally recognised wine qualification, Levels 1-3, run by schools citywide. Level 1 is a one-day intro (~£200+). 18+. Book a course date ahead.
Coffee cupping / barista classLearn to taste & brew with London roasters (e.g. workshops via specialty cafes). Half-day classes; book ahead.
Bermondsey Beer MileSelf-guided crawl of taproom breweries in the railway arches between Bermondsey & South Bermondsey - best on Saturdays when most are open. Pay per pint.
Gin / whisky distillery tourSipsmith (Chiswick W4) runs ~90-min tours with a G&T on arrival + tutored tasting, ~£40pp, 18+, selected evenings - book ~a week ahead. Beefeater & others also tour.
Chocolate-making workshopTemper & mould your own bars/truffles; various studios. Day workshops, book ahead.
Bread / sourdough classBread Ahead (Borough Market) runs famous doughnut & bread classes; also Borough Kitchen & E5 Bakehouse. Day/evening workshops, book ahead.Foraging-to-feast experienceForage then cook what you find
Alcotraz prison cocktail experienceImmersive prison-themed cocktail experience - smuggle in your own spirit, they mix the rest in character. ~£50pp for ~2 hrs. 18+. Book well ahead. Alcotraz London is on Brick Lane E1; other branches in Manchester and Brighton.
Sourdough / bread bakingFree starter guide; flour, water, timeHome fermentation (kimchi, kombucha)Start with sauerkraut: cabbage + salt
Cake decorating / pipingFree BBC Good Food decorating guides; cheap piping-tip set to start
Cocktail mixing at homeDifford's Guide free recipes; learn 5 base cocktails with minimal kit
Coffee home-brewing (V60 etc.)Free expert YouTube; upgrade mornings
Latte art / home baristaJames Hoffmann's free brewing & latte-art guides; cheap milk frother
Learn to bake patisserieKing Arthur free recipes & technique guides; croissants & macarons
Afternoon tea (classic or themed)From budget to bottomless to bonkers themes
Bottomless brunchSociable group staple
Street-food market crawl (KERB)Graze top traders at Seven Dials etc. Seven Dials Market WC2 is KERB's flagship; other KERB sites include Camden Market NW1 and Canary Wharf E14.
Dumpling / dim sum trail (Chinatown)Self-guided eat-your-way-round
Sake / natural wine tastingNiche tastings for the curiousPie & mash (proper East End)Cheap heritage London meal
Foraged cocktail / botanical classMake drinks with foraged botanicals
Hot chocolate / dessert crawlSweet self-guided wanderHome barista latte-art ladderJames Hoffmann free guides; progress hearts to rosettas
Home kombucha / ginger beer scobyLiving fermentation projects
Learn to cook one cuisine properlyPick a cuisine & cook through it; free recipes & techniques
Knife-skills / chef fundamentalsSerious Eats free technique guides; transforms your cooking
Bread-shaping / banneton bakingKing Arthur free shaping guides; level up from basic loavesForaging-to-feast experienceForage then cook & eat what you find
Supper club – via EatwithEat at a host's table; brilliant for meeting people
Supper club – Grub Club / independent hostsThemed one-off dinners by chefs & home cooks
Supper club – diaspora / regional kitchensHome cooks sharing a cuisine; deeply personal
Supper club – host your ownCook for friends-of-friends - the lowest-cost supper club. See Eatwith for how hosted dinners work, or just invite people round.
Boxpark (Shoreditch, Croydon & Wembley)Street-food halls + screenings & live events. Croydon CR0 is the flagship Boxpark; sister site at Wembley HA9.
Indoor market wander (Spitalfields/Brixton)Covered markets; graze & browse out of the rainCococure (Afro-Caribbean dining & club)Afro-Caribbean food (suya, jerk) + Afrobeats/Bashment/Amapiano nights across several venues. Book a table/event. Cococure Haus on Broadway, Stratford E15 is the flagship; Cococure Cité is at Minories, Aldgate EC3.
Caribbean / African supper clubHome cooks & chefs sharing Caribbean & West/East African cuisine; find one on Eatwith or via local Instagram hosts.
Cookery class – Caribbean / African cuisineHands-on jollof, jerk, curry-goat & plantain classes; search ClassBento/Eventbrite for current dates.
Black-owned brunch / day partyAfrobeats/Bashment bottomless brunches & day parties; search DesignMyNight/Eventbrite for current events.
Caribbean food market / Brixton VillageGraze Caribbean & African stalls and restaurants in Brixton Village & Market Row; free to wander.
Rye Lane / Peckham food crawl'Little Lagos' - West African & Caribbean restaurants, markets & fabric shops along Rye Lane. Free to wander; eat as you go.
Ridley Road Market (Dalston)Historic Afro-Caribbean street market - plantain, yam, scotch bonnet, fabrics & spices. Free to browse.Tottenham African food shopsCluster of West African grocers & eateries; great for ingredients & home cooking. Free to browse.
Prince of Peckham (community pub)Beloved Black-owned community pub - food, DJs, quizzes & events. Walk-in or book a table.
Jollof / jerk cook-off or food festivalSeasonal African & Caribbean food festivals & jollof competitions; search current dates on Eventbrite.
West African / Caribbean cooking at homeCook jollof, egusi, rice & peas or curry goat at home; free recipes + a trip to a local African/Caribbean grocer.
Black-owned bakery / patisserieHard-dough bread, bun & cheese, hibiscus cakes & more from Black-owned bakeries; find one near you.
Eat your way around Mercato MetropolitanoA food hall built around independent traders and community rather than a chain rollout, with sites at Elephant & Castle, Mayfair and Wood Wharf. Go hungry and share everything.
Have lunch with strangers at Chatty PattyA weekly social lunch at the Prince of Peckham set up against loneliness: turn up alone, sit with people you don't know, no sign-up. Wednesdays 12–2pm when we checked. One of the few things in London explicitly designed for arriving on your own.Eat Congolese food in TottenhamCongolese and Afro-Caribbean cooking drawing on the food culture of the DRC — a cuisine barely represented on London high streets. Worth going for something you haven't eaten before.
Try Afro-fusion grilling in New CrossGrilled food, suya-style spicing and seafood, cooked as contemporary fusion rather than tradition. Casual enough to go on a weeknight.
Try Pan-African fine dining in MayfairStork, at 13–14 Cork Street W1S 3NS, puts ingredients and flavours from across Africa and the diaspora through refined European technique. A proper occasion restaurant — book ahead.
Try a jerk chicken dumpling burgerA fried Jamaican dumpling used as the bun, with jerk chicken inside. The kind of specific, slightly absurd thing worth crossing London for once.Eat modern Ghanaian food on Old Kent RoadNamed for the year Ghana gained independence, at 660 Old Kent Road SE15 1JF. Traditional Ghanaian dishes alongside contemporary ones — a restaurant about a culture, not just a menu.
Work out which jollof you're loyal toNigerian restaurants across several London sites — jollof, soups, grilled meats and the rest. The jollof question is not settled and you are allowed an opinion.
Try Caribbean fine dining in Canary WharfFamily-run, and a deliberately refined take on Caribbean cooking — the food treated with the same seriousness any other cuisine gets at this price.Eat over an open fire in KensingtonMediterranean cooking built around live fire, in a room designed to be looked at. Firmly a special-occasion booking.
Have a colourful Mediterranean brunch in HackneyFamily-run neighbourhood cafe at 415 Mare Street E8 1HY, with Mediterranean-leaning brunch plates that arrive looking like the name suggests.
Queue for the pancakes at Sunday in BrooklynThe London outpost of the Brooklyn original. The malted pancakes are the reason people come; the rest of the brunch menu is not an afterthought.Have an extravagant Italian dinner at BocconcinoRegional Italian cooking, pasta and wood-fired pizza in a Mayfair dining room. Dress like you meant to be there.
Eat on a rooftop looking at St Paul'sA rooftop restaurant and bar aimed straight at the dome. Book the terrace rather than inside, and go while it's light enough to see it.Watch pizza dough fly through the airThin, crisp Roman-style pizza and theatrical dough-spinning between the tables. Silly on purpose, and better with a group than on a first date.
Eat regional Indian food then find the cocktail den downstairsRegional Indian cooking upstairs at 79–81 Mortimer Street; Bandra Bhai, a dimly lit cocktail bar styled after a Bombay speakeasy, downstairs. Do both in one evening — that's the quest.
Try contemporary Indian fine dining in ChelseaChef Peter Joseph's restaurant near Sloane Square, cooking Indian flavours over charcoal and tandoor with a lighter hand than the tradition usually allows.
Eat inside London's most over-the-top trattoriaBig Mamma's Shoreditch trattoria at 54–56 Great Eastern Street: maximalist interiors, an absurd lemon meringue pie, and a queue. Go early or book well ahead.
Have a glamorous Italian lunch at Harry'sHarry's Dolce Vita — the Italian dining rooms with the striped awnings and the dessert trolley, not the private members' club of a similar name.Have brunch at NACAll-day European cooking and small plates at 41 North Audley Street W1K 6ZP. Brunch runs later than most, which suits a slow start.
Order a pizza by the metreSouthern Italian, family-run, and the pizza al metro arrives on a board as long as the table. Only worth doing with enough people to finish it.Eat carbonara from a pecorino wheel beneath thousands of bottlesBig Mamma's Sicilian trattoria at 40–41 Rathbone Place, with walls covered floor to ceiling in bottles and pasta finished inside a wheel of cheese at the table. Book a long way out.
Build your own Neapolitan pizzaNeapolitan dough, cooked in about ninety seconds, with toppings you pick yourself. Fast, cheap and better than it needs to be.
Try Korean-inspired fried chickenFried chicken with Korean-leaning glazes — burgers, wings and sides across several London sites. Reliable rather than ceremonial.
Eat Northern Chinese hot pot in ChinatownHot pot and charcoal barbecue at 46 Gerrard Street — Northern Chinese cooking rather than the Cantonese that dominates the street. Go with a group and order too much.Try beef birria tacos in DeptfordSlow-cooked beef birria and quesatacos, with a cup of consommé to dip them in. Market sites as well as bricks and mortar — check where they are before setting off.
Eat Northern Mexican tacos in Stoke NewingtonSonoran-style tacos with tortillas made on site, at 208 Stoke Newington High Street N16 7HU. Walk-in focused, so go early or expect to wait.
Try a dry-aged beef burgerDry-aged beef, fried chicken and loaded sides. A short menu done properly, which is the whole argument.Settle the cheeseburger argument at BleeckerDry-aged beef, no fuss, no truffle. Started as a truck and still cooks like one. The bacon cheeseburger is the one people argue about.
Try Gordon Ramsay's burger jointBurgers, fries and shakes at Ramsay prices but not Ramsay formality. Sites at Charing Cross, Farringdon and The O2.
Eat Turkish food then go up to the roof for shishaCharcoal-grilled Turkish and Mediterranean food downstairs, rooftop lounge above. An evening rather than a meal.
Order a Sunday Turkish breakfast in EnfieldCharcoal grill and a traditional Turkish breakfast spread at 510 Hertford Road EN3 5SS, with Sunday breakfast as the main event. Come hungry and stay a while.
Try North London's long-standing curry houseAn established Indian restaurant at 1282 High Road, Whetstone N20 9HH, doing both the traditional dishes and more contemporary plates.Eat smoked meat and loaded friesBurgers, grilled chicken, smoked meats and loaded fries, halal throughout. Fast-casual, generous, not subtle.
Eat ten floors above the CityAviary sits on the tenth floor of the Montcalm Royal London House, with a terrace looking across the City skyline. Cocktails on the terrace are the reason; dinner is the excuse.Find out where Hush wentHush spent years known for its Mayfair courtyard. That site is no longer the one — Holborn is where it now trades, so ignore any old address you find elsewhere.
Have dim sum with tea and patisserieA Cantonese tea house that serves dim sum and French-style patisserie in the same sitting, alongside a serious Chinese tea list. Lunch is the civilised version.
Have dinner then stay for the DJTurkish and Mediterranean food at 295–299 Neasden Lane NW10 1QR that turns into a lounge with DJs and live entertainment on selected nights. The venue's own FAQ states it is not wheelchair accessible.
Get an ice cream wrapped in candy flossSoft serve buried inside a cloud of candy floss, at 12 Tavistock Street. Engineered for a photograph, and it does taste of something as well.Build an enormous dessertWaffles, crepes, cheesecakes and plated desserts assembled well past the point of restraint. Sites across London; no alcohol, so it works late with anyone.
Build your own warm crumbleFruit crumble, warm, with custard poured over and toppings on top — a British pudding turned into a street-food counter. Borough Market, Spitalfields, Camden and Covent Garden.
Try frozen cheesecake soft-serveBaked cheesecake, and cheesecake churned into soft serve, plus cookies. The frozen version is the one worth ordering.Have dessert and a martini in Covent GardenA long-running American restaurant and martini bar at 18 Wellington Street. Go for pudding and a drink upstairs rather than the full dinner.
Eat a Japanese soufflé pancake in ChinatownSoufflé pancakes at 108 Shaftesbury Avenue W1D 5EH — three inches tall, wobbling, and cooked to order, so expect to wait twenty minutes. Bubble tea and smoothies too.
Build a Hong Kong bubble waffleThe Hong Kong egg waffle — a sheet of hot bubbles — rolled into a cone around gelato, fruit and sauce. At 24 Wardour Street W1D 6QJ.
Have brunch at a Tottenham brasserieAll-day brasserie at 338 Philip Lane N15 4AB doing brunch properly in a part of London that isn't overrun with it.Try the Fairfax egg sandwichThe Los Angeles egg-sandwich shop, now in London. The Fairfax — soft scrambled eggs, chives, cheddar, sriracha mayo in a brioche bun — is the one it built its name on.
Have a very photogenic all-day brunchBrunch, desserts and heavily styled interiors across Mayfair, Regent's Park, Oxford Circus and Notting Hill. Knows exactly what it is.
Have brunch at an Enfield localNeighbourhood brasserie at 123 Chase Side N14 5HD — brunch, grills and burgers, without the queue you'd join for the same thing in Hackney.
Eat pancakes for dinnerSweet and savoury pancakes served all day, so ordering them at 7pm is entirely permitted. Bankside, Fitzrovia and Battersea.Queue for a Balham brunchAn independent on Hildreth Street Market at 18–20 Bedford Hill SW12 9RG, with seasonal dishes, serious coffee and weekend pancake specials that change. Walk-ins only when we checked, so go early or go alone — a single seat comes up faster.
Have Mediterranean brunch in EnfieldLocal bistro at 19A Bush Hill Parade, Village Road EN1 2HB, built around brunch, coffee and Mediterranean-leaning plates.
Have Italian in EnfieldPasta, pizza and Italian standards at 88–90 Chase Side EN2 6NX. Neighbourhood Italian rather than an occasion.Have brunch on Green LanesIndependent neighbourhood cafe at 324A Green Lanes N4 1BX — brunch and coffee on a street better known for grills.
Order a Turkish breakfast in CockfostersA bistro at 19 Heddon Court Parade, Cockfosters Road EN4 0DB with an unusually large Turkish-style breakfast, plus pancakes, French toast, burgers and steaks if someone in the group won't play along.
Take on a giant Turkish sharing breakfastThe Shakespeare Serpme: cheeses, olives, eggs, sucuk, pastries, kaymak and tahini-pekmez spread across the whole table, with tea refilled throughout. A two-hour breakfast and a proper group activity.Eat proper Sichuan food in ChinatownSichuan cooking at 4 Leicester Street WC2H 7BL — numbing peppercorn, chilli oil and hot pot, cooked for people who want it as it is rather than toned down.
Decorate a gingerbread house over mocktails and hot chocolate on the Isle of DogsA hands-on gingerbread house decorating workshop at The Cake Creamery: you get a demonstration, an inspiration board, then decorate your own house over canapés, non-alcoholic Shirley Temples and hot chocolate. It takes up to 20 guests and private dates can be requested.
Bake mince pies and savoury Christmas tartlets at Bread AheadA half-day hands-on workshop at Bread Ahead's Borough Market or Wembley school: you make your own shortcrust, then six mince pies and six savoury vegetarian festive tartlets to take home. It's a good booking for a small group of friends or colleagues.
Eat your way down a run of railway archesA tight run of railway arches on Ropewalk with about two dozen street-food and drink traders.
Eat along a Hackney street marketA street market along Broadway Market in Hackney, food stalls plus produce and traders.Carry home an armful of flowersA Sunday-only flower and plant street market with cafes and small shops down its length.
Browse crafts and street food under one roofA covered market in Greenwich town centre mixing street-food stalls with crafts and antiques.
Buy straight from the farmers who grew itA Sunday producers' market in a Marylebone car park — meat, veg, cheese, bread, direct from farms.
Shop a farmers' market in a school playgroundA small Saturday farmers' market in a primary school playground just off Kensington Church Street.Eat canal-side at Camden LockThe sprawling canal-side market at Camden Lock, with a large food hall at Hawley Wharf.
Eat Italian in a former paper factoryA large indoor Italian-led food market in a former paper factory near Elephant & Castle.
Drink on a floor of a Peckham car parkFood and drink floors in a converted multi-storey car park above Peckham's Rye Lane.Eat nose-to-tail in a former smokehouseThe original nose-to-tail British restaurant in a former smokehouse by Smithfield Market.
Eat regional Italian at a marble counterRegional Italian small plates served along a marble counter on a Soho side street.Dine in a crumbling Georgian courthouseA restaurant in the crumbling top floor of a former Clerkenwell courthouse.
Watch Thai food cooked over live fireThai food cooked over live fire and clay pots along a counter in Soho.
Queue for fresh pasta under a tennerA tiny counter doing short menus of fresh pasta, most plates under a tenner.
Eat sourdough pizza for the price of a sandwichSourdough Neapolitan pizzerias, cheap, with branches across most London neighbourhoods.Eat three courses in total darkness and guess what they wereA surprise menu eaten in pitch blackness at a shared table, served by blind and visually impaired guides, with the dishes only revealed at the end.
Eat north African fire cooking on Dean Street's first-ever SundayTime Out's current pick for best new restaurant in London — north African cooking from ex-Kiln chef Meedu Saad, with a walk-in kitchen counter.
Buy brisket by the gram until it runs outThe cult east London barbecue pop-up in its first permanent room — Texan smoking with an Asian bent, sold by weight until the day's meat is gone.
Get 90 minutes of breakfast martinis for twenty-five quidThe cheapest genuinely unlimited weekend drinks package I could verify, attached to a normal all-day brunch menu.
Drink bottomless bellinis on a Monday morningA 90-minute bottomless drinks package that runs seven days a week, so it survives the bank holiday when most weekend-only offers don't.
Make truffles and chocolate bark with your group in ShoreditchA chocolatier shows your group how to make fresh cream truffles, dip and decorate them, then marble your own chocolate bark, and everyone takes a box home. Groups can reserve a table in a public class or book the studio privately.
Cook a feast from scratch at a private evening class in IslingtonYour group books the Upper Street cook school for a private evening class, picks a menu such as fresh pasta or Middle Eastern dishes, and cooks it together with a chef. A glass of wine, beer or a soft drink is included, and you can bring your own for a corkage fee.
Shake three alcohol-free cocktails with your group in BloomsburyA bartender at The Montague on the Gardens teaches your group to make three alcohol-free cocktails, such as a zero-proof sour and a spritz, using premium no-alcohol spirits. Made for non-drinkers and anyone sober-curious.
Cook an Italian feast together, then sit down to eat it, in Notting HillYour group gets the Enrica Rocca kitchen to itself for three hours: an aperitivo, about 90 minutes making antipasti, fresh pasta and a dessert, then a sit-down meal of everything you made. There are lunch and dinner slots.
Learn to taste specialty coffee like a pro with your group in SohoKiss the Hippo's team leads a 90-minute cupping session where you taste how origin, processing and roast change a coffee, drinking as much as you like. Good for non-drinkers. Groups can arrange a private session built around them.
Cook a plant-based feast with your team at a Clapton charity kitchenMade In Hackney's chefs run a private hands-on plant-based cooking class for your team, in a cuisine you pick (Sri Lankan, Caribbean, Levantine, regional Indian and more), ending with a shared meal. Money goes to the community cookery charity.
Grill your own halal Korean BBQ at the table near BarbicanSit round a tabletop grill and cook beef, chicken and seafood yourselves, with Korean side dishes, rice and soup; a private room and a group area take bigger parties.
Cook halal Korean BBQ at your table on the river in Canary WharfGrill premium meats and seafood yourselves on a tabletop BBQ, with Korean dishes, in a Canary Wharf waterfront restaurant with a private mezzanine for groups.
Watch a teppanyaki chef cook your dinner at the table in Covent GardenSit round a hot steel teppan grill while a chef chops, flips and cooks your meal in front of you; tables seat 8 and there are two private dining rooms for bigger groups.Cook beef hot pot at the table, then sing in a private karaoke room, in AldgateDip hand-cut beef, seafood and vegetables into a bubbling Chaoshan hot pot at your table, then take the group into a private KTV karaoke room with food and drinks.
Eat your way round Soho and Chinatown on a private evening food tourA local guide walks you through Soho and Chinatown over about three and a half hours, stopping for dishes such as bao buns, beef rendang with roti and cannoli, and finishing with a drink in a Soho bar. Group and private versions are booked by email.
Graze nine kitchens in an Edwardian dance hall at Victoria, then head up to the hidden rooftopMarket Halls Victoria is a three-floor food hall in an old Edwardian dance hall with nine street-food kitchens, three bars, DJs on some evenings and a rooftop terrace.
Eat Southern Thai curry, Nepalese momos and New Haven pizza under one roof at Tottenham Court RoadArcade's flagship food hall on New Oxford Street has seven chef-led kitchens and two bars with open-counter dining, from Plaza Khao Gaeng's Southern Thai to Tipan's momos and Gracey's pizza, with DJs late on.Graze 25+ Asian food stalls at London's biggest Asian food hall in ColindaleBang Bang Oriental is a huge Asian food hall with more than 25 kiosks from Mumbai to Tokyo, 450 seats and free parking, plus the Golden Dragon restaurant downstairs.
Taste Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa cooking from a Nigerian set menu in FitzroviaJoké Bakare's restaurant serves a set menu built on Nigerian regional cooking, with ingredients most Londoners have never tried. Lunch is the cheaper way in.Feast on Nigerian tapas in TottenhamChuku's, run by a Nigerian brother and sister, serves Nigerian dishes as small sharing plates, so a group can order across the menu. The site says halal options are available.
Eat sizzling lamb chops and bring your own bottle in WhitechapelTayyabs has been serving Punjabi grills and curries off Whitechapel Road since 1972; the lamb chops arrive sizzling and it's bring your own bottle. Expect noise and a queue at peak times.Eat home-cooked Malaysian nasi lemak inside Queensway MarketNormah's is a small Malaysian cafe tucked inside Queensway Market where Normah herself cooks everything; think nasi lemak with beef rendang and curry laksa. Evening tables sell out a month ahead.
Queue for flaky roti canai with curry at Roti King in EustonRoti King makes Malaysian roti canai to order and serves it with curry; it's cheap, no-bookings and the basement on Doric Way is famous for its queue.
Tear into Sri Lankan hoppers and kothu in SohoHoppers serves the bowl-shaped rice pancakes it's named after, plus dosas and kothu, inspired by Sri Lanka and South India. Halal chicken and lamb are served at every branch.
Brave fragrant chicken in a pile of chillies at a Sichuan pioneer in SohoBarshu has served numbing, fiery Sichuan cooking just off Chinatown since 2006: hot pot, mapo tofu and chicken buried in dried chillies.
Sweat through a fiery Southern Thai curry-over-rice in Covent GardenPlaza Khao Gaeng recreates a Thai 'khao gaeng' curry shop: curries thick with coconut and fermented fish, and searing stir-fries, from Southern Thailand.
Eat ceviche and tiradito at Europe's first Michelin-starred Peruvian in FitzroviaLima cooks contemporary Peruvian food with Nikkei and Chifa influences; order the ceviches and tiraditos and a pisco sour.
Eat Syrian food cooked by a chef who fled Damascus, in SohoImad Alarnab ran restaurants in Damascus before fleeing the war; his Syrian kitchen on the top floor of Kingly Court serves breakfast through dinner, seven days.Taste Keralan coastal seafood curries at a long-running South Indian fine-dining room by Buckingham PalaceQuilon has cooked the food of India's south-west coast, from Karwar to Kerala, since 1999; seafood, coconut and spice, a la carte or as a tasting menu.
Try plant-based Ethiopian dishes just off Brick LaneMerkamo started as a Spitalfields market stall and now has a sit-down spot on Hanbury Street serving all-vegan Ethiopian dishes.Sit at a 12-seat chef's counter for a Levantine kebab tasting menu in Covent GardenKebab Queen is a counter-dining tasting menu where dishes like monkfish kebab, ox cheek manti and iskender kebab are served straight onto the counter in front of you.
Have a fully halal fine-dining steak or Sunday roast with alcohol-free cocktails in IslingtonThe Great Chase is a British fine-dining restaurant where all the meat is halal and the bar is alcohol-free: binchotan-grilled steak, beef Wellington, Sunday roasts and dry cocktails.
Grab a cinnamon and cardamom bun at a sourdough bakery off the StrandToklas Bakery fills its counter with seasonal pastries and its famous cinnamon-cardamom buns in the morning, then hot Roman-style sandwiches at lunch.Order a sizzling karahi at a 1995 Pakistani BYO institution in TootingLahore Karahi is a family-run, bring-your-own Pakistani curry house on Tooting High Street, open until midnight daily with an upstairs room for big groups.
Eat a Palestinian falafel wrap at the mouth of Shepherd's Bush MarketMr Falafel is a tiny sandwich bar at the entrance to New Shepherd's Bush Market making fresh falafel wraps, all vegetarian and mostly vegan.
Feast on koobideh kebabs and fresh Persian bread at a family-run Kensington classicMohsen has served Persian charcoal grills, saffron rice and herb platters opposite Olympia since 1996; a favourite with the Iranian community.
Share Balkan meats off a charcoal grill at a chef-owned Peckham favouritePeckham Bazaar is a wood-panelled neighbourhood restaurant cooking Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean food, with meat and fish from the open grill and a Greek-leaning wine list.Eat Afghan-Texan smoked brisket at a fully halal pub in Notting HillCue Point's permanent home is a garden bar and smokehouse doing Afghan-Texan barbecue: wagyu brisket barbacoa, oak-smoked chicken and naan-based sharing plates. All the food is halal.
Eat Caribbean street food from a Trinidadian chef in Brixton VillageFish, Wings & Tings is Brian Danclair's Caribbean spot in Brixton's Granville Arcade, turning island street food into a small, lively menu with rum punch and reggae.
Warm up by a real fire in a hidden Hampstead backstreet pubClimb the lanes off Heath Street to a historic pub tucked away on Hollymount, get a seat near the fire and order pub classics. Good after a cold walk on the Heath.
Drink sherry by candlelight in London's oldest wine bar's vaulted cellarHead down into a candlelit cellar under Villiers Street, with old barrels of sherry and port, and order wine, port or sherry with a cheese plate. No bookings, so arrive early.Order any house cocktail alcohol-free in a tropical basement bar by London BridgeGo down into a Victorian basement off Bermondsey Street done up as a tropical dive bar, where every house cocktail also comes alcohol-free, with tacos from the kitchen. Tuesdays are £3 tacos.
Get an espresso at 2am in Soho's late-night Italian coffee barStand at the counter or take a pavement seat at a Frith Street coffee bar that has been there since 1949 and stays open until 4am. A good alcohol-free end to a night out.
Eat cake at a Soho patisserie that has been baking since 1871Squeeze into a Greek Street patisserie that has made cakes since 1871, order a slice and a pot of tea, and watch Soho go by. It stays open until 9:30pm on Saturdays.
Try boundary-pushing cocktails, boozeless versions included, at a South Bank barSit at the green marble bar in Sea Containers and order from an ingredient-led cocktail menu where most drinks come in a boozeless version for £11. Walk-ins are welcome.Eat Thai food in a flower-covered Kensington pub from 1750Find the pub on Kensington Church Street smothered in flowers and packed with Churchill memorabilia, then eat at the Thai kitchen in the back. The restaurant is walk-in only.
Taste rare teas in an hour-long session at a Mayfair tea shopJoin a one-hour tasting with a tea specialist, with a theme that changes by week (aged teas, black, green, oolong), and take home illustrated tasting notes. Groups are 8 at most.Sit out a winter evening in a heated yurt on a Shoreditch rooftopGo up to the Queen of Hoxton's rooftop, which stays open in the colder months with a heated winter yurt, for drinks and food. Thursdays have £5 happy-hour drinks.
Get a seat by the fire in a riverside Hammersmith pub after a Thames walkWalk the Upper Mall towpath to a pub set right on the Thames that has been there for centuries, and settle in by the real fire with cask ale or a seasonal meal.
Pour your own tasters from 100+ wines by Battersea Power StationLoad a card and work your way round self-pour wine machines with 100+ wines by the glass, trying small tastes before you commit to a full glass.
Eat a fry-up at 3am in a 24-hour City café by Liverpool StreetA British café and bar by Liverpool Street, going since 1953 and open 24 hours, serving all-day breakfasts and breakfast platters. Somewhere to go after a late night that isn't a bar.
Learn to roll four kinds of sushi together in Hammersmith, then eat themA two-and-a-half-hour hands-on class at Sozai Cooking School: make the sushi rice, then roll ura-maki, hoso-maki, futo-maki and a rainbow roll. You sit down to eat what you made at the end.
Taste four wines on a tour of a working winery at Canada WaterAn hour-long walkabout tour of Vagabond's urban winery among the tanks and barrels, glass in hand, tasting four of its own wines as you go.
Get matched with a small group of strangers for dinner, drinks, coffee or a walkTimeleft's app puts you in a small group of compatible strangers for a dinner, drinks, coffee or a Sunday walk somewhere in London. There are several a week, including women-only and singles nights.
Talk fintech over a buffet lunch with 40 to 70 people in MayfairA long-running monthly networking lunch for people in and around London's fintech world: buffet lunch, a drink and a printed attendee list, then two hours of relaxed business chat. About a fifth of guests are first-timers.Let 8-16s cook a dish from scratch at a Wandsworth kids' cooking clubThe Avenue Cookery School's 90-minute Kids Cooking Club: after a short demo, children cook in pairs or teams and make their own dish to eat there or take home. Also counts towards the DofE Bronze/Silver skills section.
Drink mulled wine among alpine chalets on the South BankSouthbank Centre's riverside Christmas market lines the Queen's Walk under Hungerford Bridge with chalets selling street food, mulled wine, hot cider and gifts.
Eat jollof, gizdodo and 'forbidden sauce' wings in Peckham PalmsTwo sisters who started with street-food pop-ups now run a Nigerian bar-kitchen in Peckham Palms: small chops like gizdodo and cassava chips, then jollof, efo riro or Naija fish and chips.
Get stuck into the £40 Saturday suya buffet on Peckham RyeSuuyar grills suya and whole fish over charcoal and serves West African stews; on Saturdays it runs an all-you-can-eat buffet.Eat Jamaican food then dance till 2am in a Deptford railway archBuster Mantis is a Jamaican-focused bar and restaurant under the arches in Deptford, with DJs and dancing on Friday and Saturday nights and a Sunday roast.
Try Brixton's new Caribbean-rooted comfort food from a former supper clubAll Roads, the supper club of chefs Malika Green and Paschelle Brown, now has a 35-cover Brixton restaurant with low-and-slow mains like oxtail and pork chops with pimento peppercorn sauce, plus a terrace.
Eat Punjabi food at Southall's Brilliant, now an Indian gastro pubBrilliant, the Anand family's long-running Southall Punjabi restaurant, has moved into a new 'Indian gastro pub' a few minutes from Southall station, with a Friday social menu and cookery courses.
Eat South Indian food on a quiet Peckham backstreetGanapati is a long-running South Indian kitchen on Holly Grove in Peckham, with an outside space and its own recipe book.
Eat chargrilled kebabs and saffron rice at a Shepherd's Bush PersianSufi has served home-style Persian cooking on Askew Road since 2007: chargrilled kebabs, slow stews and aromatic rice dishes.Eat jerk and lobster at a modern Caribbean dining room in BrixtonRapChar serves modern Caribbean cooking on Brixton Water Lane - jerk, lobster, lamb shank - with tables booked online.
Eat a halal Turkish breakfast or late kebab at the first Gökyüzü on Green LanesThe original Gökyüzü on Harringay's Green Lanes grills kebabs and bakes Turkish bread from 9am until 2am every day; the chain says its food is halal.
Grab a focaccia breakfast at the bakery in a Dalston car parkThe Dusty Knuckle started in a shipping container behind Dalston Junction; its bakery-café serves egg and chilli-cheese focaccia breakfasts, sarnies at lunch, and runs baking classes.Eat dosas and Sri Lankan curries off a banana leaf in Tooting (BYO)Apollo Banana Leaf is a long-standing Tooting favourite for South Indian and Sri Lankan food - dosas, biryanis, seafood - known for value, and you can bring your own bottle.
Have brunch all day on Roman Road at Mae + HarveyNeighbourhood café on Bow's Roman Road serving brunch all day every day, with Thursday evening openings.Graze the Saturday street-food stalls at Brockley MarketA weekly food market in a college car park on Lewisham Way: local producers, fresh fruit and veg, and hot lunches and brunches from traders, Saturday mornings only.
Eat your way round the shipping-container food stalls at Pop BrixtonPop Brixton is a community-run hub of independent street-food traders and bars in shipping containers by Brixton station, with weekend DJs, markets and live screenings.
Eat wings, bao and noodles from a family recipe in Brixton VillageMamalan's Chinese street food - wings, bao, noodles and bubble tea - traces back to a 1940s Beijing roadside bao shop; it now trades from a unit in Brixton Village.
Shop Dorset fish and heritage apples at Ealing's Saturday farmers' marketEaling Farmers' Market has run for 25 years: regulars who know stallholders by name, raw milk, Dorset fish and seasonal produce, every Saturday morning (temporarily on The Avenue, W13).
Buy fresh bread at a family African and Caribbean bakery on Rye LaneAngels Bakery is a family business founded in Plumstead in 2004 to bake traditional bread for African and Caribbean Londoners; its Peckham branch on Rye Lane opens daily.
Eat Taiwanese bao on Rye Lane at Peckham's neighbourhood bao shopMr Bao is a Peckham Taiwanese restaurant serving bao and small plates, with a Taiwanese-twist weekend brunch.
Eat arepas and cachapas at a Venezuelan brunch spot in HaggerstonArepa & Co set out to make Londoners fall in love with arepas; its restaurants serve arepas, cachapas, small plates and all-day brunch.
Do your Sunday food shop at Walthamstow's farmers' marketSince 2007 a farmers' market has filled the top of Walthamstow High Street every Sunday morning with farm produce and friendly stalls.